Web filtering is an essential tool for ensuring students are protected when they are surfing the web. Many schools are adopting web filtering to keep up with the growing demand for more device-led online learning experiences and the student safety risks that come along with it.
Why should schools use web filters?
1: Blocking inappropriate content
Inappropriate content is a major reason why schools use web filtering tools for online learning. This can cover a range of different content that is explicit, violent exploitative or offensive, but many school's also use it to filter out sites that could be distracting, such as students using social media, games, video sites or online forums.
2: Student health and safety
Some web filters can include keyword alerts to identify and flag concerning conversations between students online through the school's devices or network. These may include conversations with words connected to self-harm, violence, cyberbullying and mental health. Flagging these conversations for review gives teachers or parents the opportunity to intervene if necessary.
3: Security
All online usage is at risk of malware and data theft. Surprisingly, schools are by far the most commonly targeted institutions for these sorts of attacks as student data is highly valuable to cyber criminals looking to steal or sell identity information on the dark web. Likewise, ransomware attacks are also incredibly common in schools and can be incredibly costly.
Web filters can protect schools against ransomware and malware attacks by identifying and blocking suspicious websites.
4: Network Bandwidth
Web filtering can be more than just a great student safeguarding tool too. Filtering out high-bandwidth websites like online games, streaming and video content can be a smart way to preserve the school's network bandwidth and reduce the risk of poor network performance disrupting a student's learning..
So, not only does it protect students from security risks and potentially harmful content, web filtering also ensures students are getting the best online learning experience possible.
For more on web filtering, visit our Lenovo Netfilter page.
