Dive Brief:

• Schools across the country have embraced the cloud for educational services and applications for its flexibility and ease of use, and while data security is a lingering concern, the cloud can be even safer than traditional storage methods.
• Ed Tech Magazine reports schools that negotiate with third-party vendors can take advantage of sometimes higher-quality security protocols, and as long as the proper policies are in place to protect and store data and train users, the cloud should present no greater threat to data security.
• When it comes to products, Google Apps for Education, Microsoft Office 365 Education and Adobe Creative Cloud all offer their own benefits for schools, including collaboration, offline access and an introduction to programs students may eventually see in the workplace.

Dive Insight:

While some companies may have greater capacity to protect sensitive data, schools should not assume this is the case when signing new contracts with vendors. Best practices include limiting the amount of sensitive information that ever makes it to third-party vendors and having strict data protection policies in writing as part of the contracts.

Because much of the risk to school districts comes from end users, administrators should focus on training for teachers, staff and students. While centralizing approvals for new educational applications may slow down classroom adoption, it will ensure teachers do not inadvertently give away more student information than necessary to open new accounts. And regular information campaigns about phishing attempts can help prevent situations in which users give away their own login information to hackers.