Securly

Short description: American web filtering software provider

Securly

Type of site

| Web filtering for schools
Owner| Golden Gate Capital
Founder(s)| Vinay Mahadik, Bharath Madhusudan, Nikita Chikate
Website| www.securly.com
Launched| January 2013

Securly, Inc. is a privately held American company based in San Jose, California and incorporated in Delaware. It develops and sells internet filters and other technologies for use by primary and secondary educational institutions. It was founded in 2013.[1] Securly uses natural language processing and machine learning to monitor students' web browsing, web searches, video watching, social media posts, emails, online documents, and drives.[2]

Securly presenting at the National Student Safety Conference held at Las Vegas, Nevada in November of 2019.

## Contents

* 1 Acquisitions
* 2 Reception
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## Acquisitions

Securly's growth as a broad EdTech platform has been through a combination of both organically built product lines such as Filter, Aware, 24, Visitor (VMS), MDM, and Home, as well as the following inorganic acquisitions:

* TechPilot Labs (Classroom & MDM products), https://blog.securly.com/2019/03/11/securly-announces-techpilotlabs-acquisition/
* Rhithm, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220421005980/en/Securly-Acquires-Rhithm
* DyKnow, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220301005819/en/Securly-Acquires-Dyknow

## Reception

Logo used from 2013 to 2020

Securly has been criticized for providing tools that empower schools to censor content and invade students' privacy. In 2017, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Arrowhead High School's implementation of Securly, which received pushback from parents and students. Points of contention included the risk of Securly being hacked, the value of students' browsing and search history to insurance companies and advertisers, and general privacy. Securly's CEO, Bharath Madhusudan, stated that Securly only monitors social media and only retains data for six months.[3] Common Sense Media director Girard Kelly said events like the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the Equifax data breach show the need to protect students' data, arguing Securly does the opposite by normalizing a "surveillance state" where students have to give up their data without their consent.[4]

Securly is one of many service providers enabling compliance with state and federal requirements such as the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). These laws require schools to have enough digital surveillance to protect the students from online safety concerns including cyberbullying, sexual solicitation, adult content, and radicalization. Securly says that its service allows schools to achieve this legal mandate for surveillance while maintaining a balance between security and privacy.[5] Securly has claimed its services help prevent school shootings, but it has been criticized for not providing data that supports this claim.[6][7]

Securly claims to have saved 1596 student lives across 15,000 schools and analyzed 5 billion activities.[8]

## References

1. ↑ "About Us - Securly". https://www.securly.com/about.
2. ↑ Kolodny, Lora. "Securly raises $4 million to put guard rails on the internet for K-12 students". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/20/securly-raises-4-million-to-put-guard-rails-on-the-internet-for-k-12-students/.
3. ↑ Johnson, Annysa. "Students, the website you've visited at high school will now be seen by your parents". https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2017/12/15/arrowhead-students-families-wary-losing-internet-privacy-under-new-serviceraise-concerns-internet-pr/948173001/.
4. ↑ Stolzoff, Simone. "Schools are using AI to track what students write on their computers". https://qz.com/1318758/schools-are-using-ai-to-track-what-students-write-on-their-computers/.
5. ↑ Brewster, Thomas. "This AI Startup Constantly Monitors Kids To Stop The Next School Shooting—And It Just Scored $16 Million Funding". https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2018/12/18/this-ai-start-up-constantly-monitors-kids-to-stop-the-next-school-shootingand-it-just-scored-16-million-funding/.
6. ↑ "Schools Spy on Kids to Prevent Shootings, But There's No Evidence It Works". https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xwze4/schools-are-using-spyware-to-prevent-shootingsbut-theres-no-evidence-it-works.
7. ↑ Beckett, Lois (2019-10-22). "Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/22/school-student-surveillance-bark-gaggle.
8. ↑ "Securly - The Student Safety Company" (in en-US). https://www.securly.com/.

## External links

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