Protecting access to sensitive systems at Meadowhead School with SecurEnvoy Multi-Factor Authentication Solution

The Organisation

Meadowhead School is a single trust academy secondary school in Sheffield, serving over 2000 pupils and supported by a dedicated team of 240 staff. The school’s mission is to make a difference to the lives of their young people through excellence and continual improvement, including providing an uninterrupted education and a consistent learning experience for all students.

The challenge

Following the results from a penetration test, which highlighted a number of gaps in their existing cybersecurity approach, the school has been investing in our security posture to safeguard our systems and maintain reliable access to teaching and learning resources.

As an educational establishment, Meadowhead holds large amounts of personal information and is a prime target for cyber attacks. They were looking for an MFA solution that could help prevent unauthorised access even if passwords are stolen.

Meadowhead had a number of factors to consider when choosing the right MFA solution. It was essential for them that lesson delivery runs smoothly – the school didn’t want lessons disrupted by lengthy credential entry or repeated data input so usability was key. Meadowhead was looking for a solution that, once deployed, offered reliable ongoing assistance as staff and students have varying levels of technical confidence and they wanted the solution to feel easy and seamless to ensure enthusiastic and consistent usage.

Value for money was also a key factor as a school on a tight budget so they wanted to find the right balance between affordability and effectiveness.

Solution

Meadowhead evaluated a number of MFA solutions and found that SecurEnvoy provided the best combination of functionality and value for money. “The team at SecurEnvoy has been incredibly responsive – providing clear demonstrations of the product and answering questions during the decision-making process and listening to our suggestions during onboarding, implementing improvements where practical.”

Results

After some initial nervousness from staff, the overall impact on the end-user experience has been minimal. Once users became accustomed to entering the additional six-digit code at login, and remembering to bring their token, the process quickly became routine and seamless.

“The reassurance of knowing that our school now has an additional layer of protection in place has provided valuable peace of mind for both staff and the wider organisation.”

“SecurEnvoy provided the perfect combination of security, usability, and value for our school. The rollout was smooth, staff adapted quickly, and the added protection has given us real peace of mind.”