BELOW IS AN E-MAIL FROM DAVE GARDNER, THE SCHOOL'S ICT SYSTEMS MANAGER, WRITTEN IN RESPONSE TO THE PROPOSALS TO LIFT THE SCHOOL FILTERS. HE IS AN EXPERT AND THEREFORE A HIGHLY VALID SOURCE TO USE IN YOUR COURSEWORK.
Hi Leanna
I hope the following information is ok for you.
Technical reasons why Internet filtering is in place
Many thanks,
David Gardner
ICT Systems Manager
Churchdown School
Winston Road
Churchdown
Gloucester
GL3 2RB
I hope the following information is ok for you.
Technical reasons why Internet filtering is in place
- Viruses – Users can infect the PC with computer viruses that can cause substantial disruption to the operation of the entire network. If a particularly aggressive virus replicated across the school domain, the only fix would be to reformat all machines (including servers) and build the network up from scratch. This would take many weeks. The school’s data would need to be restored from backup once the the base of the network had been reinstalled. More worryingly, viruses can compromise sensitive school data and steal bank account details.
- Prevents Phishing and Malware sites from accessing school devices or data - Similar to viruses, Malware and Phishing websites cans steal information, such as usernames and passwords for any website (including Internet Banking). All school data is at risk of being compromised. Phishing sites are designed to share information (including names and addresses) with criminals, as well as bombarding each users email address list with undesirable emails.
- Prevents unauthorised external access through hate/grooming sites - Criminals can gain access to vulnerable pupils using unmonitored chat rooms or internet forums.
- Bandwidth - Internet performance, reliability and stability are crucial factors for our school. Filtering helps us diagnose and resolve Internet traffic problems like bottlenecks, over use of streaming video sites, application performance, optimising the use of cloud services and prioritising critical traffic.
- Media Piracy and Unlicensed Software – Prevents users from accessing unlicensed and illegal software, music and videos, which the school would be held accountable for.
Many thanks,
David Gardner
ICT Systems Manager
Churchdown School
Winston Road
Churchdown
Gloucester
GL3 2RB