

"I didn't know that my access was limited," Fred asserted honestly. "You're authorized to access specific elements that relate to a student's free- and reduced-price lunch eligibility," Kim clarified.

"Are you forgetting that I'm authorized to access student records?" I couldn't understand why someone in Food Services would need to be browsing through individual student test scores, so I thought I'd come by and ask you."įred looked up at Kim as he if was surprised to be entertaining such a question.

"Fred, my review of our computer logs shows that you have been logging in and looking at confidential student information. As the security manager, she knew how important it was to gather information completely before jumping to conclusions. After all, there is no reason for someone in Staff Payroll to be given clearance to confidential student records. To make this distinction a little more realistic, however, understand that user access security limits even authorized users to those parts of the system that they are explicitly permitted to use (which, in turn, is based on their "need-to-know"). User access security refers to the collective procedures by which authorized users access a computer system and unauthorized users are kept from doing so. A person with a "need-to-know" has been designated by school officials as having a legitimate educational or professional interest
