Back to School with Chromebooks: Technology Giants Step Up to Help, But Don’t Forget Mobile Security

By Philip Mustain, Mobolize CEO and Co-Founder

School is back in session, but it’s not the same school. Much of the world is redefining the education process to meet the pandemic requirements of safety for students and teachers with a combination of online learning and at-school learning. Some schools are totally online to keep everyone safe. Following approved safety guidelines and providing testing for the coronavirus are also key to safety.

But safety also must also include protection from internet bandits who can easily breach school district systems and the mobile devices like Chromebooks that students and teachers are using. While enterprises have come a long way in fighting this type of internet crime, the education sector is a whole new and open playground for the bad guys.

Technology has stepped up to support remote learning in all locations and grade levels with many resources. From major cities to rural farmlands, from pre-school to college Masters classes, from well-funded school districts to those hardly getting by, from students who can afford special tutors to those who don’t own a home computer or have access to the internet, the tech industry is stepping up to support this new world of learning.

A big solution is to provide mobile devices like Chromebooks to schools and school districts who give them to students. There are many examples:

• T-Mobile is providing free internet connectivity to millions of underserved student households through Project 10Million
• Apple and T-Mobile are partnering to provide iPads and internet access to schools in California
• Google is providing Chromebooks and internet access to schools throughout the world, including Japan and California
• Charter Communications is providing free internet access to K-12 and college student households
• And there are many more worldwide. For example, NBN Co in Australia is offering an Education Assistance program that provides affordable internet access to Australian students and their families

All of this is great, but in the rush to give every student internet access and possibly a Chromebook, the ugly fact is that security issues are a dangerous factor and shouldn’t be forgotten. Using mobile devices early last year when schools first moved to online learning created a major opportunity for domain name system (DNS) hijacking, cache poisoning and more.

Mobolize is hard at work with its partners delivering high level security for mobile devices used in education. With our patented on-device Data Traffic Management Engine that can be delivered as an app on Chromebooks, we can provide the unique security capability that acts like a watchful school principal that analyzes all traffic on Chromebooks and stops attempts to breach the schoolyard.

Our Data Traffic Management Engine for mobile devices is “powerful” as described by our partners. We will be bringing that power to education. Stay tuned for more information.