How To Easily Manage 3rd Party Apps Using Cloud Monitor

While third-party apps have become valuable tools for teaching and collaboration in the classroom, there are also some disadvantages of technology in education. They can pose cybersecurity and data privacy risks for schools that may not fully understand the potential threats. To protect your networks and student accounts from these vulnerabilities, it is important to implement a third-party risk management strategy. 

Deploying a cloud security and safety tool for platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 allows administrators to better identify these vulnerabilities and take proactive steps to mitigate them. Cloud Monitor by ManagedMethods addresses these challenges by providing visibility into third-party apps and exposing any potential security threats they pose against student data.

What are Third-Party Apps? 

Third-party apps are browser extensions, websites, or downloaded applications that end-users sign into with their district credentials. When the user signs into these apps on a school-issued device, an OAuth token is granted for access to varying permissions in that user’s school account. This becomes a challenge for districts because they often have hundreds of apps connected to their domains, many of which share sensitive data with third parties.

Cloud Monitor helps district IT leaders address this issue by providing detailed visibility into all connected apps and user permissions across district Google and Microsoft domains.

Monitoring Access Levels 

In Cloud Monitor’s Apps Tab, you have visibility into which end-users have signed into each app and the access levels they’ve been granted. Monitoring access levels is important because each app connected to your domain has permissions to access areas of your district’s Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 environment. 

These permissions might include the ability to view and manage user emails, access Drive files, manage user profiles and settings, and more. These access permissions are concerning because schools store a tremendous amount of sensitive data on students, parents, staff, etc. 

Revoking Apps

When our customers ask which apps should stay connected to their domain or be revoked, we advise them to critically evaluate whether an app benefits student learning. While some gaming apps offer educational value, others can be harmful and pose risks to sensitive data. 

Social media apps are another area of concern, as students may use them to communicate with strangers without the district’s knowledge. By focusing on both the educational value and the permissions requested by apps upon sign-in, your district can better prevent potentially dangerous apps from compromising student safety and data security.

App Policies

Another feature Cloud Monitor offers for third-party app management is found in the Policies section. Here, you can view all OAuth tokens granted to your district’s Google or Microsoft domain. You can also view each app’s risk score. 

These scores are determined by factors such as required admin privileges, write permissions, authorization status, and endorsements from other Cloud Monitor users. Higher risk scores indicate greater potential threats to sensitive data, but remediation is made easy through automation. 

Cloud Monitor includes three out of the box policies, such as risk-based remediation, or you can customize policies to suit your district’s needs. 

Audit Your District’s Third-Party Apps with Cloud Monitor by ManagedMethods

Auditing third-party apps in a school district can be complex, but we’re here to make it as easy as possible to keep your students—and their data—safe at school. 

We understand that, like many other K-12 tech teams, auditing all the apps connected to your district and determining who needs access can feel overwhelming. That’s why we are offering a FREE third-party apps audit. 

With this audit, you’ll gain the ability to monitor and automatically manage third-party apps, helping to reduce cybersecurity risks and maintain CIPA compliance by limiting student access to inappropriate content. Sign up here!