Texas ESC Region 12 Needed a Better Way to Secure District Google Workspace for Education Accounts
Education Service Center Region 12 (ESC12), located in Waco, Texas, is a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting educators and school personnel in their efforts to increase student achievement. Its 200 staff members support the needs of 76 school districts, and more than 22,000 staff and 160,000 students.
THE CHALLENGE
ESC12’s staff uses Google Workspace, including Google Drive and Gmail, to collaborate, communicate, and report on all their programs throughout the 12 counties they serve. Leveraging the power of these cloud applications allows the staff to be more productive and efficient – no matter where they are working in their service area. However, along with these enormous benefits come serious security challenges, including data loss, phishing, malware attacks, and hackers.
Compliance is also a concern. Due to the nature of their work, ESC12’s Google Workspace data includes student and school data. In addition, compliance requirements mandate that the district must have systems in place to monitor for sensitive data such as FERPA, CIPA, COPPA, and ensure that data is not being stored or shared in a way that violates policies.
To protect their data and their staff, ESC12’s IT team originally deployed Cisco Cloudlock, a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solution. However, after using the tool for a while, the team was disappointed in multiple aspects including its lack of Gmail monitoring and advanced image analysis DLP. In addition, the cost of Cloudlock increased after it was acquired by Cisco, so the solution became unaffordable for this nonprofit educational organization.
“When I first learned about Cloud Monitor I was skeptical that such an inexpensive solution would be able to secure our Google Workspace data better than Cloudlock. However, after our first week using the solution, I was more than convinced. Cloud Monitor has been one of the best technology decisions I’ve made this year.” — Ed Newman, CSO and Director Of Technology Services
THE SOLUTION
ESC12 chose Cloud Monitor’s cloud application security platform to secure its Google Workspace data because it provided superior support for Google Drive and Gmail at a significantly more affordable price than Cloudlock. In addition, Cloud Monitor also defends ESC12 from data loss due to hackers or inadvertent employee behavior with its advanced threat protection features.
Best of all, Cloud Monitor deployed in minutes didn’t require any special training and had no impact on users or existing networks. The IT team quickly gained visibility and control of their Google data, as well as 3rd-party applications that were being used.
BENEFITS
Cloud Monitor provides:
- Complete cloud app visibility without agents, proxies, or gateways
- Comprehensive cloud-email security for Gmail and Office 365 Mail
- Discovery and control of 3rd party apps that connect to Google or Office 365
- Detection and prevention of malware, phishing emails, and other outsider threats
- Policy Enforcement to meet student data privacy compliance requirements (FERPA, COPPA, CIPA, etc)
- Affordable pricing for districts of all sizes
