Prey centralizes and automates mobile device security management for education environments

Prey, provider of the cross-platform, open source anti-theft software that protects more than eight million mobile devices, announced Prey for Education, a mobile security feature-set offering developed to address the needs of K-12 and higher education environments.

Co-designed with partnered schools, Prey for Education centralizes and automates mobile device security management so that hard-pressed school IT staff can delegate and automate tasks and ease their workflow.

This initial feature release is designed to help schools better evaluate and track their mobile fleets and grow their device environments safely to ensure they can generate better results and promote the growth of their tech programs.

Prey for Education was developed in collaboration with Prey’s education customers to provide the following:

• Scheduled automations – This new capability allows managers to schedule Prey actions on their devices, such as the lock, alert, and alarm, to be executed on specific days, hours, and data ranges. For example, a curfew lock can be set from Monday to Friday at 6pm to deter out-of-hours device usage.
• Reactive security – New Control Zone Actions Triggers integrate with the Control Zone settings, Prey’s geofencing movement detection parameters, to precipitate reactions and eliminate reaction time in case of an eventuality. Users can configure Prey’s alarms, alerts, locks, and the “Mark as Missing” evidence reporting feature whenever a device enters, or leaves a designated area. Specific actions can be assigned to both the entry, and exit.
• Inventory management – IT staff can now assign a user or specify a contact for each device. An Online/Offline tag has been added to provide visibility on the devices’ connection, as well as a “Last Seen Online” device sorting for quick visibility. As for device status, IT managers can also review further inventory data, such as battery and network connection per device, together with the logged in user.
• Unified management – The multi-OS Prey for Education platform allows school IT managers to group devices by class, usage, or state with custom tags; view device status or hardware changes; and assign them to faculty or students.
• Data privacy – An extra layer of FERPA / data privacy compliance is delivered with data wipe and retrieval reactions, and Prey’s tracking and evidence gathering are configurable to boost end-user privacy.

“The Control Zone Actions and Scheduled Automations were created from the feedback our users gave us regarding their multi-tasking and high-pressure workflow.

“In the end, we’re trying to make their work as easy as possible. For example, they can now do things such as create digital curfews for their devices and ensure their fleet is locked up when the day ends,” said Carlos Yaconi, founder and CEO of Prey.

“We’re doubling down on our promise to help promote safe mobile environments for NGOs, schools, and universities, and we will continue to work with our partners to enhance and deliver new solutions for them.”