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  • 1.  Blocking USB access for student Laptops

    Posted 10-25-2022 02:40 PM
    We have been working towards 1:1 on our campus and I am wondering what other K-12 schools have done in regard to blocking USB devices on student laptops. If you do block it, what solutions do you provide for certain courses like Film or Photography?
    #CybersafetyandDataSecurity


  • 2.  RE: Blocking USB access for student Laptops

    Posted 10-26-2022 09:01 AM
    Most of our students use their phones for photography classes, so we just have them download the Google Drive app, and upload them directly to Drive from the phone. Some of them email the photos to themselves, but that can take a while since they take a lot of photos.  

    We do make sure they have unlimited data before having them upload photos to drive as we do not put student phones on our wifi. If that isn't an option they connect the phone/SD card reader to the laptop and I have to visit and enter an admin password. Luckily, we are small enough that this works out ok.

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    Scott Davis
    Director of Technology
    Delaware Valley Friends School
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  • 3.  RE: Blocking USB access for student Laptops

    Posted 10-26-2022 01:22 PM
    In my 20 years of supporting 1:1 Windows laptops with students I am not aware of a single incident security related due to a USB drive. If you have anti-virus / malware it should scan any opened files just as it would from downloading them from Internet.

    If you want to do it you can use either Group Policy or MDM policies to do it. I think the gains security wise are far outweighed by the challenges it will cause.

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    Brian Hoyt
    French American School of Puget Sound
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