With schools closed, students and staff have looked to an assortment of digital and online resources to stay connected. Some of these platforms and software have student data and privacy risks, while some of the new remote learning environments have revealed the limited visibility and control districts previously had over cloud-based file sharing, email, and video conferencing, which can lead to other security issues.
ManagedMethods, a Google G Suite and Microsoft 365 cybersecurity and student safety platform for K-12 school districts, today announced the addition of Google Meet and Chat monitoring and reporting to its platform, giving districts full visibility and control into the activity taking place within.
“The current circumstances due to COVID-19 have rapidly transformed K-12 education, and brought with it new cybersecurity and student safety challenges. Schools are relying on Google Meet for video conferencing and Google Chat for communications,” said Charlie Sander, CEO of ManagedMethods. “Our new Google Meet and Chat monitoring functionality will give IT teams more insight into school meetings to better protect sensitive data, secure remote learning, keep meetings private and students safe.”
Districts rely on ManagedMethods to protect their G Suite environments not only from cybersecurity risks, including phishing and malware, data loss, and account takeovers, but also to monitor for student safety signals. These safety concerns include cyberbullying, self-harm, threats of violence, discrimination, and domestic abuse that are found in text and image content.
ManagedMethods allows IT administrators at schools to analyze:
- Meet Activity: Who attended a meeting, when each attendee joined and how long they were in a meeting, where they joined from, the device used, if screen sharing was enabled by an attendee, and for how long.
- Participants by Organizational Unit: Which meetings included a teacher or staff member, and which ones did not.
- Meeting Participants from Outside Domains: All meetings that included an attendee from outside the school domain.
- Analysis: Export Google Meet and Chat data to help build customized reports for analysis and support from district administrators.
- Compliance: Identify student safety, data security, and privacy compliance issues happening in Chat that may violate FERPA, COPPA, and CIPA standards.
Districts are still responsible for complying with student data privacy regulations, including FERPA, COPPA, and CIPA when conducting remote learning. To do so, IT teams are challenged to secure video meetings from unauthorized access by a non-organizational account – including a parent or guardian account – while all school activity takes place outside the network perimeter.
With ManagedMethods, risks across G Suite for Education, now including Google Meet and Chat, are inside one dashboard. IT teams can monitor and audit student safety signals, student data privacy risks, and cybersecurity threats in one platform, from any location, on any device.
ManagedMethods will be hosting a webinar on May 14 at 11:30 a.m. MDT to demonstrate its Google Meet and Chat monitoring and reporting capabilities for school districts. To learn more, visit the ManagedMethods Google Meet & Chat Demo Webinar registration page.
