Email Security in the Education Industry

Email Encryption and Data Security for Education Institutions

Schools, colleges, and training companies are responsible for protecting student data—from report cards to financial records and personally identifiable information (PII)—at rest, in storage, and in transit. Due to the sensitive nature of this data and, in many cases, the vulnerability of those whom it concerns, it can be a lucrative target for cybercriminals looking to extort the organization for financial gain.

On top of this, educational institutions are increasingly being put under pressure by compliance standards such as FERPA to keep student data secure, or risk losing funding.

But schools often have little technical resource and budget to dedicate to cybersecurity and compliance.

Trustifi protects sensitive data against sophisticated email threats such as social engineering and ransomware, while encrypting the data so that bad actors can’t read protected, private information, even if an account has been compromised. Trustifi’s user-friendly platform allows schools and colleges to keep their students’—and teachers’—data secure.

The Key Challenges Facing Schools, Colleges and Training Companies

As eLearning and virtual classrooms increase in popularity among schools and corporate training companies, students are given the opportunity to learn in their own time, increasing engagement and productivity. However, it also increases their vulnerability to cyberattacks, as threat actors exploit the use of weak passwords or Wi-Fi connections, a lack of MFA, and unpatched software vulnerabilities to access sensitive data. In fact, according to the latest MS-ISAC data, 57% of reported ransomware incidents involved K-12 schools from August through September 2020, as students returned to virtual classrooms after summer vacation, compared to 28% from January through July.

Educational institutions are being put under increasing pressure to protect student data against these attacks, with compliance standards such as FERPA being introduced to enforce regulations. Breaching these standards can result in a fine or even the withdrawal of federal funding.

However, schools and colleges often struggle to implement strong cybersecurity processes. Security systems can be complex and expensive to set up and manage, and they simply don’t have the technical teams or budget to deal with it. Cybercriminals know this, and they know that it makes these institutions an “easy target” for their attacks.

But, with Trustifi, they don’t have to be.

How Trustifi Protects Education in Three Steps

In learning environments, email is one of the most efficient methods of communication between students and staff. Unfortunately, this makes it a target for cybercriminals trying to steal personal student data.

Our solution ensures your student and staff data is secure at rest, in storage, and in transit, while protecting your organization’s inboxes against targeted cyberattacks. Here’s how:

1. With one click, staff and students can send securely encrypted emails from directly within their email client, including Outlook and Google Workspace. Advanced encryption features allow users to recall and modify messages, set message expiry dates, and track delivery, so that they know immediately when emails have been received, opened, and read. And it’s just as easy for recipients to open encrypted emails—even if they don’t have Trustifi themselves.

2. Our 1-Click Compliance™ and DLP features make it easy to prove FERPA and NIST compliance and ensures your data remains secure, even if a student or staff member forgets to manually encrypt an email. Just select which standards and data loss prevention policies you want to comply with and our intelligent AI Engine will scan all outbound emails for sensitive content—such as student records—and encrypt them automatically. With the click of a button, Trustifi will take the complexity out of compliance.

3. Advanced Threat Protection secures against data loss via targeted email threats such as social engineering and ransomware by scanning all inbound emails for malicious activity. If anything suspicious is detected, Trustifi warns users of the content before they read the email; if Trustifi finds something they know to be dangerous, they remove the threat before it has the chance to reach its recipient.

Key Features of Our Education Solution

Why Choose Trustifi?

Protect Against Data Breaches

Trustifi offers protection against the most prevalent and dangerous email threats currently targeting educational institutions, including social engineering, ransomware, and account compromise. These attacks can be devastating not only for your organization’s infrastructure, reputation, and finances, but also for the personal safety of your students.

Trustifi’s AI Engine scans all inbound emails for anomalous or malicious content, such as phishing links and malware attachments, and removes threats before they even reach their target. With Trustifi, you can also create blacklists of known threat actors to prevent repeat attacks and whitelists of trusted senders who may be flagged as suspicious to reduce false positives and ensure your students and staff can access critical information when they need it.

Stay Compliant

Failing to meet compliance standards such as FERPA can result in your institution losing its federal funding. With many schools and colleges already strapped for cash, such a loss could have a devastating impact on the services you’re able to offer your students.

Trustifi’s One-Click Compliance™ feature allows you to secure your students’ data in line with FERPA and NIST standards, among others, with just the click of a button. Simply choose which standard you need to comply with and sit back as Trustifi’s AI Engine automatically encrypts any emails containing sensitive information—even if a student or staff member forgets to encrypt it themselves.

Half of the challenge of being compliant is in achieving compliance itself. The other half is inprovingthat you’re compliant. Leverage Trustifi’s tracking feature to track the delivery of encrypted emails and prove that you’re using encryption to secure sensitive data to make your audits that much easier.

Maintain Control

Schools and colleges often don’t have the technical resource to deploy, manage, and maintain a complex security solution.

Using Trustifi, staff and students can send securely encrypted emails with the click of a button. Just as easily, recipients can open them—even if they don’t have Trustifi themselves. For an additional layer of security between potential attackers and your sensitive data, you can request that recipients verify their identities via MFA. In this case, they simply enter their custom password or scan a fingerprint, and they can access the message.

As well as being user-friendly for end users, Trustifi is easy for administrators to set up and manage. Quickly configure 1-Click Compliance™ and DLP policies to automatically encrypt all sensitive email so you don’t have to worry about your users remembering to do it—our AI Engine will automatically scan your inbound emails for malicious content and remediate any threats.

Why Educational Institutions Love Trustifi

• Complete Peace of Mind: You are happy because your students and faculty are safe. Our AI-powered platform proactively stops advanced phishing, malware, and business email compromise before an attack happens.
• Frictionless Security: We make complex security easy. Users can send and receive encrypted emails with a single click, removing friction for the end-user.
• Comprehensive Protection: We provide a unified, all-in-one solution that protects against both inbound attacks and outbound data loss.
• Top-Rated by Users: Backed by strong customer reviews, Trustifi makes enterprise-grade email security easy and accessible for small and mid-size schools.

Great for...

• K-12 School Districts: Protect sensitive student data and ensure staff communication is fully secure without adding technical headaches.
• Colleges & Universities: Secure valuable research data, financial information, and campus-wide communications for large student populations.
• Managed Service Providers (MSPs): Trustifi offers an all-in-one platform that's a perfect fit for MSPs managing security for small and mid-size educational institutions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Trustifi help schools comply with FERPA?

Yes. Trustifi features One-Click Compliance™ built directly into the platform. This ensures your student and faculty data remains secure and fully compliant with FERPA, NIST, and other strict data protection regulations.

Is Trustifi difficult for teachers and students to use?

Not at all. We make complex security easy to understand and use. Staff and students can send and receive securely encrypted emails with a single click right from their existing inbox. This completely removes friction for the end-user.

Does Trustifi work with our existing email providers?

Yes. Trustifi integrates seamlessly with major platforms like Microsoft Outlook and Google Workspace. This makes it an easy, all-in-one platform that's a perfect fit for small and mid-size educational institutions and the MSPs that support them.