The hype surrounding the BYOD market is well earned, being on pace to reach $367 billion in 2022 compared to a mere $30 billion as of 2014. This is great news in terms of technological advancements but creates room opens a window for malicious exploitations. An often-overlooked aspect of this accelerated BYOD growth is the impact it has in an educational environment, where hundreds or even thousands of devices are brought in and out of school systems every day.

Where does BYOD fit in education?

With personal tablets and phones being the norm for students and teachers, when they bring them into the school it not only increases the demand placed upon the network infrastructure but also opens massive opportunities for cyber threats if not handled appropriately. Being able to adapt to these technology trends is crucial to ensuring both student and staff safety.

What actions can I take to prevent BYOD from interfering with my student’s safety?

The good news is that with new technology, come new ways of maximizing the benefits while mitigating any potential risks. Using tools such as network policy and analytics gives a granular view into student activity and grants IT professionals:

• Full visibility into who is on their network
• Real-time heat maps showing where a device is located on-premise
• Capabilities to monitor which applications are being accessed and for how long
• The ability to detect unwanted visitors and unrecognized devices
• Total control over BYOD usage and data flow
• Simple and secure onboarding
• Context-based control

All of this is done under a single pane of glass when leveraging the proper network solutions. In other words…

Network policy and analytics give IT leaders a proactive approach with their network vs a reactive one

By leveraging solutions such as NAC with ExtremeControl, school IT departments can rest easy knowing that they are in complete control of their network and can stop security threats immediately – before it’s too late. In our upcoming webinar, Protecting and Monitoring Student Safety with Network Policy and Analytics, our expert speaker lineup of school networking professionals will discuss practical steps you can take to maximize network security, student safety, and network performance.

What about student access to their devices?

Our Protecting and Monitoring Student Safety with Network Policy and Analytics webinar will also delve into:

• Integrating student access to 1:1 computing devices like Google Chromebooks into the network access control system
• Combining Extreme Networks Access Control (EAC) solution with Google’s G Suite, allowing network and security administrators to ensure that only registered Chrome OS devices can use the network and its resources
• How devices can be assigned to different end-system groups in Extreme Control based on the devices’ location configured in G Suite
• How the solution pulls extensive device data from G Suite and updates the end-systems in EAC to provide network administrators with a unique view of Chrome OS data – all within a single management interface

If you are in an IT role in an educational environment, make it a point to register today to learn how all these pieces come together to create the next generation of secure network solutions. For more information, come prepared to have your questions answered in real-time along with a live demonstration of these powerful technologies during our webinar on June 18th at 10 am ET. This is certainly a session not to be missed!

This blog was originally authored by Demand Generation Specialist, Tom Coutu.