LONDON, October 8 /PRNewswire/ --     Schools are responsible for looking after their students. It is a
teacher's job to zip up coats, wipe away tears, and teach children the things
they need to know. There are procedures in place to make sure that students
are looked after while they are under the school's care, but what about a
student's personal data? Are British Schools keeping their students' data
safe?

According to a recent survey by Databarracks, 92% of education
institutions say they back up their data, however, analysing this further,
the survey shows that while 60% take the data offsite, 55% of them have this
function performed by a member of staff who takes the data home. Though
rooted in good intentions, this is not a comforting solution in light of the
amount of data loss which has occurred over the years as a result of staff
negligence.

Databarracks' survey also revealed that 20% of these institutions are
aware of data retention regulations, but are uncertain that they are
compliant. Further, 26% of them were unaware of the regulations.

Different categories of data warrant different retention periods and
ultimately, disposal measures, which is a lot to keep straight, especially
considering that education professionals have enough on their plates without
asking them to be IT experts.

Becta, the Government's lead agency for information and communications
technology (ICT), is trying to make data protection easier to achieve, making
available guidelines and policies for managing data and responding to
security incidents and threats.

According to industry retention regulations, everything from financial
records, to old classroom materials, to exam results and staff records must
all be retained, each with individual retention periods ranging from 6 months
for disciplinary warnings to 85 years for salary cards.

Jeremy Gray, Sales Manager of Databarracks, explains: "As a managed
service provider we're always striving to understand different challenges
industries face with their backup and storage requirements so we can work as
an extension of their IT department and provide a complete backup and
recovery service. The survey shows that although the education sector has a
lot to comply with, their understanding of the backup methodology and its
capabilities needs to be improved. Until guidelines are followed, education
institutions are susceptible to disasters and it's our job to tailor our
service to change this reality."

Contact

Barbara Ferrari/Lindsay beaton, +44(0)2031771910, press@databarracks.com