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What is FERPA compliance?

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 governs the privacy of student educational records in the United States. According to the US Department of Education, this federal law applies to all schools receiving funds under the department's applicable program.

EventLog Analyzer, a log analysis and management software, helps simplify FERPA compliance with its focus on the protection of educational records. It streamlines tracking and auditing access to student records, making educational record management simple and secure. Using predefined correlation rules, EventLog Analyzer identifies threats and ensures data privacy with compliance-ready templates, supporting your institution's commitment to student data privacy.

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Here's how EventLog Analyzer simplifies FERPA compliance management

Removable device auditing

Removable device auditing

With EventLog Analyzer, you can track the usage of removable devices by collecting, monitoring, and analyzing server and workstation logs from a single console. Based on the collected logs, EventLog Analyzer generates detailed graphical reports, providing insights into each instance of USB usage within the network and into the operations conducted using these removable disks. In addition to generating reports, EventLog Analyzer alerts you in real time whenever a removable device is used for a data transfer.

Database activity monitoring

Database activity monitoring

EventLog Analyzer offers comprehensive database auditing, monitoring access to confidential student records stored on database servers. By collecting and analyzing database server logs, EventLog Analyzer generates reports that help you monitor database logons, queries executed on the database, changes made to the database, permission changes, SQL injection attacks, DoS attacks, and more. Get real-time alerts via email and SMS when any suspicious activity occurs on your database server.

Network attack reporting

Network attack reporting

Detect security threats accurately and identify attack patterns with EventLog Analyzer's threat intelligence and event correlation capabilities. With over 30 prebuilt correlation rules, a custom correlation builder, and dynamically updated threat feeds, our compliance solution helps you detect cyberattacks at the earliest stages. You can also find exhaustive reports on specific attacks, with details on the entry point, involved user, severity level, source, and event ID. This wealth of information helps you take swift remediation measures to avoid full-scale attacks.

Web server and FTP server auditing

Web server and FTP server auditing

Detect web server attacks and get notified in real time by auditing Microsoft IIS web server logs, FTP server logs, and Apache web server logs using EventLog Analyzer. This versatile FERPA compliance software provides detailed reports on error events (e.g., client and server errors), password changes, HTTP bad requests, and security attacks (e.g., SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and DoS). You can also monitor uploaded, downloaded, and deleted files on the IIS and Unix FTP servers using FTP server reports.

How does EventLog Analyzer meet FERPA requirements?

FERPA requirement What is it? Predefined reports in EventLog Analyzer
Section 99.31 (a)(1)(ii) Ensure compliance by using reasonable methods in educational record management, like monitoring and limiting access to only those with legitimate interests, for student data privacy and personal data protection.
  • Removable device auditing
  • FTP server reports
  • Microsoft SQL Server changes
  • Db2 changes
  • Oracle changes
  • SQL Server reports
  • Printer reports
  • MySQL reports
  • Apache web server reports
  • IIS web server attacks/errors
  • PostgreSQL changes
  • File changes
  • Storage activity reports
  • Database reports
  • Symantec reports

Related solutions offered by EventLog Analyzer

Log analysis  

Collect, parse, analyze, and archive logs from any device in your network. Monitor network activities with built-in graphical reports and get real-time alerts when any security threat is detected.

Secure data storage and archival  

The use of encryption, hashing, and time-stamping not only ensures the safety and reliability of student data but also facilitates efficient data retrieval and loading into the product.

Privileged user auditing  

Privileged user accounts, which are crucial for server access, pose severe security risks. Audit the activities of these accounts to spot the misuse of elevated rights.

File integrity monitoring  

Monitor logs for unauthorized changes made to critical files and folders with real-time alerts and comprehensive reports that specify crucial details about the modified files.

5 reasons to choose EventLog Analyzer for FERPA compliance management

1. Unified log management  

Protect students' educational records by efficiently auditing database and web server activities with EventLog Analyzer. It supports over 750 log sources, including Microsoft SQL Server databases, MySQL databases, Oracle databases, Apache web servers, and IIS web servers.

2. Detailed audits and customizable reports  

Audit changes made to sensitive files and folders with real-time, in-depth, graphical reports and intuitive dashboards. Customize compliance reports for internal audits, analyze logs comprehensively, and get real-time alerts when suspicious events are detected.

3. An advanced correlation system  

With over 30 predefined correlation rules, EventLog Analyzer's correlation engine identifies suspicious attack patterns in your network and notifies you immediately. With EventLog Analyzer's correlation reports, detect prominent threats, including brute-force, database, and web server attacks, including malicious URL requests, SQL injection attempts, and DDoS.

4. Automated incident management  

With EventLog Analyzer's incident response workflows, perform quick, responsive actions, like disabling compromised accounts or terminating processes, when a suspicious event is detected.

5. Augmented threat intelligence  

By utilizing the latest threat information obtained from open-source and commercial threat feeds, EventLog Analyzer detects and mitigates malicious IP sources and URLs.

Frequently asked questions

This federal law known as FERPA is essential for all educational institutions managing educational record systems that contain sensitive student data. Any institution receiving funding from specific US Department of Education programs must adhere to it, ensuring student data privacy and personal data protection. Compliance software is often used for efficient record and data privacy monitoring as well as accurate compliance reporting.

Education records include any records, files, documents, and other materials that contain information directly related to a student and are maintained by an educational institution.

  • Sole possession records, like a teacher's personal notes
  • Law enforcement records
  • Employment records (unless employment is dependent on student status)
  • Medical records used for treatment
  • Alumni records

Establish FERPA compliance easily with EventLog Analyzer

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EventLog Analyzer Trusted By

Los Alamos National Bank Michigan State University
Panasonic Comcast
Oklahoma State University IBM
Accenture Bank of America
Infosys
Ernst Young

Customer Speaks

  • Credit Union of Denver has been using EventLog Analyzer for more than four years for our internal user activity monitoring. EventLog Analyzer provides great value as a network forensic tool and for regulatory due diligence. This product can rapidly be scaled to meet our dynamic business needs.
    Benjamin Shumaker
    Vice President of IT / ISO
    Credit Union of Denver
  • The best thing, I like about the application, is the well structured GUI and the automated reports. This is a great help for network engineers to monitor all the devices in a single dashboard. The canned reports are a clever piece of work.
    Joseph Graziano, MCSE CCA VCP
    Senior Network Engineer
    Citadel
  • EventLog Analyzer has been a good event log reporting and alerting solution for our information technology needs. It minimizes the amount of time we spent on filtering through event logs and provides almost near real-time notification of administratively defined alerts.
    Joseph E. Veretto
    Operations Review Specialist
    Office of Information System
    Florida Department of Transportation
  • Windows Event logs and device Syslogs are a real time synopsis of what is happening on a computer or network. EventLog Analyzer is an economical, functional and easy-to-utilize tool that allows me to know what is going on in the network by pushing alerts and reports, both in real time and scheduled. It is a premium software Intrusion Detection System application.
    Jim Lloyd
    Information Systems Manager
    First Mountain Bank

Awards and Recognitions

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