9ine Partners with ICAISA: Elevating School Accreditation

9ine Partners with The International Council Advancing Independent School Accreditation (ICAISA) to Transform Data Privacy and Cyber Protections Across Independent & International Schools, Globally

LONDON, 05th March, 2021 -  ICAISA and 9ine today announce a partnership covering 2 million students and 120 countries to support over 3500 Independent and International schools to improve their data privacy programmes and cyber security protections. This announcement comes at a time when the Education sector faces an unrelenting cyber threat and changing data privacy landscape that, if misunderstood, can lead to civil and criminal enforcement action. This partnership will provide support, expertise and experience that Independent and International Schools can use to protect their communities.

“If schools can embed the very basics of data privacy and protection they will reduce their risk of a successful cyber attack, mitigate potential litigation from poor information handling practice and be better at managing the vast realms of personal information that is processed. We believe that our expertise and software can make a significant difference in protecting school communities from these threats”, said Mark Orchison, Founder and CEO at 9ine. “The first step in achieving this is to build capability and capacity in data privacy and cyber security within the organisations that hold schools to account with accreditation standards relating to the efficacy of their educational programme and institutional health.”

“The 9ine organization has a tried and tested methodology to support schools at a global scale and that is why we are so enthusiastic about having 9ine as our data privacy and cyber security partner”, said Bonnie J. Ricci, Executive Director of ICAISA. “ Schools unknowingly use technology and systems that share personal data, such as location, personal data identifiers, and behavioural data with other apps, companies and other third parties. This poses significant ethical questions and raises considerable privacy risks for young people and potential consequences that can have lifelong implications. Our partnership with 9ine enables schools accredited by an ICAISA member to understand these privacy issues, have resources to protect themselves from cyber threats and importantly, be informed to protect the personal data of their staff, students and families”.

This partnership provides member Associations of ICAISA access to expertise and resources to build support programmes for their member schools. Over the coming years the partnership will develop to include expertise and resources for safeguarding and child protecting. Collectively, and through the power of accreditation, ICAISA and member associations will enable schools to be safer and better protect their communities from harm.