UK School Opinions of Cloud Services and Student Privacy. A survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute for SafeGov.org May 2013

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1 UK School Opinions of Cloud Services and Student Privacy A survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute for SafeGov.org May 2013

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY UK schools believe cloud services will bring significant benefits for students, such as better acquisition of skills for employment, better social integration, better exam results, and more chance of pursuing university degrees. Cloud services are also seen as easier to manage and cheaper than traditional solutions. With the recognition of these benefits, a strong majority of UK schools expect to deploy cloud and document collaboration services in the foreseeable future. However, schools also recognise that data mining for profit by cloud providers is a threat to student privacy and strongly object to the practice. The vast majority of schools say that student profiling and ad serving should never be allowed in school-provided cloud services. But some schools admit they are tempted to trade student privacy for lower cost services. Many schools also say that parents should have the right to opt-out of data mining of their children s information. May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 2

3 UK SCHOOLS SEE CLOUD SERVICES IN THEIR FUTURE A decisive majority of UK schools expect to use cloud services such as and document collaboration in the near future. They believe such tools offer many educational and social benefits, and will be cheaper and easier to manage than traditional software. May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 3

4 Most schools already provide to staff (85%) and students (59%) 25% already offer students cloud for Staff Own servers 9% 22% for Students Other outsourced 10% 21% Local Council or LEA 16% 23% Cloud (Google or Microsoft) 20% 25% Don't provide service 15% 41% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 4

5 61% of schools that don t yet provide expect to offer cloud in the foreseeable future 40% 35% 35% 30% 26% 25% 20% 21% 18% 15% 10% 5% 0% Yes, within the next 12 months Yes, more than 12 months from now No Not sure May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 5

6 Schools believe cloud tools will help students improve skills, thrive in modern society, obtain better exam results Scale: 1 = very likely, 2 = likely, 3 = not likely and 4 = unsure Improve acquisition of skills needed to gain employment after leaving school 36% 42% Become better integrated in modern society outside of school 29% 34% Obtain better results on national exams 23% 38% Be more likely to go on to university or other post-secondary education 21% 29% Be less likely to engage in disruptive behaviour while in school Be less likely to engage in disruptive behaviour outside of school 15% 13% 28% 29% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Very likely Likely May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 6

7 BUT SCHOOLS ALSO SEE A DARK SIDE IN CLOUD: DATA MINING Schools overwhelmingly recognise that data mining for profit by cloud providers is a threat to student privacy and strongly object to the practice. But some schools admit they are tempted to trade student privacy for lower costs. A solution to this conflict of interest is to let parents opt-out of cloud data mining for their children. May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 7

8 Schools believe cloud will be easier to manage and cheaper, but not necessarily safer or more secure Scale: 1 = significant benefit, 2 = some benefit, 3 = nominal benefit and 4 = no benefit Easier for staff to administer and maintain 50% 29% Less expensive than the previous solution 36% 40% Better integration with other software or online services, such as document creation and sharing 39% 25% Easier for students to use 23% 24% Less vulnerable to hacking or viruses 13% 19% Better protection of student privacy 5% 6% Significant benefit 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Some benefit May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 8

9 Schools see threats to student privacy as top risk of cloud (74%), followed by security breaches (70%) Scale: 1 = significant benefit, 2 = some benefit, 3 = nominal benefit and 4 = no benefit Might fail to protect student privacy 46% 28% Might be vulnerable to hacking or viruses 39% 31% Could turn out to be more expensive than expected 21% 33% Might not integrate well with other software or online services Could be difficult for staff to administer and maintain 18% 15% 20% 22% Could prove difficult for students to use 11% 20% Significant risk 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Some risk May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 9

10 Vast majority of schools (81%) object to cloud providers that data mine student online behavior (i.e. analyse s or track web browsing) for profit 60% 56% 50% 40% 30% 25% 20% 10% 11% 8% 0% Highly objectionable Somewhat objectionable Only slightly objectionable Not at all objectionable May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 10

11 84% of schools say cloud providers should never profile students for profit, 70% say ads should not be an option Providers of online services should consent never to profile student online behaviour or web browsing for commercial purposes 53% 31% Providers of online services should consent never to analyse the content of student s for commercial purposes 51% 30% Providers of online services should consent to remove the option to turn on ad serving 34% 36% Strongly agree 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Agree 5/22/2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 11

12 Conflict of interest? 47% of schools admit they might trade student privacy for lower costs, but 44% also say parents should have right to opt-out for children Full disclosure that the service provider is analysing s and/or profiling online behaviour for commercial purposes, with no right to opt-out, but the service is provided at a lower cost or no cost 1 = eliminates all objections, 2 = eliminates some objections and 3 = does not eliminate objections 19% 28% Offering students parents the right to opt-out completely from having their children s analysed or their online behaviour profiled 25% 19% Full disclosure by the service provider but no right to opt-out 11% 25% Offering students (but not their parents) the right to optout completely from having their analysed or their online behaviour profiled 8% 26% Offering students the right to see what information has been gathered about them, but no right to opt-out 8% 23% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% Eliminates all objections Eliminates some objections May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 12

13 DEMOGRAPHICS AND METHODOLOGY May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 13

14 Respondents type of school or related educational institution 10% 3% 2% State-funded school Local education authority 13% Independent school (non-religious) Independent school (religious) 72% Other public or private body responsible for school administration May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 14

15 Student level at respondents schools 50% 45% 46% 40% 35% 30% 25% 24% 20% 17% 15% 10% 12% 5% 0% Primary school Secondary school 6th form Combination of the above May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 15

16 Survey methodology Online survey of administrators, teachers and IT staff in UK primary and secondary schools (including 6 th form) Data collected in May 2013 Sample of 218 survey respondents (3.6 percent response rate) May 2013 SafeGov.org & Ponemon Institute 16

17 Questions? For more information, please contact: Jeff Gould Kate Tellier