How Microsoft Teams Helps Cybersecurity in Education

Imagine the education system in the future: Students waking up in the morning, checking into their classes on their tablets, sitting down at their PCs and taking their tests. This isn’t a post-COVID world or a “new normal,” but rather the inevitable direction that many schools were already moving toward.

The Advantages of Online Learning

Students are increasingly having access to online learning and distance learning — and many schools, particularly institutions of higher education, are integrating these learning options. While college students may attend class in person, they may take tests and quizzes online, or engage in an online discussion. While students may normally go to class, they may have snow days or may only attend labs.

This is the system that fits in with a fast-paced world in which students may be engaging in extracurricular activities, working part-time jobs or otherwise living their lives. But it’s also a system that many schools are struggling to develop.

The truth is that once a school does create a system for online learning (which most schools feel a need to do because they have to be able to provide some online courses), they may as well take advantage of it. With online learning, institutes of higher education are able to increase their reach and get students from anywhere, and they’re able to acquire instructors from anywhere as well.

Perhaps the most compelling argument for online learning is that, to some degree, it’s simply inevitable. As more schools move to a partially or primarily online format, it becomes necessary to remain competitive and to deliver the best possible experience to students. Students are going to increasingly demand opportunities for online learning, and schools that are not able to deliver this will fall behind.

But that comes with some complexity. Higher education data security and cybersecurity for schools becomes a significant question mark. Not only do the systems have to be easy for educators and students to use, but they also have to be able to manage data securely.

How Microsoft Teams Can Help Cybersecurity for Schools

Texas Senate Bill 820 recently required that cybersecurity in education be stepped up and that breaches that impact students be reported quickly. It’s understandable that many security issues have emerged in the last year with the switch to remote learning due to the COVID-19 crisis. Many schools are using cobbled-together systems, teachers are struggling to use them, and many students aren’t securing their own data properly. Many schools already had major security issues; moving to an online-only atmosphere only compounded them.

But this is also an excellent opportunity for schools to start developing better security and better technological infrastructure. Microsoft Teams may be one such answer.

Security features of MS Teams include:

• Authentication services. Students and employees of the school will be connecting through the same authentication services, which can use multi-factor authentication and make sure that the accounts are secure. Many people don’t know how to properly secure their accounts.
• Data encryption. MS Teams will be able to automatically encrypt and protect data, so even if the data is copied or otherwise breached, it won’t be readable to the person who breached it. Educational institutions have social security information, payment information and more.
• Data consolidation. Because every communication will go through MS Teams, mobile device management — data held on personal devices — will be less of a concern, and there will be a reduced attack surface. Many students and teachers alike use multiple personal devices to connect to their classes.

MS Teams is frequently used by enterprises to control communications and connect employees for better collaboration. With MS Teams, everything flows through MS Teams, whether it’s chat, voice or notes on a document. By keeping everything within a single portal, companies (and educational institutions) are able to take control over their security. They won’t need to worry about multiple systems being potentially compromised. Instead, one system will need to be secured.

Additionally, MS Teams is backed by Microsoft. Microsoft has put in a lot of development time, energy and resources into making sure that Teams is a highly secured service. Teams is also easy to use for educators and students, because most of them are already familiar with Microsoft programs. It’s mistakes, more often than negligence, that can create security breaches.

At the end of the day, education infrastructure has to not only be technologically strong and secure, but also well-supported and affordable. Microsoft Teams can offer this. Many educational institutions are moving increasingly toward remote learning and need an infrastructure that can both expand and remain intuitive to students and teachers. MS Teams is this solution.

Want to learn more about cyber security in education industry settings? We can help. Contact Red River today to find out more.