njr72

Thanks for both the replies. YES, I have mentioned my concerns to my LEA - but they aren't interested. I just get told to "email in", which I do & are then ignored. When I call I can't get through to anyone who knows anything ! Matt40K - thanks for the research !

With thanks for the reply. I completely understand your definition of sensitive data. But I wonder at what point a name become sensitive for example "Bob Smith" is just a name and can't really be identified. BUT the same name on a report with a school letterhead, becomes more of an issue - as that student can be uniquely identified. Its a shame SIMs doesn't have options to encrypt data. For example, I am doing a trial of CipherPost Pro messaging and this is very good. I just wonder if SIMs will offer any sort of options to integrate this in the future. Since there is so much "Grey" its seems dangerous to use InTouch, especially since I can't get any real answer from Capita on the phone / via email. With thanks for the advice.

HI About a year ago, our LEA told us to stop using SurveyMonkey, as the Data was not held in the EU. This was incorrect, but correctly, IF data is outside of the EU, then is it not good. We have now been told that we have to use MAILEXPRESS for sending secure emails. BUT, I've checked with MailExpress and the data is hosted in the USA. So, I don't really why we should use this. Does anyone else have concerns with MailExpress ? Thanks

Hi I've recently had a sales pitch from Capita, saying how much money InTouch will save because student reports can be emailed home, saving money on printing costs, etc. I asked about Data Protection and how SIMs InTouch encrypts its emails & the sales guy didn't know the answer. Since then, I've spoken to three different people at SIMS and all I am told is that it IS encrypted - but they don't know how. I've read a few technical documents, and it seems that when someone clicks "send message" or "send report" in SIMS, then InTouch send the message/report via an encrypted tunnel to Capita, who then send out the email UNENCRYPTED, so anyone can read it. Our local LEA has sent out a document saying that we can't send emails with student names in, as its not safe. So, I don't see how Capita are allowed to do this. Of course, I could be wrong, but I can't get any information from Capita about this. Does anyone know ? Thanks

Hi Previously out LEA has told me that I can't use certain cloud services, as they are outside of the EU. One example of something they told me was SurveyMonkey, but after doing some digging I think they are in the EU. My LEA now wants me to use MAIL EXPRESS for sending "sensitive data" to them. But from what I can see MAIL EXPRESS servers are in the US ? Are there any clear rules on what cloud services can & cannot be used in a UK School ? With thanks

Of course this is good practice. BUT, my school has been had an Ofsted recently (outcome: Good) and they didn't ask about any encryption whatsoever !