Ireland’s Schools Network: Delivering a Safer Online Environment for Irish Schools? Presentation to TERENA Networking Conference 2007 by Ronan Byrne, HEAnet 22nd May 2007

Presentation Structure  Background: Ireland’s Schools Network  Technical Design Overview  Schools Survey Approach  Findings  Conclusions

Background: Irish Schools Network 4,000 schools 3 Year Government/Industry Agreement 6 Telcos interconnect directly with HEAnet HEAnet manage backbone network HEAnet provide portfolio of managed services: –Managed Internet access –Network Monitoring & SLA Management –Network Security –Webmail & Webhosting –Content Filtering HEAnet Schools NOC provide 2 nd Line Support

Technical Overview

Centralised Content Filtering Dept. of Education requirement “Centralised” approach Public Tender Procurement 2004/2005 Fortinet solution Security node at 2 x PoPs 500 Mbps ‘in-line’ & scalable Web filtering; virus scanning; anti-spam; IDS/IPS Logging & statistics “Security Profiles” set by Dept. of Education

Fortinet: Web Filtering Database of 26 million rated Websites 76 Categories 24x7 Managed Service White & Blacklists – override categories Unrated sites blocked (24hr rating) Currently 2 levels of filtering but is capable of giving each school it’s own profile

Content Filtering: “Is it working?”

Research Questions  In assessing overall effectiveness, four key research objectives were identified: 1.Assess the general support for filtering in schools 2.Effectiveness at blocking inappropriate material 3.Extent of over-blocking 4.Extent to which schools are more likely to incorporate the Internet in the classroom

Research Methodologies Survey Questionnaires (quantitative & qualitative) Follow-up telephone interviews (qualitative) Analysis of filtering logs at HEAnet (quantitative)

Survey Approach Survey conducted over Q schools contacted (representative sample) Questionnaire designed to investigate key research objectives Questionnaire by postal & survey Realised sample of 136 schools Also, questionnaire completed by 10 teachers at a single school

Survey Questionnaire Findings

Analysis of Filtering Logs (for same sample of 136 schools for 1 week)

Top 10 Blocked Categories across All Schools

Spyware 34,997 Pornography 7,611 Personals & Dating 18,883 File Sharing 16,605 Adult Materials 37,619 POST-PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Spyware 71,873 Adult Materials 5,955 Malicious Websites 5,175 PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Conclusions

General Support for Filtering Service Filtering welcomed by schools No evident opposition Not considered a form of censorship Filtering supported even though similar controls may not exist outside school 99% of survey sample felt schools had a responsibility to filter but only 26% had a solution in place prior to HEAnet solution

Effectiveness at Blocking Inappropriate Content Significant volume of inappropriate content has been blocked Over 220,000 HTTP look-ups (3.7% of traffic) were to blocked categories (1 week for 136 schools) Extrapolating beyond 1 week and across 4,000 schools amounts to a significant volume of inappropriate content! Spyware represents 2.02% of all traffic (or 2 out of every 100 HTTP gets is Spyware generated!) Significant reduction in virus detections

Extent of Over-Blocking 85% of primary schools describe filtering sensitivity as “just right” 52% of post-primary schools describe filtering sensitivity as “just right” Suggests a filtering level more specific to post-primary schools is needed Telephone interviews reflect schools moving from more restrictive to less restrictive filtering option Majority of schools do not desire local control/responsibility A ‘teacher override’ option desired by most schools

Inclination to use Internet in classroom 78% of schools surveyed state that they would further incorporate the Internet in classroom activity since the introduction of the filtering service A significant success factor in itself!

Closing Summary Teachers welcome filtering service Inappropriate material being blocked Degree of over-blocking not significant for majority Large volume of spyware is now blocked Virus incidents have reduced significantly 96% of schools surveyed either “agree” or “strongly agree” solution is delivering a safer online environment 78% of schools surveyed more inclined to use Internet CAUTION: Filtering technology is not a silver bullet

Thank you!