Why protecting PII information is important
Keeping PII private is important to ensure the integrity of your organization but also to keep your students identity and data secure. Especially in the educational setting. With just a few bits of your personal information, thieves can create false accounts in there names, start racking up debt, or even create a falsified passport and sell your identity to a criminal. There is also huge liability issues if a students medical and physiological data is stolen.
Today personal data is being recorded, tracked, and utilized daily and our fingerprints and facial scans are used to unlock our devices, making it more important than ever to protect this data and any pieces of identifying information that is unique to a student.
Student Data Privacy and Child Health and Wellbeing
It’s critical to keep in mind that protecting a student’s data also has a lot to do with protecting their health and wellbeing. Children are among the most vulnerable to a hacker’s schemes.
Student Data Privacy and Child Safety
Part of keeping children safe is making sure that threats don’t come from their participation on the internet at school. Bad things can happen when hackers obtain private student data. In 2017, a group known as Dark Overlord took credit for releasing student information from a school district in Iowa. Parents and children also received threats to harm students.
The FBI has a section called Crimes Against Children/Online Predators that addresses cyberbullying and activity on social networking sites. What would be more tempting to a child than hearing from someone who seemed to know all about them?
Student Data Privacy and Financial Security
Undoubtedly, access to student data is one of the reasons why school districts are so attractive to hackers. With the right information, a hacker can take advantage of students’ untarnished credit reports to start a booming identity theft operation. Cybercriminals who are active on the black market often pay up to $350 for a student record.
Students need to be aware of the problem and learn how to protect their data. But, when cybercriminals go after their data through their school, it becomes the school district’s responsibility to block that avenue of attack.
Student Data Privacy and Ethics
Is it ethical for anyone to collect a student’s PII in the K-12 environment? Certainly, school districts need some PII information to administer their schools. However, companies who specialize in data collection can now begin to build profiles on children at a young age.
Just imagine how long it would take to get the records corrected when a cybercriminal steals a child’s identity. And, in fact, that type of correction isn’t always successful. The demolished credit history will follow that child into adulthood.
The issue of protecting a student’s data privacy is so much more important than just allowing a school district to comply with regulations. Poor data security can have a huge impact on each student’s life.
Parents can only do so much to help their children. If someone steals their child’s information from the school, the parent is helpless. It’s the responsibility of each school district to prevent the unauthorized distribution of student PII. Sadly, schools aren’t doing a good job of meeting that responsibility. Hopefully, this training will help change that tend.
