The Challenge
Eliminate sharing and “borrowing” of logins
Oklahoma City Public Schools is a multi-cultural district serving approximately 43,000 students. Students are educated throughout 55 neighborhood elementary schools, 17 secondary schools, 4 special centers, and 13 charter schools located in the center of Oklahoma.
The IT team at Oklahoma City Public Schools had been facing numerous challenges as a result of students – and staff – sharing logins. Without a limit on concurrent logins or accurate usage tracking, students were using logins other than their own to delete or steal files (such as homework) or tamper with shared network apps by deleting primary files.
When a student shares or ‘borrows’ another’s login, he or she can access that student’s homework and personal files. And with nearly 43,000 students in the district, it was nearly impossible to track down what student was using what login at which workstation.
Paul Ashurst
Network Administrator - Oklahoma City Public Schools
The Solution
UserLock for access control and visibility of student behavior online
As Paul commenced the evaluation of user access solutions, he was looking for one that would work in the district’s Windows 2008 environment. An online search led him to UserLock, and he conducted a successful pilot. It was clear that UserLock met all of the district’s login control requirements and he quickly decided on UserLock.
Deployment was simple and fast. In less than two weeks, Paul conducted all research and troubleshooting and had everything in place to rollout UserLock across 89 schools for 43,000 users.
We set it up so that when a computer came online, UserLock would automatically push the seat out. It barely took any effort or time on our end and we gained control almost instantly.
Paul Ashurst
Network Administrator - Oklahoma City Public Schools
Because UserLock enabled the district to customize its user login policy, Paul was able to configure the solution according to their specific needs. Each student login can only be connected to the network once and only during permissible login times; teachers are permitted up to three concurrent logins.
With UserLock’s login control for their Windows network, Oklahoma City Schools
have been able to:
Eliminate login sharing and “borrowing.
The ability to completely block concurrent student logins and limit teacher logins allows the district to enforce internet and network usage policies. IT now has true visibility of who is logged into the network, from where and what he/she is doing.
Cut IT usage tracking and recovery time by 70%.
UserLock saves us 70% of the time we formerly spent recovering lost homework or trying to track down details about inappropriate usage. Depending on what was done and when it was actually discovered, which can sometimes be weeks after the fact, fixing the issues caused by borrowed logins was very time-consuming and tedious before UserLock. Now we rarely have to address those issues.
Paul Ashurst
Network Administrator - Oklahoma City Public Schools
Prevent security and network risk.
By eliminating the students’ ability to share logins, the district has greatly reduced the number of security incidents, including stealing of homework or personal files and tampering with network apps.