Zero Trust in Practice: Securing Educator and Student Data with Google

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Drew Sidel, Head of North America Google Workspace and AI for Education, and Kenny Drake Sergeant, Higher Education Solution Engineer at Google for Education.The speakers explored how educational institutions can address rising cyber threats and expanding AI adoption by implementing practical Zero Trust security strategies that protect educator and student data while preserving strong teaching and learning experiences. They examined Google’s Secure by Design approach, demonstrating how schools can use Google for Education tools to safeguard sensitive research, institutional systems, and student information through secure Google Workspace for Education domain setup, administrative controls for Gemini, secure browsing, and ChromeOS endpoint security. The session also clarified critical data privacy considerations, emphasizing how institutions can harness AI responsibly while ensuring their data remains protected, private, and under their control.