Every day, endless consumer and educational technologies provide learning opportunities in classrooms across the planet. We already live in a world where every moment of a child’s life can be recorded with metadata attached-- but what if sensitive education data became part of metadata profiles, too? While there has been a recent massive influx of investment and resources into education technology, few schools have the appropriate resources to build secure infrastructure for sensitive student data, and few education technology companies take the challenge of securing student information seriously. This talk will examine the current state of (in)security in schools and in the education technology industry that leaves sensitive student data and private information exposed for anyone with a basic understanding of hacking to exploit. In addition to exposing the gaping security holes and lack of minimum encryption standards in educational technology, it will focus on ways that hackers, technologists and parents can advocate for more security protections that will keep the private data of children safe and sound.

Bio: Jessy is privacy + security advocate who can be found ranting regularly about the lack of security in education technology and schools. She once helped integrate technology into a class of 3,000 students... and Skyped with Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. She loves few things on earth as much as I love dinosaurs, big necklaces, and going for tacos on days ending in Y.

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