SECURED
Technology and human expertise are key to ensuring privacy of sensitive student and vehicle data flowing to and from school buses
Written by Carol Brzozowski W
hen it comes to school bus data, “There will always be a struggle to find the right balance to making information accessible to those with a legitimate need and yet do that in a secure and re- sponsible manner,” noted Ted Thien, vice president and general
manager of Tyler Technology’s student transportation group. He added that school bus data privacy has been a concern in the industry for
many years. Others, ranging from software companies to school transporta- tion directors, concur. Dr. Richard Hays, the cybersecurity state coordinator for Region IX of the
federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said school bus data privacy should be a cause for concern for every district. That was the topic of his presentation at STN EXPO Reno last summer. “School bus data shows information that identifies routes, times, main- tenance, and most importantly which students are on or off of the bus,” he suggested. “All of these data points are of value to a predator and are invalu- able to the students and their families as well as the school which is charged with the safety of the students while in their care. The liability alone is a reason for school bus data privacy to be a cause for concern.” Bill Westerman, vice president of product management for CalAmp, owner
of the Synovia tablet and “Here Comes the Bus” tracking technology, said to- day’s environment of data flow outlines the need to be careful with protecting access to all data, including that flowing to and from school buses. “The protection should ensure hacking into the system to gather informa-
tion about riders and drivers is not allowed,” he advised. “Schools also need to ensure a hacker cannot download a program that can hijack the tracking device and either not provide accurate location information or provide bogus location information.” School bus data privacy should be a concern when student data such as
student ridership information connecting a student to a stop or bus number is involved, noted Matt Dickey, Zonar Systems regional vice president of sales for passenger services. “There is a risk in exposing a student to an outside party to such information as the exact bus a student rides every day,” he added. “When districts deal with camera footage collected, many times students not involved in an incident need to be protected when a video clip is needed for evidence.” Tyler’s Thien said some transportation situations require that portions of a
student’s medical record be available to the bus driver in case of an emergency. “For example, bus drivers need to know if a child requires an EpiPen, in case
the child is stung [by a bee] while waiting at the bus stop or riding the bus,” he added, noting the many software solutions in the market that can store this
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