With any implementation of BYOD, whether it is in business or education, concerns arise in the area of security. IT professionals must be heavily involved in the process of policy creation and adoption due to the foreseen issues individual devices may bring to a network. In educational circles safety of students is brought to the forefront, as the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and E-rate funds require districts to develop policies protecting students from inappropriate use and access to certain content on the Internet (Federal Communications Commission, 2013). BYOD raises the level of concern not only from school network operators but also from students and teachers as many become frustrated with filtering systems that prohibit the use of some applications as well as block potentially useful websites (Hill, 2011). However, as long as schools receive federal funds and the law remains intact, access to Internet content will most assuredly be limited which leaves school districts the task of how to go about ensuring regulations are met when students are using their own devices for educational purposes.
Network Issues
Ensuring networks are ready for a BYOD initiative is certainly a first step in adoption, and some schools find there is much work to be done in this area. The process varies from district to district and from one network administrator to the next. Ullman (2011) described how several school districts prepared their networks for student-owned devices:
Students at New Canaan High School in Connecticut must register their devices online before using school Wi-Fi.
In Texas’ Alvarado Independent School District, students are asked to join the network from their devices, allowing the system to check each device before allowing access.
Katy Independent Schools in Texas created a filtered public Wi-Fi in their schools, and if students use school-issued devices, they can even log on to Verizon’s service, which is also filtered, while at home.
Community Unit School District in Illinois took over 2 years to prepare for system-wide BYOD by first rewriting district and school technology policies then implementing pilot programs. The system also added wireless Internet in every school, increased IP addresses, and firewall protection.
According to Patten and Harris (2013), IT professionals need to be concerned with mobile device security issues, such as malware, jailbreaking and rooting. Most malware attacks occur through the downloading of mobile apps on Android devices, while jailbreaking happens when Apple iOS users remove restrictions which open up the devices to malicious activity. Rooting is a similar activity that Android users may participate in. Patten and Harris cited a survey of IT professionals by Tenable Security which showed that many did not have systems in place to protect their networks from security threats caused by BYOD. The researchers suggested using Mobile Device Management (MDM) and/or Mobile Application Management (MAM) systems to help alleviate the threats (Patten & Harris, 2013)
Access
Mobile devices now provide greater access to the Internet than ever before, but greater access entails greater risk. Because students can utilize these devices for inappropriate use, many school districts have historically banned their use (Robinson, Brown, & Green, 2010); however, as BYOD has taken root, districts now turn to their system policies to regulate student use. Robinson, Brown, and Green (2010) suggested schools use filtering and/or blocking services to prohibit students from malicious use as well as “develop policies that clearly outline their [mobile devices] positive uses and the consequences for their misuse” (p. 54). As stated earlier schools that receive federal E-rate funds must have Internet use policies in place, and these can be updated to include mobile devices. Robinson, Brown, and Green endorsed the idea that mobile learning allows educators the opportunity to promote digital citizenship, discussing appropriate and inappropriate online behaviors, within the curriculum.
Community Unit School District (CUSD) in Illinois took over 2 years to prepare for system-wide BYOD by first rewriting district and school technology policies then implementing pilot programs at several of its schools (Ullman, 2011). The process to BYOD implementation is not one to be rushed into, even though the reasons for doing so are legitimate (i.e, technology budget cuts, student needs, etc.). See Figure 1 for a suggested model for implementation by Eric Willard of CUSD (Ullman, 2011).
With any implementation of BYOD, whether it is in business or education, concerns arise in the area of security. IT professionals must be heavily involved in the process of policy creation and adoption due to the foreseen issues individual devices may bring to a network. In educational circles safety of students is brought to the forefront, as the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and E-rate funds require districts to develop policies protecting students from inappropriate use and access to certain content on the Internet (Federal Communications Commission, 2013). BYOD raises the level of concern not only from school network operators but also from students and teachers as many become frustrated with filtering systems that prohibit the use of some applications as well as block potentially useful websites (Hill, 2011). However, as long as schools receive federal funds and the law remains intact, access to Internet content will most assuredly be limited which leaves school districts the task of how to go about ensuring regulations are met when students are using their own devices for educational purposes.
Network Issues
Ensuring networks are ready for a BYOD initiative is certainly a first step in adoption, and some schools find there is much work to be done in this area. The process varies from district to district and from one network administrator to the next. Ullman (2011) described how several school districts prepared their networks for student-owned devices:
According to Patten and Harris (2013), IT professionals need to be concerned with mobile device security issues, such as malware, jailbreaking and rooting. Most malware attacks occur through the downloading of mobile apps on Android devices, while jailbreaking happens when Apple iOS users remove restrictions which open up the devices to malicious activity. Rooting is a similar activity that Android users may participate in. Patten and Harris cited a survey of IT professionals by Tenable Security which showed that many did not have systems in place to protect their networks from security threats caused by BYOD. The researchers suggested using Mobile Device Management (MDM) and/or Mobile Application Management (MAM) systems to help alleviate the threats (Patten & Harris, 2013)
Access
Mobile devices now provide greater access to the Internet than ever before, but greater access entails greater risk. Because students can utilize these devices for inappropriate use, many school districts have historically banned their use (Robinson, Brown, & Green, 2010); however, as BYOD has taken root, districts now turn to their system policies to regulate student use. Robinson, Brown, and Green (2010) suggested schools use filtering and/or blocking services to prohibit students from malicious use as well as “develop policies that clearly outline their [mobile devices] positive uses and the consequences for their misuse” (p. 54). As stated earlier schools that receive federal E-rate funds must have Internet use policies in place, and these can be updated to include mobile devices. Robinson, Brown, and Green endorsed the idea that mobile learning allows educators the opportunity to promote digital citizenship, discussing appropriate and inappropriate online behaviors, within the curriculum.
Community Unit School District (CUSD) in Illinois took over 2 years to prepare for system-wide BYOD by first rewriting district and school technology policies then implementing pilot programs at several of its schools (Ullman, 2011). The process to BYOD implementation is not one to be rushed into, even though the reasons for doing so are legitimate (i.e, technology budget cuts, student needs, etc.). See Figure 1 for a suggested model for implementation by Eric Willard of CUSD (Ullman, 2011).