Cloud Monitor Provides Visibility and Control Needed to Protect Student Data and Prevent Ransomware

Henderson County School District in Lexington, Tennessee, serves about 4,000 students and 400 staff. As Director of Technology, Thomas Garner oversees both IT and student data with a small but busy team.

In 2023, Henderson County adopted ManagedMethods’ Cloud Monitor to strengthen cybersecurity and student safety across Google Workspace.

Thomas recalls being drawn to Cloud Monitor during the demo. “I thought it was pretty neat that you can see where everybody was logging in from. It gave me visibility I didn’t have before.” 

“Cloud Monitor wasn’t that expensive, so I didn’t need to jump through budget approval hoops. For a reasonable cost, we get protection that helps prevent compromised accounts from turning into ransomware or phishing attacks. You may pay a little now, but it saves a lot down the road if something serious were to hit your system.”

— Thomas Garner, Director of Technology, Henderson County School District

That visibility, combined with tools to manage Google Drive and Classroom, convinced him Cloud Monitor would be a good fit for his district’s needs.

Challenges

Like many districts, Henderson County’s security and safety challenges grew after going one-to-one during COVID. 

“Everything was on-prem. But, once students started taking devices home and everything moved to the cloud, it quickly became apparent that we needed something to track what was happening in Google.”

Thomas explains that suspicious login activity was one of his biggest concerns. “I couldn’t see whether it was a student using a VPN or a compromised account. I had no way of knowing because you just don’t get that information from Google Admin console.”

“Before Cloud Monitor, I couldn’t see whether our suspicious logins were just students using VPNs or if we were under attack. Now everything I need is in one spot, and I can quickly see what’s happening. It saves a ton of time and gives me confidence that our accounts are secure.”

— Thomas Garner, Director of Technology, Henderson County School District

The Google Admin console itself also posed challenges. “Admin console is just so hard to work through. Then, once you’ve got it all figured out, they change it and you have to learn how to do the same things all over again,” Thomas says. “It just ends up taking up so much of your time.”

With no clear way to monitor logins, email, or classroom activity, Thomas needed a more reliable and user-friendly solution to keep Henderson County School District’s students safe.

“Google Admin console is difficult to work with. Then, once you’ve got it all figured out, they change it and you have to learn it all over again. Cloud Monitor is different. It’s easy to use and saves you a ton of time. Plus, ManagedMethods’ support team is there if you need help or extra training.”

— Thomas Garner, Director of Technology, Henderson County School District

Results

Since implementing Cloud Monitor, Thomas says he has far better insight into both student and staff accounts. “I don’t see nearly as many suspicious logins anymore. And, if they do get flagged, I can quickly see what’s happening and unsuspend them if needed.”

“Reach out to ManagedMethods and do the demo. They’re going to make your job a whole lot easier. Cloud Monitor is user-friendly, it saves accounts from being compromised, and it helps prevent bigger risks like ransomware from getting into your system. It’s absolutely worth it.”

— Thomas Garner, Director of Technology, Henderson County School District

Cloud Monitor has also proven valuable in unexpected ways. Thomas recalls a particular case where the district needed to produce communication records between a teacher and a parent. “Cloud Monitor made it easy to pull a report of all the emails between the two parties. It would have been a lot more difficult otherwise because I would’ve had to log in as that teacher. This let us do it on the back end and proved that we were compliant with all requirements.”

He points out that Cloud Monitor also helps the district stay compliant with sensitive data regulations. “I have it set up to alert if someone emails something that may have a FERPA violation or IEP. It gives us checks and balances and makes sure we’re meeting compliance requirements.”

On the student side, it’s been equally useful. “We had one student figure out a way to install Minecraft on their Chromebook by hiding the files in Google Drive,” Thomas shares. “Using Cloud Monitor, I could search by file type in Drive and easily remove it.”

Beyond specific incidents, Thomas emphasizes the time saved by consolidating alerts and reports. “Reach out to ManagedMethods because they’re going to make your job a whole lot easier. Cloud Monitor is user-friendly, it saves accounts from being compromised, and it helps prevent bigger risks like ransomware from getting into your system. It’s absolutely worth it.”

Want to learn more about improving your district’s cybersecurity, student safety, and classroom engagement?

Get started with your free Google Workspace and/or Microsoft 365 security and safety audit today.

The post Henderson County Schools Finds Confidence in Google Security and Student Safety appeared first on ManagedMethods Cybersecurity, Safety & Compliance for K-12.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from ManagedMethods Cybersecurity, Safety & Compliance for K-12 authored by Katie Fritchen. Read the original post at: https://managedmethods.com/blog/customer-story-k12-henderson-county-schools-tn/