How to Demonstrate FERPA Compliance: Best Practices for IT, Risk, and Cybersecurity Professionals

Ensuring data privacy and data protection have never been more critical. No one is immune from having their personally identifiable information (PII) exposed from a cyberattack or data breach. Student records contain lots of PII and are therefore very attractive to hackers, who can sell this information to thieves to commit identity theft and fraud.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law enacted in 1974 to protect student privacy, including their education records. For IT, risk, and cybersecurity professionals, understanding and demonstrating FERPA compliance is crucial to safeguarding student data and maintaining the integrity of educational institutions. This blog post examines the fundamentals of FERPA and FERPA compliance guidelines, specifically best practices for achieving and maintaining FERPA compliance.

FERPA Regulations: Who Must Comply

FERPA requires all educational institutions that benefit from federal funding to adhere to its regulations. FERPA compliance guidelines are not limited to primary and secondary public schools but also extend to a wide array of higher education institutions, such as community colleges, state universities, and private universities if they receive federal aid or grants.

Information Protected Under FERPA

FERPA compliance requirements aim to secure educational records. These records include grades, transcripts, student schedules, and other types of information such as financial records, disciplinary records. Additionally, institutions must protect personally identifiable and protected health information (PII/PHI) such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, contact information and student health center records including prescriptions and health insurance information. Compliance ensures that only authorized individuals have access to these sensitive records, helping to maintain student privacy and data security.

Key Provisions of FERPA Compliance

FERPA grants parents and eligible students certain rights regarding their education records. These rights transfer to students when they reach 18 years old or attend a school beyond the high school level. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

Parents or eligible students have several rights regarding the access and management of a student’s education records maintained by the school. Firstly, they have the right to inspect and review these records. Schools are not obligated to provide copies unless circumstances, such as great distance, make it impossible for parents or eligible students to review the records in person.

In addition, parents or eligible students can request corrections to records they believe to be inaccurate or misleading. If the school chooses not to amend the record, the parent or eligible student is entitled to a formal hearing on the matter.

Regarding the control over the disclosure of information, schools must obtain written permission from the parent or eligible student before releasing any information from a student’s education record. FERPA does, however, permit schools to disclose records without consent to certain parties under specific conditions. These conditions include disclosures to school officials with legitimate educational interests, other schools where the student is transferring, and specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes, among others.

Lastly, schools are required to annually notify parents and eligible students of their rights under FERPA. The method of notification is at the discretion of each school and can include a special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, a student handbook, or even a newspaper article.

FERPA Enforcement and Penalties

FERPA is enforced by the Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO) of the U.S. Department of Education. This office is responsible for ensuring that educational institutions comply with the act’s provisions to protect the privacy of student education records.

If an institution fails to adhere to FERPA regulations, it may face serious consequences, including the potential loss of federal funding. This makes compliance with FERPA not only a matter of legal obligation but also critical for the financial viability of the institution, as federal funding can be a substantial part of an educational institution’s budget.

Benefits of FERPA Compliance

Adherence to FERPA compliance requirements offer significant advantages to educational institutions, students, and their families. For example, FERPA compliance enhances data security, fosters trust, and upholds privacy standards, thereby preventing unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information. Additionally, FERPA compliance protects institutions from legal repercussions and promotes a culture of accountability and integrity.

How FERPA Compliance Benefits Educational Institutions

By following FERPA compliance guidelines, institutions can reduce the likelihood of data breaches and unauthorized access to student records, which could otherwise lead to serious legal liabilities and financial penalties. Moreover, institutions that prioritize FERPA compliance enhance their reputation as trustworthy and responsible custodians of student data. This commitment to privacy and data security can significantly bolster the institution’s standing in the eyes of its stakeholders. Finally, implementing robust data management practices in line with FERPA requirements can streamline administrative processes, leading to improved overall operational efficiency. Thus, FERPA compliance provides multiple benefits, ranging from privacy protection and risk mitigation to reputation management and operational efficiency.

How FERPA Compliance Benefits Individuals

When educational institutions adhere to FERPA compliance requirements, students and their parents or guardians are provided the tools and resources to manage and control education records. This ability promotes a sense of ownership and responsibility towards their personal information and academic history. By having control over student records, students, parents, and guardians can ensure that sensitive data, such as grades, attendance, and behavioral reports, remains confidential. This authority allows them to decide who has access to their information, ensuring it is only shared with trusted individuals like teachers, school administrators, and authorized educational institutions.

Best Practices for Achieving FERPA Compliance

IT, risk, and cybersecurity professionals can streamline their FERPA compliance journey, as well as maintain FERPA compliance longer–term, by conducting audits, implementing data management best practices, enforcing access controls, utilizing encryption, providing staff training, and preparing incident response plans. Let’s take a closer look at these best practices below.

Conduct a FERPA Audit

Start with a comprehensive audit of your current data management practices. Identify all locations where student data is stored, who has access, and how data is currently being protected. This audit will serve as the foundation for developing or refining your FERPA compliance strategy.

Implement Access Controls

By implementing role–based access controls (RBAC), educational institutions ensure that only authorized personnel have access to student records based on their roles within the institution. University employees in finance and accounting, for example, don’t need, therefore shouldn’t have, access to student healthcare records.

Additionally, it is crucial to deploy strong authentication methods, such as multi–factor authentication, along with robust authorization processes to verify the identity of users accessing student records. This combination of RBAC and stringent authentication and authorization measures will enhance the security and integrity of student information within the institution.

Data Encryption

Encryption plays a critical role in ensuring students’ data privacy and in adherence to FERPA compliance requirements. Student data must be encrypted when shared (in transit) and stored (at rest).

Data in transit pertains to information that is being transmitted from one location to another, whether it is across a local network or over the internet. Encrypting data in transit ensures that any data packets intercepted during transmission cannot be understood or manipulated. This is typically achieved using protocols like TLS (Transport Layer Security) or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), which provide a secure channel between the communicating parties.

Encrypting data at rest involves transforming the data into an unreadable format using cryptographic algorithms. This means that even if someone manages to gain unauthorized access to student information, the data would remain indecipherable and thus secure, as only those with the correct decryption key can convert it back into a readable format.

Hold Regular Training and Awareness

To ensure that faculty, staff, and administrators fully understand FERPA requirements and their responsibilities in protecting student data, it is important to conduct regular employee security awareness training sessions. Additionally, implementing ongoing security awareness campaigns can help keep FERPA compliance top–of–mind for all employees. These campaigns can utilize newsletters, posters, and various other communication channels to consistently reinforce key messages.

Data Minimization and Retention Policies

Implement data minimization practices to ensure that only essential student information is gathered and stored. This means critically evaluating what data is truly necessary for educational purposes and eliminating any non–essential details. Develop and enforce clear data retention policies that outline the specific duration for which student records should be kept, taking into account legal requirements and educational needs. Establish protocols to determine the appropriate timing and method for securely disposing of records that are no longer needed, ensuring that sensitive information is permanently deleted or destroyed to protect student privacy.

Embrace Incident Response Planning

Develop and maintain a comprehensive incident response plan designed to effectively address potential data breaches or unauthorized access to student records. This plan should detail specific procedures for the prompt investigation of incidents, including steps to identify the scope and nature of the breach. It should also outline clear mitigation strategies to contain and minimize the impact, such as isolating affected systems and assessing vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the plan must include guidelines for timely notification, ensuring that affected individuals and relevant authorities are informed as soon as possible. Regular updates and training should be conducted to keep the response team prepared and the plan current with evolving threats and regulatory requirements.

Conduct Regular Audits and Assessments

Conduct regular internal and external audits to assess compliance with FERPA regulations. These audits should be thorough and systematic, encompassing all aspects of your data handling and storage processes. Use the findings from these audits to identify any gaps or weaknesses in your data protection practices, such as unauthorized access points, insufficient encryption methods, or inadequate employee training. Take immediate and corrective action to address these issues, implementing new policies, upgrading security measures, or providing additional training to staff as necessary. Continuously monitor the effectiveness of these corrective actions to ensure ongoing compliance and data security.

Leverage Technology Solutions

To protect sensitive student data and ensure network security, there are crucial tools that should be implemented. Firstly, Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools are essential for monitoring and controlling the movement of sensitive information within the network, thereby preventing any unauthorized sharing or transfer.

Secondly, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems are vital for collecting and analyzing security data from various sources in real–time. These systems enable quick detection and response to potential threats, enhancing overall network security and data integrity.

Another essential technology is multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to systems and data. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access, even if login credentials are compromised.

Kiteworks Helps Colleges and Universities Demonstrate FERPA Compliance with a Private Content Network

FERPA compliance is essential for protecting student privacy and ensuring the integrity of educational institutions. By understanding the key aspects of FERPA, recognizing the benefits of compliance, and implementing best practices, IT, risk, and cybersecurity professionals can effectively safeguard student data. Regular audits, strong access controls, employee training, and leveraging technology solutions are critical components in achieving and maintaining FERPA compliance. Embrace these strategies to build a secure and compliant educational environment that protects student privacy and reinforces trust and confidence with students and their parents or guardians.

With Kiteworks, higher education institutions share student records, including financial information, PII, PHI, and other sensitive content with students, parents, guardians, government agencies, partnering schools, or other trusted parties. Because they use Kiteworks, they know sensitive student data remains confidential and is shared in compliance with relevant regulations like COPPA, HIPAA, GDPR, CJIS, and many others.

Kiteworks deployment options include on-premises, hosted, private, hybrid, and FedRAMP virtual private cloud. With Kiteworks: control access to sensitive content; protect it when it’s shared externally using automated end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, and security infrastructure integrations; see, track, and report all file activity, namely who sends what to whom, when, and how.

To learn more about Kiteworks and how it can help you exchange sensitive student PII and PHI securely and in compliance, schedule a custom demo today.

Additional Resources

• Blog Post 5 Secure File Sharing Capabilities Educational Institutions Require
• Blog Post 4 Things Educational Institutions Need to Consider When Using Secure File Transfer
• Blog Post Managed File Transfer for FERPA Compliance
• Blog Post Data Sovereignty for Higher Education Institutions
• Blog Post Texas Juvenile Justice Department Protects PII With Simple and Secure File Sharing