4 electronic risks face students in schools

The Department of Education and Knowledge in Abu Dhabi has identified four electronic risks facing students, and the schools obligated the development of appropriate filtering systems and appropriate follow -up, to monitor students ‘use of the Internet on school devices and systems, and to perform a periodic analysis of students’ use of the Internet and electronic network violations, to determine possible negative trends or problems.

The department explained that the digital incident occurs when a school community member uses digital technology inappropriately, including violating reasonable use policies, accessing inappropriate content, inappropriate behaviors, inappropriate communication and electronic bullying, and any other violation of school regulations in the Internet environment.

The department obligated schools – since the beginning of the current academic year under the new digital policy (Emirates Today obtained a copy of it) when a digital incident occurred during the study hours or in circles on which the policies of the digital school applies – conducting interventions and providing support to students and employees, informing the Department of Education and Knowledge of digital accidents, cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Police in investigations when necessary, and ensuring that each digital incident is registered and documented And signed by the principal, and preserving it for audit purposes, in addition to asking parents to monitor their children’s use of digital devices outside the school campus and outside the study hours, to ensure safe and appropriate digital behavior.

The department pointed out that schools must design and generalize policies for good digital use, through which students, parents, employees, and visitors are targeted, and these policies must define the permitted activities of these groups and prohibited from them within the school campus and on its network and digital systems, and it must include: the definition of the responsible use of the school software, networks, services and digital devices provided by the school, including Common devices, and prohibited use rules for personal devices on the school network and inside their campus, and during the extra -curricular activities that are held outside the school, such as field trips, and schools must restrict the use of virtual private networks (VPNS) by students inside the school campus or through school networks, unless it is explicitly declared for specific educational or administrative purposes.

The electronic risks that students may face include exposure to inappropriate or illegal content, or content that may harm their psychological health, exposure to an insecure electronic communication, such as “communicating with users who have fake personal files”, and following a personal behavior on the Internet that may lead to self -harm or others, such as “participating in electronic bullying”, in addition to fraud and financial risks, such as “gambling and e -mail”, Pointing to the need for schools to develop programs and systems and identify mechanisms and procedures, to protect students from electronic risks and ensure their integrated safety.

The department has identified 14 schools to protect cybersecurity, which included: establishing a safe and strong digital infrastructure, ensuring the application of relevant cyber security controls, which includes the definition and application of the access control system based on the role, to ensure that users obtain appropriate permits, and the application of encryption on the transferred and stored data to protect sensitive information, and the use of modern protection walls (safety system), and systems detection and prevent infiltration, and infiltration systems, To protect from uncomplicated access, monitor and audit the movement of the network regularly to discover unusual patterns, and to install and update anti -virus software and harmful programs on all the schools run by the school.

The procedures included: creating a regular backup mechanism for important data, applying data prevention tools to ensure that data is not leaked or penetrated, and conducting regular training sessions for employees and students, to enhance awareness about the threats of cybersecurity and best practices, and to develop an accident for accidents and update them regularly to treat security breaches immediately, and to ensure that access to servers, network equipment and structure Other important infrastructure, implementing comprehensive monitoring systems, to discover and respond to security incidents, and follow safe programming practices when developing or buying educational software, and ensuring that the chosen suppliers adhere to strict safety standards in the event of the use of cloud services, in addition to securing communication and cooperation platforms, to protect sensitive educational information common to students and employees.

She stressed that lack of compliance with this policy will submit the school to legal accountability and the penalties applied under the regulations, policies and requirements for the Department of Education and Knowledge, without prejudice to the penalties imposed by the law of crimes and penalties and its amendments or any other relevant law, and the department also maintains the right to intervene if the school violates its obligations.

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Digital School Strategy

The Department of Education and Knowledge obligated schools to develop the digital school strategy and implement it, conduct an annual review of its implementation methods, monitor the progress of education goals for students, development plans and purchasing plans in the school, and examine technologies, programs and electronic platforms, to ensure that they conform to the strategy goals, and test and evaluate risk for systems and digital infrastructure of the school, such as «reserve and recovery», To verify its safety and it meets the desired purpose, review the efficiency of school measures, to protect cybersecurity and security, re -evaluate the school’s technological needs, based on the opinions of employees, parents and students, planning and digital development according to that, in addition to reviewing the needs of the digital development of employees, and identifying the necessary additional training courses.

• 14 procedures to protect cybersecurity in schools.