Victoria’s Department of Education is seeking to monitor traffic on students’ own devices.

A new policy will see Zscaler SSL root certificates installed on school-provided devices and students’ personal devices if they connect locally to a school network, according to reports.

The Zscaler certificate means that student browser traffic can be decrypted for inspection. 

The Department says Zscaler is disabled where devices connect to a school’s network remotely. 

“The Department uses the Zscaler application on all Department-owned computers and devices as part of cloud-based security measure when accessing the internet,” a spokesperson told reporters. 

“This certificate acts as an extra safety measure by helping to determine if a website is safe to open while using the school’s internet.

“The health and safety of all staff and students is the Department’s top priority. This includes being safe online.” 

Electronic Frontiers Australia has warned that Zscaler creates new security threats in its attempt to solve existing ones, and could be seen as a violation of students’ privacy. The organisation says students should be trained in security awareness rather than being subjected to surveillance.