Education - Cloud Group

Case Study - Education

Keeping learners safe on every network, every day.

How schools secure their networks against unsafe content and filter-bypass tools, without slowing down digital learning.

The challenge

Educational organisations—from early childhood centres and multi-site private academies to public high schools and student residences—must provide fast, reliable internet for digital learning while strictly safeguarding students from inappropriate content, cyber threats and digital distractions.

The education sector faces escalating security risks, highlighted globally by ransomware disrupting major platforms like Canvas, and locally when the XP95 ransomware group breached the Gauteng City Region Academy, exfiltrating 147GB of sensitive data and demanding a R1.7 million ransom. Schools must also adhere to POPIA, particularly around the protection of minors’ personal information.

The solution

Cloud Group works closely with its extensive network of IT professionals and resellers to deploy iShield — a next-generation Smart Access Unified Threat Management Device — across a diverse array of educational settings, including granular network segmentation, advanced content and safety filtering, time-based access controls, and secure infrastructure integration.

The results

Bulletproof student safety through multi-layered content filtering. Elimination of filter bypassing via third-party VPNs. Optimised academic performance during online exams and virtual classrooms. Administrative efficiency through automated reporting.

Assured student safety

Multi-layered content filtering and forced Safe Search successfully shield learners from malicious or inappropriate material, helping institutions fulfil their duty of care and POPIA compliance.

Elimination of filter bypassing

Robust blocking completely curtails student attempts to circumvent school rules via third-party VPNs and proxies.

Optimised academic performance

Network segmentation and traffic shaping prevent recreational traffic from choking bandwidth, so online exams, virtual classrooms and digital teaching tools run without interruption.

Secure operational flexibility

Tiered VPN access lets parents log in remotely to view campus cameras and supervise their children, while staff use a separate, fully isolated VPN tier to reach internal business systems.

Administrative efficiency

Automated daily and weekly email reports, combined with audit logs, eliminate guesswork for school IT administrators and partners, allowing immediate accountability and streamlined troubleshooting.

Partner-driven cost control

Replacing fragmented software subscriptions with an all-in-one hardware and cloud solution reduces overhead for schools, while empowering Cloud Group partners to manage multiple campuses remotely.

“In the past, keeping students off restricted sites and managing bandwidth during peak school hours was a constant cat-and-mouse game. Now we can guarantee a safe, lightning-fast digital classroom.”

— Cloud Group IT Partner & Education Deployment Specialist

Ready to secure your educational network?

Contact Cloud Group to learn more about our partner programme or to book a demo.