Expertise in Education
Higher education institutions of all sizes are facing cybersecurity threats that are growing in both complexity and frequency. With 87% of students saying that a school’s tech-savviness was an important factor in their decision to enroll, it’s imperative for colleges and universities to secure their sensitive data and information without adding friction and complexity to the user experience.
200+ institutions, including 65+ community colleges use BIO-key today.
Your Unique Requirements Deserve Proven Expertise and Trusted Solutions
Prioritizing Student, Staff and Faculty Needs
Too often institutions find themselves stuck, having to choose between user experience or stricter cybersecurity. But to attract more students, increase enrollment, and maintain high engagement amongst current students and staff, you must be able to successfully do both.
With PortalGuard you can. PortalGuard’s Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) provides the highest level of security to keep your institution safe while offering unrivaled flexibility so you can aggregate and consolidate all your authentication methods under centrally managed security policies. Single Sign-On provides students and staff access to all applications – like G Suite, Ellucian, Blackboard, PeopleSoft, and Canvas – and reduces password prompts that can cause friction. To address the shift towards remote learning, you can deploy Identity-Bound Biometrics as part of your MFA to authenticate the identity of the person who is trying to access private information, logging in to a secure network, or completing an exam.
Solutions and Support to Maximize Your Resources
While IAM controls are essential, implementing them in a cohesive way with limited resources and budget often results in a disjointed strategy, increased overhead, and an overwhelmed IT team. Moreover, IT teams are facing rapid changes in educational approaches, such as remote learning platforms, which can add even more stress.
In this environment, trying to implement cybersecurity to keep your institution safe can be a constant challenge – but we’re here to do all the heavy lifting. For starters, implementing BIO-key PortalGuard is a cybersecurity “quick win” as it helps you evolve your cybersecurity posture with the resources you already have. Single Sign-On drastically reduces the friction and frustration caused by passwords, and our Self-service Password Reset reduces password-related help desk calls by up to 95% and simplifies password management for help desk employees and administrators, so time spent on mundane tasks can now be spent on more strategic projects.
Successfully Operating in the Regulatory Environment
You handle tremendous amounts of data and have access to the personal, financial, and healthcare information of both students and staff. As a result, educational institutions are subjected to a wide range of compliance requirements. However, with the proper security measures in place, you can safeguard that information, meet compliance requirements, and, ultimately, preserve the credibility and reputation of your institution.
Some of the most important regulations include:
Students’ Personal and Education Data
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA)
- Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA)
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Students’ Healthcare Data
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH)
Students’ Financial Data
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
- Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)
Educational Institutions’ Research Data
- Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-171
While it may seem daunting to adhere to so many regulations, we understand your institution’s unique requirements and have built our security solutions to help you stay fully compliant and protected against attacks. Identity-Bound Biometrics, for example, is part of our unified IAM platform, PortalGuard, and provides comprehensive records of all logins, record updates and tracking of users’ system and application information. In turn, you can confidently and consistently demonstrate that data is protected with the proper controls.
Partner in Education:
Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC)
Since 2014 BIO-key has partnered with the FCCC to help improve the system’s cybersecurity posture.
- Trusted by 50+ colleges and districts
- Special discount through CollegeBuys contract
- 2022 Partner in Education
- Annual sponsor of CISOA technology summit
Solutions in Action
Despite the rise in cyberattacks – against education institutions, specifically – you are held to the highest standards when it comes to protecting sensitive information. We aim to do that heavy lifting for you so you can focus on what matters most – providing students with the best education possible.
Remote Learning
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities around the world are seeing a drastic increase in remote and hybrid learning – and the newfound flexibility in learning style is creating very real challenges in the world of higher education. With a disparate student body comes an even greater need for reliable and accurate positive identification. A part of our unified IAM platform, PortalGuard, Identity-Bound Biometrics (IBB) is an approach to MFA that verifies the identity of the person – not just the token, credential, or device. The enrollment process is enterprise-controlled so you can have confidence that a student taking a test is that person or that the person gaining access to a research database is, in fact, an authorized faculty member.
Modern Digital Experiences for Students
As an education institution, you constantly strive to introduce new services and applications to provide students with a modern, frictionless digital experience. With a password-based approach, students, faculty and staff alike would need to authenticate with separate passwords for every application. PortalGuard’s Single Sign-On secures all of your applications – including Blackboard, Canvas, OWA, and SharePoint – with a single IdP to simplify the login process and eliminate passwords so users can quickly access applications anywhere across any device.
Passwordless
Password-based authentication poses several problems for education institutions, including security risks, poor user experience and high IT costs. For example, forgotten passwords can quickly lead to a higher volume of password-related help desk calls and frustration for students. That, in tandem with the responsibility of protecting highly sensitive information, is persuading many educational institutions to leave passwords behind. Enter: Identity-Bound Biometrics – our unique approach to biometric authentication that verifies the actual identity of the person taking action. IBB eliminates concerns around having a single point of failure by removing physical devices as potential vulnerabilities. Now, you can add a critical layer of extra security without any friction for users or administrators.
Zero-Trust Environments
It is well known that modern security means ensuring the right people have the right level of access to the right resources, in the right context. This is much easier said than done – particularly for higher education. Between a multitude of user types within an educational institution and the disappearing boundaries accelerated by remote and hybrid learning, your institution is facing both security challenges and strict regulations unlike ever before. With PortalGuard’s enterprise-controlled enrollment and Identity-Bound Biometrics, you can be sure that only the approved individuals are accessing certain sensitive information and that your protected data stays that way.
Partner Spotlight
BIO-key and Pathify Reimagine the Student Portal Experience
Providing a great online student experience is more important than ever. With 87% of students saying that a school’s tech-savviness was essential in their decision to enroll, it’s also a great challenge.
Together with Pathify – a market leader in the student portal experience – we’re delivering a secure, modern student experience that provides a user-friendly interface that guides students to the resources they need quickly, without any passwords getting in the way.
“Since we implemented BIO-key PortalGuard, password reset help desk calls have decreased dramatically. The Single Sign-On implementation could not have been easier, and we have since integrated it with SharePoint, Blackboard, Canvas, OWA, and WebAdvisor. The product is simple to configure and maintain. We could not be more pleased with how this product and company have worked for our needs.”
Clifford Sharp, Network Systems Analyst, Southwestern Community College
Product Recommendations
Multi-factor Authentication Approaches
Implement authentication approaches such as adaptive, step-up, passwordless authentication.
Single Sign-on
Secure and access all of your applications through a single point of strong authentication with a single IdP.
Self-Service Password Reset
Self-Service reset & recovery options prevent password-related help desk calls.