PRIVACY AND SECURITY

Maintaining your privacy, and the confidentiality of the data you provide us is among our top concerns. To ensure the highest levels of privacy we actively maintain and enforce the following policies and procedures.

Confidential Data Stored on ParentLink Servers

ParentLink is not the authoritative source of confidential data, including, but not limited to student, teacher, attendance, and grades information. Changes made to these data only affect the ParentLink system and will have no effect on the actual source of information . Sensitive data (such as passwords) are stored in the ParentLink system using a secure, one-way encryption algorithm. Once entered, this data cannot be retrieved by anyone, including Parlant Technology employees. All data stored on the ParentLink system is password protected, and access is limited to the support staff at Parlant Technology.

Confidential Data Traversing the Internet

ParentLink uses the most current SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology with 128-bit encryption for sensitive data transferred over the public Internet. SSL provides a mechanism that encrypts all of the data transferred between ParentLink and an Internet web user. Data transferred to ParentLink (such as student lists, etc.) can also be transferred in an encrypted format using FTP with SSL or SCP (secure copy).

Network Security

All accesses to the ParentLink system, both from the public Internet and from Parlant Technology, are logged. The ParentLink servers are connected to the Internet behind a pair of dual, redundant, stateful firewall systems. These firewalls are monitored and maintained with the latest security updates. The ParentLink server also has its own integrated firewall to act as a second layer of protection from outside access. The ParentLink server cluster, including the ParentLink database server(s), resides on a private network in an IP address space that is not routable on the public Internet. This private network is independent of Parlant Technology’s internal network and is only accessible via logged, secure-access protocols. ParentLink incorporates several intrusion-detection mechanisms so that if a security breach were to occur, Parlant Technology’s support staff would immediately be notified.

Physical Security

ParentLink is located in our Provo, Utah, dedicated ASP data center located in Parlant Technology’s Provo campus. This data center was built as a co-location facility for seven Internet service providers, including XO Communications, Concentric Networks, Sega Network and ArosNet. The ASP data center provides 1,500 square feet of power-conditioned, climate-controlled server space. Three-tier physical security restricts facility access only to authorized Parlant Technology personnel. Only those who have signed Parlant’s confidentiality agreement (which protects our customers’ data) have access to the equipment or the network onto which the equipment is connected. Employee and/or video surveillance is provided 24x7. The data center is connected to our provider’s redundant OC-192 backbone via an OC-48 IP market uplink. Other connectivity is provided through a recent Qwest Communications build-out. The data center is located within 200 yards of the Qwest Communications Provo central office. The data center is centrally located within 20 miles of the residences of all Parlant Technology support and escalated-support personnel, allowing rapid response to after-hours escalations that require physical access to the equipment

System Redundancy and Monitoring

The ParentLink server cluster (including network connectivity, firewalls, hubs and switches) is configured with redundant, fault-tolerant hardware and software. Telephone connections are divided among multiple, redundant servers to eliminate single points of failure. Manual and automated 24x7 system monitoring immediately alerts the Parlant Technology support staff of any system outages and even potential system problems. Additional hardware, similarly configured, is located in a second data center on the East Coast to preclude any location-based failures. Secure, off-site backups are made daily.