Data Encryption
For users’ protection, Brooklyn College requires 128-bit Secured Socket Layer (SSL) strong encryption during users’ online sessions with Web Services. Encryption is a sophisticated way of scrambling all information transmitted online before it leaves a user’s computer, so that all information, including passwords and online bill payments, are completely unreadable by unauthorized third parties. No transactional information will be transmitted without first being encrypted.
Brooklyn College requires that a user’s Web browser support 128-bit encryption because it is more effective than 40-bit encryption. While 40-bit encryption might be fine for low-risk transactions, it is not adequate for protecting financial transactions. When students supply data via the Internet, it is encrypted before it travels across the World Wide Web. Brooklyn College decodes and processes the data at our end of the transaction process. When we provide data to users, the data is encrypted by the college and sent to the user. When the user receives the data or information, his or her browser decodes the information and displays it to them.
Users can ensure that online information is encrypted in Internet Explorer or Netscape if the small key or lock at the bottom left-hand or right-hand corner of their screen is latched.
Database Server Security
Brooklyn College database servers are protected behind secure firewalls to prevent unwarranted access from the Internet and are protected by multilayered password and encryption security.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
What is FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act)?
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (also sometimes referred to as the Buckley Amendment), is a federal law regarding the privacy of student records and the obligations of the institution, primarily in the areas of release of the records and the access provided to these records. Any educational institution that receives funds under any program administered by the U.S. Secretary of Education is bound by FERPA requirements. Institutions that fail to comply with FERPA may have funds administered by the Secretary of Education withheld.