Protecting students' personal data: Increasing students' 'resistance'

GD&TĐ - In today's digital age, protecting students' personal data is extremely important to prevent them from becoming victims of online fraud.

To do this well, the role of schools is not small.

Identifying difficulties

Ms. Ta Thi Thanh Binh - Principal of Thanh Xuan Secondary School (Noi Bai, Hanoi ) said that personal data of students includes name, date of birth, address, health information, academic performance and many other sensitive information. Leaking or misusing this data can cause negative consequences.

To secure student information in the context of digital transformation, schools need to apply legal and technical solutions such as issuing clear security policies, training to raise cybersecurity awareness, applying technical measures such as data encryption and two-factor authentication, cooperating with cybersecurity experts, and regularly testing and evaluating security systems.

According to Ms. Binh, the advantage of digitalizing personal data is to improve the quality of management, teaching and learning, and create a modern digital environment. However, there are also many difficulties such as technology investment costs, uneven infrastructure, different human resource training needs, and changing perceptions of teachers, students, and pupils.

From a basic perspective, Ms. Phan Thi Hang Hai - Principal of Kim Ngoc High School ( Phu Tho ) emphasized that personal data is part of privacy. Data protection helps students feel safer when using online services for learning and entertainment. Information disclosure can lead to online fraud, harassment and other forms of cyber violence, affecting the psychology and safety of students.

“To protect student information, the school has developed a set of regulations on protecting students' personal information; at the same time, it has promoted awareness among students, teachers and staff about personal information security in the context of digital transformation; and organized training on how to use and preserve personal information in cyberspace,” said Ms. Phan Thi Hang Hai.

According to Ms. Hai, the strong explosion of information technology; the increase in cybercrime and the lack of awareness among some students in protecting their personal information are gaps that need to be filled.

On the other hand, personal information of parents and students can be leaked from many different sources, including cyber attacks on school data systems, other databases or personal information leaks from using online services. In addition, users' carelessness in providing information through scam calls or participating in surveys and unsafe applications is also a cause of information leaks.

Students of Thanh Xuan Secondary School (Noi Bai, Hanoi) during a propaganda class on cyber safety. Photo: NTCC

Remote prevention

At Tan Mai Secondary School (Tuong Mai, Hanoi), the school regularly organizes extracurricular activities to guide students on how to use the Internet safely. Important knowledge and situations that may arise while students are using the Internet are cleverly integrated into quick Q&A sessions and impressive clips.

Cybersecurity experts also provide a lot of knowledge about network usage when accessing the Internet, TikTok accounts, friends on social networks... After each activity, the school immediately deploys lessons in the classroom for students to ask questions, proactively identify and have ways to respond to situations in a safe cyberspace.

According to Ms. Kieu Thi Thanh Huyen - Vice Principal of Tan Mai Secondary School, building habits requires continuous knowledge transfer and daily application. Therefore, schools need to continue to strengthen the organization of activities, think of more ways to do it, and implement them so that students can master the knowledge of protecting themselves in cyberspace.

Recently, student information has been leaked, causing parents to be troubled by spam messages, messages advising on extra classes from foreign language centers, or advanced classes for final year students, especially unexpected calls from sales marketing staff.

“More seriously, when educational institutions use software with weak security, student and parent information is more easily stolen and sold online. From there, no one knows what can happen when student information falls into the hands of bad guys, who take advantage of parents' anxiety to threaten and blackmail,” Ms. Huyen raised the issue.

With the advantage of applying information technology, the work of protecting student information in the context of digital transformation is always focused on by the Center for Continuing Education, Information Technology and Foreign Languages ​​of Lang Son province. The Center also regularly updates new technical software; propagates to teachers, staff and students about how to protect personal information...

Ms. Vuong Xuan Thuan - Director of the center said: "In addition to training in skills classes and classroom activities, the school also reminds students not to provide personal information such as: Citizen ID number, phone number, fingerprints to strangers; not to join groups, associations, organizations on social networks from unverified sources; not to access strange links to declare information.

School administrators, teachers, and staff absolutely must not provide lists containing student information; and must not post student lists containing personal information on the school's media pages or website to avoid information leakage.

Not only that, the Center for Continuing Education, Information Technology and Foreign Languages ​​of Lang Son province also requires staff in charge of software for managing student information to sign a commitment on confidentiality and not to arbitrarily provide student information without the consent of the center's leadership.

Ms. Vuong Xuan Thuan - Director of Lang Son Province Center for Continuing Education, Information Technology and Foreign Languages ​​talks with students. Photo: NTCC

Expert advice

According to experts, information of students and parents can be leaked in many forms, such as declaration of documents to make health insurance cards, application for admission to first grade classes, vocational counseling documents; even marketing activities, gift giving of brands at schools...

At the same time, the number of students using technology devices is increasing, but most of them have not anticipated the risks and pitfalls in cyberspace, leaving many gaps in information security. Or because students access the Internet, with many popular applications such as Facebook, Zalo, TikTok, games... leading to traps of malware, access links with fraudulent content.

Given the increasingly complex developments of hacking school information systems, selling personal information on the Internet, etc., securing student and parent information is an urgent and important requirement for all school-connected applications. Therefore, educational institutions need to regularly implement and strengthen student information security.

Mr. To Hong Nam - Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Information (Ministry of Education and Training) said that in order to limit the leakage of student information, schools and families need to coordinate to strengthen students' "resistance" by providing skills and knowledge to prevent high-tech crimes.

The Ministry of Education and Training has issued a document requesting units and schools to closely coordinate with the police forces of units and localities to inform parents and students about the above-mentioned forms of fraud and other fraud methods via phone, internet and social networks.

Units and schools need to urgently review the security work and provision of information of students at schools and educational institutions; promptly fix security loopholes (if any), not allowing bad elements to take advantage of them to commit illegal acts, causing insecurity and disorder.

Ms. Ta Thi Thanh Binh - Principal of Thanh Xuan Secondary School said that in order to limit the disclosure of personal information, the school has organized communication sessions during the school year with the theme "Safety in cyberspace" with sharing from experts to help students have full skills to use the network safely, effectively, usefully and avoid violating the Law on Cyber ​​Security...

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/bao-ve-du-lieu-ca-nhan-nguoi-hoc-tang-suc-de-khang-cho-hoc-sinh-post750762.html