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Safeguarding Briefing - 15th November 2021
Dear ,
Email Security
Recently I had a question about sending confidential information by email. I'm not a specialist in this area, so I contacted Mark Bentley, Safeguarding & Cybersecurity Manager at LGfL, The National Grid for Learning.
Is my school email system secure enough to email confidential safeguarding information and referrals to external agencies?
Mark writes, 'The answer is probably yes, but it depends on a few things, which are relatively easy to work out.
'Traditionally, schools have been told to use third-party encryption tools to protect emails when sharing child-protection information with police, health and social care or making other submissions with child data to local authorities or the DfE. All these agencies use gov.uk / police.uk / nhs.uk emails - this is significant.
'There are many reasons you might still want to use a third-party tool, but they are (mostly) no longer related to encryption; rather because they offer extra protections, such as auditing who accessed the information and when, expiry dates, etc.
'The HM Government documents Information sharing: advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services* and Data protection: a toolkit for schools* provide guidance all around data sharing principles rules beyond that already mentioned in KCSIE and Working Together but do not provide much detail on specific tools required. Encryption is critical, and mentioned in the data protection toolkit, but this is now baked into many email systems.
'To find out if your emails to external agencies are sufficiently encrypted and secure, you need to know if both yours and that of the external agency use a system called TLS in a version of 1.2 or higher. You can find out what that means here* (link see below), but in a nutshell, if both systems do this, then all emails between them will be encrypted in transit, and in any case encrypted at rest.
'All the main, modern email systems use TLS, and government agencies are obliged to*, so if your school uses Google or Microsoft systems, you are already encrypting emails when sending to and fro with police, health, social care and other council agencies on gov.uk emails.
'If you want to double check your email domain or that of the agency you are sharing with, paste their email domain (the bit after the @) into the box on this testing site*. As long as both pass the test, you are encrypted and all is fine.
'Thereafter, you may want to consider what other steps you can take to keep sensitive data secure. For example, LGfL schools are given Egress licences which many local authorities ask schools to use. This and other similar tools help you add further security measures, e.g. multi-factor authentication (so you can be sure who is accessing the email and its contents - in general you should turn on MFA wherever you can), audit and revoke access and more.
'Security is a wider project though and needs to be treated as a whole, so why not have a look at our Cybersecurity Top Tips for schools infographic at security.lgfl.net.
Thanks to Mark for taking the time to write this very helpful answer.
*Relevant links:
Information sharing: advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services (DfE, 2018)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/721581/Information_sharing_advice_practitioners_safeguarding_services.pdf
Data protection: a toolkit for schools (DfE, 2018)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/747620/Data_Protection_Toolkit_for_Schools_OpenBeta.pdf
Using Transport Layer Security (TLS) in your organisation (HM Gov/Central Digital & Data Office)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/email-security-standards/transport-layer-security-tls
Set up government email services securely (HM Gov/Central Digital & Data Office)
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/set-up-government-email-services-securely
Check TLS
https://www.checktls.com/TestReceiver
Cybersecurity Top Tips for schools infographic (LGfL)
https://security.lgfl.net
Question from a Safeguarding.Pro member
Does anyone have a good Independent Listener policy that they might be willing to share or could signpost where to look?
Please send any policy shares or suggestions to me: office@safeguardinginschools.co.uk
Icy conditions and winter weather (Health and Safety Executive)
Slip and trip accidents increase during the Autumn and Winter season for a number of reasons: there is less daylight, leaves fall onto paths and become wet and slippery and cold weather spells cause ice and snow to build up on paths.
There are effective actions that you can take to reduce the risk of a slip or trip. Regardless of the size of your site, always ensure that regularly used walkways are promptly tackled.
Read more here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/logistics/slips-trips-bad-weather.htm
Safeguarding.Pro Member Call
Thursday 2nd December 2021 4.30 - 5.15pm
On Thursday I'll be hosting a live member call for Safeguarding.Pro members. Look out for the email later today with further details and a link to register.
There will be two parts to the live member call. Andrew will start off looking at a topical safeguarding issue, followed by your questions and answers.
Although I know the time won't be good for everyone, I do hope you will be able to join us.
If you are not already a member of Safeguarding.Pro, you can join us here: www.joinsafeguarding.pro
Cybersecurity for Governors (via Katy Potts, Computing and E-safety Lead for Islington Children's Services)
Online Event: Cybersecurity for Governors On Computer Security Day (GovernorHub and The Key for School Governors)
Tuesday 30 November 2021, 6pm
In the spring of 2021, the Harris Federation, who run 50 primary and secondary academies in and around London, was hit by a £3 million cyber attack.
Tomorrow evening (Tuesday), the CEO of Harris' Federation, Sir Dan Moynihan, will talk about how the cyber-crime gang infiltrated their systems using a phishing email. The hackers encrypted everything of value it could find, forcing the trust to shut down its entire computer network – with huge consequences.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said it has "alerted the education sector to the significant threat posed by ransomware attacks" and urged schools and colleges to follow its advice to protect themselves online.
Book Here https://webinars.governorhub.com/cyber
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Teacher Wellbeing Index (Education Support)
In 2017, Education Support began a programme of research to understand more about the mental health and wellbeing of staff working in education. This year's report is perhaps the most important one yet, it gives an insight into the working lives of teachers and education staff under the shadow of Covid-19.
The survey of over 3,000 education staff found that in 2021:
- 77% experienced symptoms of poor mental health due to their work
- 72% are stressed (rising to 84% for senior leaders)
- 46% always go into work when unwell (rising to 54% for senior leaders)
- 42% think their organisation’s culture has a negative impact on their wellbeing
- 54% have considered leaving the sector in the past two years due to pressures on their mental health
Over the last five years, Education support found that:
- Levels of stress and anxiety remain unsustainably high
- Excessive workload and lack of work-life balance remain key drivers for poor mental health
- Covid-19 has had a significant impact on wellbeing
- A consistently high percentage of staff consider leaving the profession
- Staff are concerned they will be perceived negatively if seeking support for mental health issues
- Organisations have improved staff awareness of wellbeing policies, as well as their implementation
You can download the report here: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index/
Mental health support for school leaders (DfE/Education Support)
Last week the DfE announced a new mental health support scheme specifically for school leaders. The scheme will be delivered by the charity Education Support and will provide free one-to-one counselling and peer support to around 2,000 school leaders, helping those at deputy head level and above with their mental wellbeing.
You can find out more about how to access the programme here:
https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/get-help/help-for-your-staff/wellbeing-services/school-leaders-support/
Forthcoming Events
Safeguarding.Pro Member Call
LIVE ONLINE Thursday 2nd December 2021 4.30 - 5.15pm (Details in Safeguarding.Pro)
Advanced Safeguarding for DSLs
LIVE ONLINE Thursday 20th January 2022 BOOK NOW
...and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your convenience BOOK NOW
Whole School Safeguarding CPD Online Session
In this two and half hour online presentation aimed at staff in all roles, specialist safeguarding consultant, Andrew Hall, explores important aspects of safeguarding in schools including child protection, learning from case studies and the latest version of Keeping Children Safe in Education.
You book your online session here: https://cpd.safeguardinginschools.co.uk/product/whole-school-safeguarding-course-online/
Until next time, keep safe and thank you for all the work you're doing,
Andrew Hall,
Specialist Safeguarding Consultant,
Success In Schools Ltd.
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