billjenkins

Hi, Please call the Securus Support Hotline on 01932 251910. They will help with this issue immediately. Thanks, Bill

This is such an emotive issue. In my experience every adult has a responsibility for e-safety but of course 'every adult' can't have access to the data for a multiplicity of reasons. However, the summary is this; Securus and other similar software has information of use to different people, each of whom have a duty of care. So as far as we're concerned when installing or training we advise as follows; 1) Network security and control issues such as proxy bypass and hacking are the role of the Network Professionals who need to know who's breaching or attempting to breach audit or security policies. The information can then be used to adjust policies and improve the network. 2) Pastoral care issues are the responsibility of the SMT who should 'elect' nominated individuals who know the students to receive the automated email alerts and scheduled reports upon which they should act. This includes regularly logging in to ensure they are reviewing captures and taking appropriate safety and disciplinary measures as necessary. Largely and with regret, we know that in 'most' schools the job is foisted on the Network Team who are expected to trawl through the captures and present the staff with the most serious issues. It is often a battle to get the SMT engaged in the actual monitoring but with the latest report from Ofsted (Feb 2010) and their new e-safety inspections (from Sept 2009), schools are taking a more pragmatic and realistic view of their responsibilites. The drum banging is far from over but at least there's some progress! Happy Easter all

Bill from Securus here. The products are considerably different in many ways and basically they are; Impero is very strong on classroom and PC management with monitoring as an add-on Securus is all about e-safety monitoring and not at all focussed on classroom/PC control It's really a question of what you want a product to do for you.

Will, Please call me on my mobile 07881 980661 Thanks, Bill

Hi, Great idea that will cover off the issue entirely (assuming all the data is on the one hard disk) Appreciate the feeback, Bill

Hi, It's a good idea and certainly workable so thanks for your suggestions. In reality I think we're all going to have to educate the police about VM and cloud computing as and when (hopefully never ) the need arises. We do work closely with a number of police forces who use Securus to monitor prosecuted sex offenders and it's their high tech crimes units who are responsible for seizing hardware. This is an ongoing concern and like many things, no-one is sure of the outcome until the first event occurs! Thanks, Bill

You're right. The database can be up to within 90% of the physical hard disk size so a DVD would be pushing it (unless there's some brand new technology out there?) Perhaps an example of typical file sizes would be useful as a very broad outline. Typically, in a Secondary school with about 1000 users, an 80Gb Hard Disk will retain about five to six months of data. Securus NG has a minimum spec of 320Gb so on that basis you'd be looking at between 20-24 months of storage. BUT (and it's a really big BUT) you can configure the software to attach to additional devices (NAS etc.) so you could potentially keep the data forever! Thank you, Bill

Hi Tom, Yes that's totally possible. Indeed we recommend that backups are taken regularly and the way in which this is done is entirely at the discretion of the user. The 'Webmin' interface caters for this functionality. Thanks for your kind welcome to the forum Tom. Much appreciated. Bill

Hi Will, Firstly, let me address the last part of your email. I would never wish to offend, and the comment was made in recognition of the fact that you all have to get a gallon into a pint pot. This is always a problem with written communications, the tone that can be heard on phone call is not there and can sometimes be misunderstood. I will try to be more careful in my responses, thank you for pointing this out. You're largely right. The existing ASM costs are for continued support and updates to the existing version which will cease to be supported on 31st January 2013. There are fixes being published for V6 in the next month with a new client as well. These are currently in test. We also send out patches which don't necessarily go on general release when specific issues are raised and hold them back for a general release. We have just appointed a Customer Services Manager who is taking responsibility for communication with our clients, an area that has needed addressing for some time and which needed much improvement so I hope you will see some changes very quickly. Are you aware of our support site - Securus Support Centre | Login and do you have a login? If not please email [email protected] and this will give you access to all the latest news and views. We continue to support, bug fix and update V6 in parallel with our work on NG. Bill

Hi Will, Thanks for asking. The short answer is no. The VM version is a new release and was originally destined only for LA's where there are large requirements. At BETT many of you asked if we would release a VM version for schools and after consideration we decided that it would be a good idea to do so but only after we'd made everyone aware of the risks. Our concern is surrounding the issue of what happens if Securus picks up an ILLEGAL activity? With our current offering, the police will call and take the Securus server away. Our Service Level Agreement caters for a replacement. But what about VM? This hasn't been tested and we're anxious not to expose our clients to extra risk until we know all the answers which is why we're telling everyone before we agree to supplying. As to the cost? We do have to put work into creating the VM ISO and after discussions with a couple of you it was deemed to be a fair price. I don't actually know what price you're referring to but am assuming you are talking about £495 for a Secondary School ISO? We did reduce the price of the Next Generation server after a fair argument from a forum member but this isn't a reason to do the same for the ISO. We do need to make money to pay for all our development and support work, vulgar as this may sound! Hope this helps. Bill

Thanks Simon. Glad to have joined the community. Have a good weekend:peace:

Ah! Good to know I'm not alone. Interesting though, when I was 15 I knew it all, now I know 'very little'!!

Hi, I'm Bill, founder of Securus Software and very nervous! I'm getting on (55) and know how important your views are. Don't want to intrude but can offer help and advice on lots of issues about monitoring and e-safety PLUS answer some of the questions you may have. Hope to learn a lot and contribute more.......time will tell but hurry up as I don't think I've much left! Anyone up for golf? Cheers, Bill

Yes. You can run the ISO on any computer with a minimum spec of Intel Atom, 2Gb RAM and suggested 320Gb HDD.