Weekly Brief for Schools
19th January 2015
In this issue:
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Website of the Week
Quote of the Week
Communications
Technical Updates
eSafety
Regional
NEN / PSN National
Meeting dates
Meeting Dates
See below
Website of the Week
London Grid for Learning
Gallery
The NEN Gallery contains many
copyright free and creative
commons images available for
schools to use for teaching and
learning, with new images added
on an almost daily basis. The
London version of the gallery
focuses on images of London but
have wider application – for
example, if you are looking for
canal boat life images, they have a
wide selection from Little Venice.
http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/gallery0lgfl.html
Quote of the Week
Communications
Coffee meetings
A reminder of embc events for Spring 2015. We're kicking off in
Gainsborough and Louth. Tuesday 10th February schools from
Lincolnshire are invited to come along and find out about opportunities
for increasing bandwidth, taking resilient feeds and discover more
about the benefits of their embc service over a cup of coffee (hence
they are called coffee meetings). We will be at The Trinity Arts Centre,
in Gainsborough at 10am followed by The Brackenborough Hotel, near
Louth at 2pm. We expect them to last around 1-2 hours depending on
questions. Our coffee meetings are free to attend - simply email
events@empsn.org.uk and let us know you would like to come along
and to which venue.
More coffee meetings will be held on 22nd April in Matlock and
Markham, venues to be announced. embc will also be attending the
Ark Open Day at Springfields, Spalding on March 12th aswell as
Derbyshire’s LA Conference on the 26th March.
Please check our website regularly for events in your area:
http://www.empsn.info/what-we-do/events/
Technical Updates
Malware and Trojens
We are continuing to see a large number of alerts from malware traffic
attempting to pass the emPSN firewalls. The firewalls are blocking
this traffic preventing dial home activities from taking place, but the
traffic is a clear indication of computers not being kept up-to-date.
Through our suppliers we have been informed that there are a small
number of school websites which are using outdated versions of web
hosting / content management solutions. These sites have been
compromised and abused through the vulnerabilities in the versions of
the software they have in place. Resources accessible from the
internet should be used to check the site, and websites patched
regularly to avoid compromise and attack from hackers and malicious
users. There has been some press recently where school websites
"As I grow to understand life less
and less - I grow to love it more
and more".
Jules Renard, 1864-1910, French
Author and Dramatist
Contact Us
www.empsn.info
01604 879 869
JBarker@empsn.org.uk
have been used to post extreme messages causing public attention
and controversy.
We strongly recommend all schools maintain a proactive up to date
strategy for OS, Application and anti-viral/malware, to maximise the
protection against malware, malicious software and abuse. Applying
updates is a customer responsibility however emPSN will in all
instances take steps to fast track any issues regarding the use of 3rd
party update tools, including where appropriate adding them to open
services on the network.
Network Power
Following some power issues last week a couple of comments have
been raised about the power arrangements emPSN have in place
across the network. Just to clarify to those interested here is some
information about our power arrangements.
Within all emPSN exchange locations we use UPS equipment to
protect the power supply to operational services. UPS’s serve the
purpose of brown out/black out protection and maintenance of a clean
current to devices. Batteries within the UPSs will serve for a period of
time in a black out situation or loss of power, but the batteries will only
cater for a 20-60minute runtime dependant on load. UPS devices are
covered under maintenance contracts and are subject to annual
checks for correct operation, where issues are discovered planned
changes, replacements, swap outs are made.
A number of the emPSN exchanges have the use of generator
backup, but this is only available in larger exchange
locations. Generators are regularly checked and run where available
to determine correct scaling and operation. The UPS equipment will
protect the voltage to equipment during generator checks.
The power within our data centres locations is subject to resilient
national grid power feeds, UPS backup and generator services. All
are regularly maintained with a view to offering 24/7/365 power, (or
five nines service 99.999 %.)
Power at your locations is subject to the services available locally,
which you will be fully aware.
Meraki Services
Just so site admins are aware. We have noticed that Meraki have
again updated their IP addressing for cloud services, so we have
carried out a couple of adjustments for customers in this area. The
new addresses seem to be based on IP ranges meaning firewall ruling
is more straight forward, BUT the IP addresses used per customer
have been unique. If you are experiencing any issues with Meraki
services, the first point to check would be the IP addresses in use on
your instance. Guidance on this is available on the KCOM portal –
https://portal.kcom.com – documentation.
Firewall Changes
During the last quarter of 2014 we have made some adjustments to
the Firewall management platform, as a result of this, updates to the
form have taken a back seat. In the coming week a new edition of the
firewall form will be issued and come into immediate use. We will ask
users where ever possible to use the latest version of the form as this
not only helps completion and use of pre-defined rules, this also helps
processing the requests. More on this next week.
eSafety
Update from UK Safer Internet Centre
On Boxing Day, Nicky Morgan MP announced that the government is
committing £500,000 to the UK Safer Internet Centre to enable the
centre to deliver its important work supporting children, families and
schools.
For more information read the full article here...
Safer Internet Day 2015 - Update
For more information on the SID TV schedule, Thunderclap campaign
and the Safer Internet Day Quiz go to
http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2015
And you can also download an Education Pack for lots of ideas on
how to get your class involved on the day
Follow @UK_SIC #SID2015 #SIDTV and @SID2015tv for further
updates.
NEW Resource - Parents' Guide to Instagram'
UKSC have also produced a 'A Parents' Guide to Instagram'
The guide has been written by the Helpline team in collaboration with
Instagram and Connect Safely. It is an invaluable source of
information for anyone who works with young people who use
Instagram. It answers many of the common questions received by the
helpline on a daily basis about the app. You can find the guide in
Instagram's Help Centre or can download your own copy by clicking
on the link above.
UK Safer Internet Centre guide to the most popular social networks,
which highlights the privacy features available
www.saferinternet.org.uk/safety-tools
Resource for Teachers
A reminder about resources for teachers about the use of social media
and safeguarding their professional reputation. A guide for teachers
and professionals about their use of social media.
http://www.childnet.com/teachers-and-professionals/for-you-as-aprofessional/professional-reputation
NSPCC - Share Aware Campaign
The new NSPCC campaign was developed due to their own research
finding that parents' quite often feel confused by the internet - out of
their depth, and out of control.
Share Aware is for parents of children aged 8-12 and is designed to
help to reassure and give parents everything they need to keep their
children safe. The design is straightforward: No-nonsense advice that
will help to untangle the web, showing parents how they can be just as
great a parent online as they are the rest of the time.Click here to read
more.
If teachers have queries or face any issues regarding their
professional reputation, they can contact the UK Safer Internet Centre
helpline for professionals www.saferinternet.org.uk/helpline
Regional
The meeting of the empsn Joint Board on the 19th January focussed
on the 5 Year Business Plan for 2015-2020. As members of emPSN
you will be advised when the final version is published on the empsn
web site for you to review and comment upon. At the meeting we also
accepted the resignation of Jill Craig, the Director from Leicester City,
who will be leaving the authority at the end of January. Jill has been a
member of the Board for many years having served as Chair of the
Board during the period of change from embc-pl to emPSN.
The emPSN Audit Committee meets on Thursday 22nd January. The
agenda will focus on the risks within the proposed business plan for
2015-2020 and the actions being taken by the Company to mitigate
those risks during a period of rapid change for the public sector,
including schools.
NEN / PSN National
The E2BN Winter 2014 journal is now available on their website
http://www.e2bn.org/files/Journal_January_2015.pdf
Current PSN frameworks extended for another year until 2016.
The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has announced that it is
extending the current PSN Connectivity and PSN Services frameworks
(PSN C and PSN S) as it responds to in excess of 850 clarification
questions around the impending RM1045 Network Services
Framework. The original PSN C and PSN S frameworks were always
set out as a 2+1+1 duration (providing the option to extend for an
additional two years post the original two years) and today we have
confirmation that CCS will be taking the second year extension. By
extending PSN C and PSN S, CCS has provided a degree of
continuity and certainty to the market place by ensuring there is no
possibility that customers would not be able to procure under a valid
framework – and this is a good thing. However, what both suppliers
and users really want is for the replacement Network Services
Framework (RM1045) to be successfully completed on schedule.
Meeting dates
emPSN Audit Meeting - Thursday 22nd January - 10am Beaumanor
Hall
Local Authorities: