Survey Partners Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools and Colleges Survey Report 2016 Contents The Survey 3 Survey Methodology and Respondents Profile 4 Key Findings 6 Conclusion 11 Appendix 1 - Full Survey Questions 12 Appendix 2 - Participating Organisations 23 Acknowledgements The survey team at iGov Survey would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who were kind enough to take part - and especially to those who found the time to offer additional insight through their extra comments. We would also like to thank our survey partner, WatchGuard, for their assistance in compiling the survey questions, in scrutinising the responses and analysing the subsequent results. Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools and Colleges 2016 is © copyright iGov Survey. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all rights including those in copyright in the content of this publication are owned by or controlled for these purposes by iGov Survey. Except as otherwise expressly permitted under copyright law or iGov Survey’s Terms of Use, the content of this publication are owned by or controlled may not be copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, posted, broadcast or transmitted in any way without first obtaining iGov Survey’s written permission or that of the copyright owner. To contact the iGov Survey team: Email: [email protected] Tel: 0845 094 8567 Address: FAO David Cross, Ingenium IDS Ltd, Mansion House, Wellington Road South, Stockport, Cheshire, SK1 3UA Page 2! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges The Survey During the last year, schools and colleges of further education have been made aware of new requirements for them to put in place ‘strengthened measures’ to protect students from harm online. These measures are designed to create an environment of better on- campus monitoring and to reinforce the prevention of threats, including cyber bullying, pornography and to help reduce the risk of radicalisation. In light of this growing responsibility, our Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools and Colleges 2016 survey was designed to examine how UK schools and colleges currently manage the safety of their pupils and staff when they access online resources via their network. The central aim of the survey was to take the temperature of current practices among Britain’s educators - and to try to determine what, if anything, is currently considered as ‘best practice’ across the country. With this aim, we worked with experts from integrated network security providers at WatchGuard Technologies, to examine network safety and Wi-Fi management trends across schools and colleges of further education. We have now collated the resulting outcomes and the following report contains a summary of our survey panel’s key findings. Page 3! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges Survey Methodology and Respondents Profile This survey was conducted by iGov Survey in collaboration with WatchGuard. The project ran between Tuesday 5th April 2016 and Monday 25th April 2016. 282 individuals from 265 unique organisations participated in the survey, each of whom will have received a complimentary copy of this complete findings report. There was no inducement to take part in the survey, and WatchGuard was not introduced as the survey partner. Survey respondents represented a broad cross-section of seniority levels across school and college leadership teams. The roles of those who who responded included: Headmaster, Headmistress, Deputy Head, IT Operations Manager, Network Manager, School Business Manager, Senior Deputy Head, Bursar, Finance & Operations Director, Director of IT, Vice Principal Learning & Quality and Head of Information Systems. The results displayed throughout this report are based on those who fully completed the questionnaire and are displayed as a percentage, unless otherwise stated. Participants: Breakdown by Sector 21% Colleges of FE 1% Multi Academy Trusts 54% Schools Independent Secondary Schools 24% Page 4! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges Key Findings Just 25% of survey participants are currently restricting the level of bandwidth that is used per student, per device within their school or college - whilst over half (51%) have no plans to introduce this in the future This suggests that, despite the risks that outbound communications and usage can pose, many schools and colleges are very much focussed on the inbound access to their network, with 86% confident that they were already using a robust web-filtering online safety tool. Whilst this highlights a good understanding of protection against risks such as viruses and malware, it also suggests a lack of awareness of the severity of outbound risks including; the leakage of sensitive documents and information, cyber bullying originating from within the school, and the possibility of reputational damage. Question: Which of the following are you either looking to introduce or are already using in your school or college? Already in use Plan to introduce No plans to introduce Don’t know Deploy a more robust web- filtering online safety tool Enhance our control of access to inappropriate content Secure our organisation’s wireless access Monitoring of our organisation’s wireless access Restricting how much bandwidth is used per student per device Restricting what data can be sent outside our network Selectively restrict internet access in real time Define what our organisation regards as ‘inappropriate’ content Restricting ‘inappropriate’ content for different users 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Page 5! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges Nearly half (45%) of respondents reported their organisation as having direct responsibility for their own network safety set-up, via an in-house solution The rest of the respondents (55%) reported that the network safety solution in their school or college was either the responsibility of: • A standing external, private provider (29%) • Their local Council (15%) • Via a ‘bespoke’ arrangement (9%) Question: Who is currently responsible for providing and 2% 9% 15% operating your network safety solution? A local authority provider An external private provider An in-house solution 29% We have a bespoke arrangement 45% Don't know A further small proportion (2%) said that they either didn’t know, or preferred not to say. Interestingly, this suggests that a trend of migration away from dependence on Local Government legacy provision has been underway for the last few years, with almost twice as many respondents opting to work alongside an external provider and many bringing their solution in-house. As a result however, organisations are now faced with the responsibility of finding a balance between the need for easy, quick access to their networks and the safeguarding of children and data. Page 6! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges Almost a third of participants (27%) have been using their current Wi-Fi and network safety solution for at least four years With the growing sophistication of cyber attacks and the constantly changing environment of technology, the security of networks depends on the safety solution’s ability to deal with modern threats. Our results then suggest that many organisations are still utilising out-of-date technology that may not be able to effectively respond to the latest threats. Question: Roughly how long have you been using your current: Network safety solution and Wi-Fi network? Less than a year Around a year 1-2 years 2-3 years 3-4 years 4+ years Don't know Network safety solution Wi-Fi network 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Page 7! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges As might be expected, the vast majority of responding schools and colleges (92%) said they used their Wi-Fi for general internet browsing 56% of responding schools and colleges said they used it for the provision of electronic textbooks, with 34% making use of their Wi-Fi to enable online ‘chat’ services. A high proportion of schools and colleges - based on these respondents - report their use of Wi-Fi to provide video services for staff and students. This is either specifically YouTube (a clear leader with 69%, although it must be remembered that this was the only online video provider that was singled out in our survey as its own category) and/or other video services (with 47% reporting using them). Question: What does your school or college currently use its Wi-Fi network for? Please tick all that apply. Electronic textbooks Online chat services Forums & discussion boards General internet browsing YouTube Other video services Don't know Other 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Page 8! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges The vast majority (79%) of survey participants stated that their organisation currently stores their data on-premise Of this group, 14% reported that this was stored all in one location, whilst most (65%) told us that they stored data across multiple different systems and/or locations. In contrast, just 5% reported that they stored their data in an off-premise only solution, whilst 22% currently use a Cloud solution. Question: Currently, how does your organisation store data? Please tick all that apply. On premise - in one location On premise - multiple systems/ locations On premise and additional storage provided by an external supplier Off premise only solution Via a hybrid solution Via a Cloud solution Don’t know 0% 14% 28% 42% 56% 70% Page 9! of 20! Network Safety & Wi-Fi Management in Schools & Colleges Conclusion by Mike Pencavel, Channel Account Manager at WatchGuard Technologies Over the past twelve months, new requirements have been placed on schools and colleges in the UK to better monitor internet use on campus. This network safety and Wi- Fi management in schools and colleges survey highlighted the current landscape in light of these regulations, in addition to identifying areas that could be improved.