The tech infrastructure of your school, the security of your pupils, and the effectiveness of your online learning all depend on your web filter.
With the implementation of brand-new and evolving digital learning technologies for K–12 education, school IT departments have had to quickly adapt. Schools have a lot more to manage to keep children safe online as a result of increased device usage, mobility, and collaboration.
You must use your web filtering software for schools to:
- Offer cutting-edge technologies, such as AI that can accurately classify content and spot harmful behaviors.
- Provide cloud-based web filtering services that increase your filtering's speed, scalability, and seamless mobility while decreasing management and expense.
- Possess functions that make it easier and better to control your filter and SSL decryption on each device.
Do they apply to your present solution? If not, it could be time to use a different filter. These five indicators show that it's time to replace your K–12 web filter.
1: MITM Proxy
The initial stage in decrypting the internet traffic you're trying to censor requires a dependable man-in-the-middle proxy, PAC files, and trust certificates. Your IT staff shouldn't have to deal with administering those processes, as a good web filtering system should take care of that as well.
The majority of supplemental services you can already use should follow the same principle. If you utilize a separate student monitoring solution without the required context and AI, you could be introducing unnecessary complexity to IT and costs to your district or if you constantly upgrading hardware to meet the demands of your current solution.
2: Blocking Educational Valuable Content
While providing access to educationally valuable content, a decent web filter should be able to restrict improper content. It's time to switch to a more sophisticated solution if your existing filter is blocking websites that are truly helpful for pupils.
It is important to do so to give access to students that they need to develop and learn.
You can ensure that your students are secure and protected online by upgrading to a more powerful web filter.
3: Inadequate Real-Time Threat Detection
Schools are at serious risk from the ongoing evolution of cyber threats. Institutions are at risk when using a web filtering system without real-time threat detection. It is imperative to upgrade to a system that has this capability because it actively checks web traffic for malware, spots phishing efforts, and protects against numerous cybersecurity hazards.
By protecting employees and students from new threats in the rapidly evolving digital environment, this proactive strategy guarantees a safer online experience for them.
4: Teachers and Parents have Queries or Worries
Parents frequently express concerns regarding student data privacy, online safety, browser blocking, screen time, and general device usage when school-issued devices are brought home.
ou should be able to communicate with parents about those worries without clogging up IT departments thanks to your web filtering solution's clear, uncomplicated responses.
Concerns about how your online filtering will be incorporated into the classroom can also come from teachers.
5: When the IT Team Struggling to Manage
Web filtering is the practice of preventing access to improper or hazardous websites. To stay current with the most recent dangers, web filtering policies must be frequently updated.
It's time to update to an easier-to-manage system if your IT team is having trouble keeping up with the demands of web filtering. Detailed information on website traffic and restricted content should be available from a decent web filtering solution.
It should also be simple to set up and operate. To keep up with online filtering and guarantee that your students are shielded from harmful content, this will assist your IT team.
6: Lack of HTTP Inspection
Web traffic encryption can be examined and decrypted using HTTPS inspection. Because HTTPS is now widely used by websites, it can be challenging to determine what content is being viewed. This makes it vital.
Schools can benefit from using HTTPS inspection to restrict improper or hazardous content and to shield pupils from online dangers. The entire security and content filtering capabilities of your network are strengthened by this crucial feature, which ensures that no harmful or unsuitable content is hidden within secure connections.
7: Filter is not Updated
Web filters are updated often to stop fresh threats and address flaws. Your students might be in danger if your filter is out-of-date since it might not be able to stop the most recent threats. Maintaining an updated web filter is crucial if you want to keep your students safe online.
To Sum Up
Your school's web filtering system must be upgraded for employees and students to remain secure and productive online. It's time to look into more sophisticated and all-encompassing choices if any of these seven indicators are present in your current filtration system.
You can make sure that your school is secure, compliant, and ready to react to the rapidly changing online environment by investing in the appropriate web filtering equipment.
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