Web Filtering and Web Security in Schools

When most people think of cyberattack targets, they picture banks, healthcare providers, or large corporations. But in reality, K–12 schools and higher education institutions are increasingly in the crosshairs of cybercriminals. According to recent data from the Center for Internet Security (CIS), 82% of K–12 institutions report experiencing cyber threats, a clear signal that education is no longer a low-risk sector.

For IT professionals in schools, the challenge extends beyond blocking malware. It's about creating a secure digital environment that protects students, staff, and sensitive data while maintaining access to legitimate educational content. Web filtering is a critical first line of defense. By proactively blocking harmful or inappropriate sites, these tools help mitigate risk, enforce acceptable use policies, and ensure a safe online experience across the network.

Why do Schools Need a Web Filter?

Schools are the custodians of our children's education and their data – both are leveraged by cybercriminals intent on disruption and financial gain. A web filter prevents students and staff from navigating to malicious or inappropriate content. Web filtering helps protect a school from malware, including avoiding ransomware attacks. A web filter protects students from unwittingly downloading malicious content, for example, when playing computer games. It also protects students from navigating to phishing websites or sites showing inappropriate or violent content. As part of CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) compliance, a web filter will provide a school with a robust approach to protecting children from harmful online content.

What is a DNS Filter?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is an integral component of the internet that matches a website domain name to an IP address. This makes web content delivery to a browser more effortless and seamless. A DNS filter is a web filter that integrates with this process to minimize the work needed by administrators when preventing students from accessing phishing and inappropriate content.

DNS filtering solutions block access to a malicious or inappropriate website by controlling access based on a "blocklist" of URLs. Students who attempt to navigate to a blocked IP address are prevented from doing so. DNS filtering works on a granular and per-device basis, which is ideal for applying filtering policies to education sector Chromebook users.

Some advanced DNS Filtering solutions, such as WebTitan, enhance simple blocklist protection using sophisticated AI-driven engines.  WebTitan uses machine learning algorithms trained on a massive "threat corpora" to actively update lists of dangerous URLs, including emerging ones not part of known phishing blocklists. AI-driven DNS filters can quickly react to the changing cybersecurity landscape to block malicious content in real-time.

Schools, Chromebooks, and Web Filtering

Chromebooks are very popular with K-12 schools as they provide ready-to-go internet access. This always-on approach to connectivity means that Chromebook users are also potentially open to cyberattacks, especially those that focus on manipulating behavior, such as phishing. Web content filtering in schools that use Chromebooks and other devices must be seamless, flexible, and cost-effective. A web filtering solution for Chromebooks in schools must be configurable and use AI-enabled technologies to block known web-based threats and zero-day and emerging threats, such as newly created domains hosting malware.

The Benefits of Using an Advanced Web Filter in a School

School and school districts benefit from AI-powered web filtering in the following ways:

• Stops students and staff from navigating to malicious / phishing websites.
• Prevents students from accessing inappropriate online content.
• Monitors online activity to provide a school with data on student internet usage patterns.
• Block pornography and obscene content. WebTitan provides Google integration that enforces safe search, allowing you to filter out adult content in search results.
• Help minimize cyberbullying by preventing access to specific social sites - if a school-owned device is taken home, a BYOD policy will follow the device.
• Prevent phishing attacks by blocking malicious content at the source.
• Stop mistyped URLs (typosquatting/URL hijacking). Cybercriminals exploit common typos so that if a student mistypes a URL, the student will land on a phishing website.
• Cloud-based DNS filters, like WebTitan are designed for ease of deployment, upgrade, maintenance and configurability.

Can a Web Filter be Circumvented?

Web filters must be resilient to any form of tampering. K- 12 students may try to circumvent the web filtering restrictions by using mirror sites. In-built web filters in web servers are not designed to block mirror sites, often used to circumvent web filters. However, TitanHQ prevents DNS filter bypass and audits individual students' internet use, allowing a school to tackle student tampering.

The Importance of a Web Filter for CIPA Compliance

CIPA applies to any K-12 school or library that wishes to receive discounts offered by the E-Rate funding program or the LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act). E-Rate offers discounts of between 20% and 90% on telecommunications, telecommunications services, and Internet access and associated services. To apply for E-Rate funding, a library or school must produce evidence that it has an Internet Safety Policy that utilizes appropriate technology protection measures, such as using a web filter.

The Internet Safety Policy is expected to handle the following:

• Block or filter access by minors to inappropriate images.
• Ensure the safety and security of minors when using email, chat rooms or other direct electronic communications.
• Prevent minors from 'hacking' or engagement in other unlawful activities.
• Prevent unauthorized disclosure of personal information about themselves or their peers.
• Prevent access to any content deemed harmful to minors.
• The content that MUST be filtered is:
  1. Obscene content (Miller v. California (1973)
  2. Child pornography (18 U.S.C. 2256)
  3. Any content that may be harmful to minors
• Certification is required to demonstrate compliance with CIPA.

Read more about the History of CIPA.

TitanHQ: Web Filters and Email Security

Web filters are an essential part of school life, ensuring that students and the school are safe from inappropriate content and malicious cyberattacks. However, cyber threats exist in an evolving landscape where attackers develop ever-more sophisticated techniques to evade detection. Security experts compel organizations to use a multi-layered approach to preventing cyberattacks.

Advanced email security solutions work alongside web content filters to provide comprehensive security against email-borne threats, including phishing and spam. These solutions prevent malicious messages from entering users' inboxes.

Advanced email security solutions like SpamTitan and PhishTitan use layers of analysis augmented by machine learning (ML) models to detect phishing emails. Curated feeds identify malicious URLs and stop students from navigating to phishing websites via email. Dual antivirus engines and AI-enabled detection identify evasive and emerging threats and prevent them from infecting school devices and the network. This advanced capability has resulted in SpamTitan receiving a 100% phishing, malware, and spam catch rate and a perfect 0% false positive rate from tests by Virus Bulletin.

TitanHQ’s unified email security and web filtering solutions are built with schools in mind, centrally deployed, easy to configure, and simple to manage across your entire network. Available as fully managed services, our tools are designed to reduce the burden on IT teams while delivering robust protection.

Ready to strengthen your school’s cybersecurity posture? Start with a free demo of WebTitan, our powerful and cost-effective web filtering solution. Get in touch today to learn more or to schedule your personalized demo.