{"id":5181,"date":"2024-03-12T09:23:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/education\/blog\/?p=5181"},"modified":"2025-12-18T22:39:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T06:39:20","slug":"strategies-for-identity-and-access-management-in-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2024\/03\/strategies-for-identity-and-access-management-in-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategies for identity and access management in education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s like playing a game where the rules are constantly changing. But cybersecurity is no game. And the stakes are especially high for schools.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology was already firmly integrated with school systems before the COVID-19 pandemic. But since 2020, admin processes and classroom learning\u2014whether traditional, hybrid, or fully remote\u2014have pivoted, increasingly relying on technology-based solutions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these digital platforms have helped to streamline and deepen learning in countless ways, they have also made school systems more prone to cyberattacks and compliance violations: especially when teachers, students, and staff share sensitive information such as passwords. Limited cybersecurity training and budgets also make school districts especially vulnerable to attack<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policies and processes establishing user identities are commonly referred to as identity and access management (IAM), which requires users to authenticate themselves before accessing email accounts, learning management systems, and databases. This ensures the right access for the right people to help prevent data breaches and uphold student and educator privacy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A student working on a laptop in a classroom. Microsoft 365 Education helps schools provide secure learning experiences with built-in cybersecurity features.  <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protect your school\u2019s devices and data with Microsoft\u2019s industry-leading cybersecurity solutions<\/a> that bring the digital security needs of your students, teachers, and school districts to the forefront. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking to go deeper? Join us at the Microsoft Secure<\/a> digital event on March 13, 2024, to learn how to bring world-class threat intelligence, complete end-to-end protection, and industry-leading, responsible AI to your organization. Register for Microsoft Secure<\/a> today.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IAM cybersafe and cybersound <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

IAM is an automated process that grants access to systems based on a user\u2019s unique role. For many school districts, this is a manual\u2014and oftentimes cumbersome\u2014process. Automation, however, streamlines this process while making it more secure. Merely automating this process can also dramatically lessen support calls and IT workload, which is especially important when resources are spread across different systems.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIAM solutions are put in place to help schools protect valuable data<\/a>, including school records and personal information on students and educators, which is a key target for cybercriminals,\u201d says Wes Gyure, director of strategy and offering management at IBM Security. \u201cGiven that schools are dealing with minors\u2019 personally identifiable information, there are also data privacy laws that they must comply with. This makes it even more important to validate who is accessing what data, whether they have the appropriate entitlements, and that they are who they say they are.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four main components of IAM<\/a> are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Authentication: <\/strong>This process actively verifies the identity of users by requesting their unique identifiers and necessary credentials to demonstrate that they are legitimate.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Authorization:<\/strong> This is the act of granting access to tools and resources. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Administration:<\/strong> This component manages users\u2019 accounts, groups, permissions, and password policies.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Auditing and reporting (A&R):<\/strong> This focuses on what users use their given access for, what they do with the data or resources they accessed, and how this helps the organization to track and detect unauthorized or suspicious activities. It enables IT teams to keep detailed audit trails of identity and access within a school or district.   <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Single-minded safety <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    One common IAM solution is single sign-on (SSO), which allows a user to access systems and services just once with just a single ID and password. This increases efficiency for students and staff while reducing the risk of stolen passwords<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is another important way to prevent bad actors from accessing school systems? \u201cImplement multi-factor authentication for school staff and educators<\/a>,\u201d said Doug Levin, the national director of K12 Security Information Exchange, or K12 SIX, a nonprofit dedicated solely to helping school districts and other primary and secondary education organizations protect themselves from emerging cybersecurity risk. \u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Safety in numbers <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Multifactor authentication (MFA) provides another layer of protection for schools and districts, requiring users to verify additional factors such as a trusted device and, in some instances, biometric data such as a fingerprint\u2014or an adaptive access solution, which may require geolocation. This is another way to prevent bad actors from using stolen passwords to break into educational systems. IAM solutions provide users access to their educational applications from a single launchpad, making it fast and intuitive to make the most of learning time, and automate account provisioning, so that users don\u2019t have to wait for a school IT department to manually handle a request.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    A school IT team collaborating. Microsoft 365 Education helps schools and districts establish a simple, secure, and efficient technology environment that maximizes learning.<\/em>   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A trusted partner in cybersecurity <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Microsoft believes that when students, educators, and staff work in a secure and trusted platform, everyone can achieve more. That\u2019s why our power security solutions for education<\/a> authenticate and authorize all human and nonhuman identities at every access request: outmaneuvering attackers while simplifying processes.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Microsoft IAM solutions apply machine learning-based risk assessments to protect from identity attacks while reducing sign-in friction with quick and secure connections to the resources that teachers, students, and administration need.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Microsoft Entra family   <\/h2>\n\n\n\n