BP-15 · Industry Blueprint · Education

Education depends on connected communities. Not every path needs to stay open.

Schools, colleges and universities balance open learning environments with sensitive safeguarding, administrative and research systems. Control introduces physical control at selected boundaries while preserving paths required for teaching and institutional services.

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A service provider needs a campus-administration session without gaining access to research or safeguarding records. Review the named support and cross-zone boundaries; operationally required links are not assumed disconnectable.
Reference design for adaptation with the service owner, not a validated deployment. Confirm complete boundary coverage, operational dependencies and the consequences of opening or closing each selected path.
3 matching Control Plans. Offline Secure Storage® is separate.
Control does not replace safeguarding policies, identity controls, network monitoring, backups or education-sector governance. Changing connectivity does not establish a safe process state, stop local execution or guarantee service restoration.

The industry reality

Education: the connections your operation relies on.

Student devices and open campus networks coexist with sensitive records and research infrastructure. Network dependencies should be understood before selecting physical boundaries or access arrangements.

Sensitive recordsSafeguarding information requires carefully governed access by designated staff.

Campus availabilityConnectivity supports teaching, assessment and student services across varied devices.

Research exposureResearch systems may contain valuable or sensitive data with distinct access needs.

Service interruptionDisruption to administrative systems can affect records, finance and student support.

What needs protecting

The service, systems and people behind the connections.

A service provider needs a campus-administration session without gaining access to research or safeguarding records. Review the named support and cross-zone boundaries; operationally required links are not assumed disconnectable.

Open accessWhich campus paths could expose sensitive systems beyond intended users?

Third-party supportAre supplier connections available only for approved maintenance?

Service dependenciesWhich systems support safeguarding, teaching or emergency procedures?

Threats and failure scenarios

Situations to plan for, before the next incident.

A service provider needs a campus-administration session without gaining access to research or safeguarding records. Control acts on selected physical connections, not every connection in the environment.

Scoped support for EducationA service provider needs a campus-administration session without gaining access to research or safeguarding records. The owner authorises the selected route and its closing conditions.

Review an affected boundaryReview privileged support access with the relevant service owner; a network boundary does not enforce record-level entitlements.

CP-12: agree the connection and authorityReview privileged support access with the relevant service owner; a network boundary does not enforce record-level entitlements. Use CP-12 only where its scope and approval requirements fit this connection.

Industry architecture

Illustrative sector connections.

Illustrative sector connection

Stage

Without Control: the selected routes remain open.

Modules in this Blueprint

Shown when the agreed Control response is selected.

An illustrative ransomware event starts in a connected system and follows the open routes shown here. This is a connection model, not a prediction of a real attack.The open connections allow movement in this simplified model. Actual exposure depends on your environment and existing defences.

Selected connection states

Service provider to campus administrationAlways connected
Student network to research administrationAlways connected
Safeguarding staff to essential records serviceAlways connected
Campus support to research collaboration brokerAlways connected
Recovery access (OSS)Disconnected

!Illustrative threat starts at · Student network
+Modelled movement to · Suppliers, Identity
+Modelled movement to · Approved access, Administration
+Modelled movement to · Supporting service, Records and finance, Safeguarding
+Modelled movement to · Protected service, Research

This model only shows the selected routes. An interrupted route does not remove an existing compromise or protect unmodelled paths. Your security tools detect the event; the agreed Control design governs the response. Offline Secure Storage® holds copies separately; it is not a Control module.

Recommended industry Blueprint

Our recommended Blueprint for Education.

Start with these connections: Service provider to campus administration; Student network to research administration
Agree how access works: Open only for the authorised support task; close under agreed completion conditions
Plan the response: Change only the selected boundary after the service owner approves the impact

Refine this recommendation with campus it, research or safeguarding service owners and security leads. Offline Secure Storage® can hold recovery copies separately; it is not a Control module.

As featured in

Operational scenarios

Who decides, what changes, and what is checked.

Agree responsibility and service dependencies before relying on a controlled connection.

Normal operation
Schools, colleges and universities balance open learning environments with sensitive safeguarding, administrative and research systems. Control introduces physical control at selected boundaries while preserving paths required for teaching and institutional services.
Approved work
A service provider needs a campus-administration session without gaining access to research or safeguarding records. The owner authorises the selected route and its closing conditions.
Incident response
A service provider needs a campus-administration session without gaining access to research or safeguarding records. Control acts on selected physical connections, not every connection in the environment.
Reconnection
The owner reviews service dependencies and security checks, authorises reconnection and verifies the observed result. Evidence is retained only through the specified supporting systems.

Control does not replace safeguarding policies, identity controls, network monitoring, backups or education-sector governance. Changing connectivity does not establish a safe process state, stop local execution or guarantee service restoration.

Resilience and recovery

Offline Secure Storage®

OSS protects stored business data, recovery copies and retained evidence through physical disconnection. It is a separate storage service, not a Control module or a network containment function.

Control by Firevault governs selected physical connections. Existing detection tools and authorised operators decide when to act. OSS does not detect incidents, command Control or replace operational safety procedures.

Offline Secure Storage (OSS) is separate from Control. If selected, it can hold retained copies of configurations, records or recovery material. Collection, completeness and recovery readiness depend on the supporting tools, retention design and tested recovery procedures.

Explore Offline Secure Storage

Standards and governance

Support your obligations. Keep the boundaries clear.

Alignment may be assessed against the Department for Education Cyber Security Standards for schools and colleges where relevant; no certification or compliance outcome is implied. Any assessment needs deployment-specific scope and evidence; this Blueprint provides no certification, complete audit trail or guaranteed response time.

What this addressesA service provider needs a campus-administration session without gaining access to research or safeguarding records. Control acts on selected physical connections, not every connection in the environment.

What it does not replaceControl does not replace safeguarding policies, identity controls, network monitoring, backups or education-sector governance. Changing connectivity does not establish a safe process state, stop local execution or guarantee service restoration.

Evidence agreed for the deploymentSpecify the requests, approvals, commands, observed states and test results to retain. Logging capability and retention depend on the selected design.

Detection and the decision to act belong to the operational owner and supporting security systems. Identity, approval workflow, session expiry and evidence collection require specified integrations. Execute initiates an approved action; Fracture physically disconnects the selected path through Firebreak hardware. Confirm the observed connection state separately. Anchor keeps critical assets within defined physical connection boundaries; it does not collect or retain records. Transfer governs a designated exchange path, not content inspection or de-identification.

Deployment and proof of concept

Start with one boundary. Test it. Then expand.

Review the first selected connection with campus it, research or safeguarding service owners and security leads, agree who can authorise a change and test the service impact.

Map the complete boundary
Confirm cabling, redundant links and alternate routes. A selected physical cut does not remove paths outside its scope.
Agree an independent command route
Confirm the available command methods for the selected hardware. Command delivery can be affected by coverage, roaming and handshakes.
Test the effect, not just the command
Verify the observed link state, service dependencies and failure behaviour in an agreed test window.

Plan your first route

Start with the route you would close first.

Review the first selected connection with campus it, research or safeguarding service owners and security leads, agree who can authorise a change and test the service impact.

Outcomes

What changes, and how you will verify it.

Judge the Blueprint on agreed, observed outcomes.

Service provider to campus administrationOpen only for the authorised support task; close under agreed completion conditions. Agree identity checks, approval, session closure and observed-state checks

Student network to research administrationChange only the selected boundary after the service owner approves the impact. Map alternate routes and preserve services outside the selected scope

Safeguarding staff to essential records serviceNot assumed disconnectable. Safety and continuity owners must assess this dependency separately

Questions worth asking

Before you rely on BP-15.

Practical questions for the people who own these connections.

Not by assumption. Map dependencies and agree the acceptable service impact with the operational owner before selecting a path.

Review the first selected connection with campus it, research or safeguarding service owners and security leads, agree who can authorise a change and test the service impact.

Your next step

Take the next step with education.

Review the first selected connection with campus it, research or safeguarding service owners and security leads, agree who can authorise a change and test the service impact.

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