How to Secure AI Agents in Education

AI agents in education access student records, generate personalized learning content, interact with learning management systems (LMS), and communicate with students — any ungated action can violate FERPA, expose minors' data, or deliver inappropriate content. SafeClaw by Authensor enforces deny-by-default policies on every action your education AI agent attempts, ensuring student data stays protected, content is filtered before delivery, and agent capabilities are bounded to their educational purpose. Every action is evaluated in sub-milliseconds with a hash-chained audit trail for compliance.

Quick Start

npx @authensor/safeclaw

Creates a .safeclaw/ directory with deny-all defaults. Your education agent has zero access to student data, LMS APIs, or content delivery until you write explicit allow rules.

Student Data Protection (FERPA)

FERPA requires that student education records are accessible only to authorized parties for legitimate educational purposes. SafeClaw enforces this at the action level:

# .safeclaw/policies/education-agent.yaml
rules:
  - id: allow-read-enrolled-courses
    action: database.query
    effect: allow
    conditions:
      query:
        pattern: "SELECT course_id, enrollment_date FROM enrollments WHERE student_id = ?*"
    reason: "Agent can read enrollment data for a specific student"

- id: block-bulk-student-queries
    action: database.query
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      query:
        pattern: "SELECTFROM students"
        not_pattern: "WHERE student_id = ?LIMIT 1*"
    reason: "Bulk student data queries are prohibited"

- id: block-grade-modification
    action: database.query
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      query:
        pattern: "{UPDATEgrades,INSERTINTOgrades,DELETEFROMgrades}"
    reason: "Grade modification requires instructor authorization"

- id: block-pii-fields
    action: database.query
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      query:
        pattern: "{ssn,parent_email,home_address,phone_number,financial_aid}"
    reason: "PII fields are never accessible to AI agents"

Content Filtering

AI tutoring agents generate content that may be delivered to minors. Gate content to ensure age-appropriateness:

rules:
  - id: allow-educational-responses
    action: response.send
    effect: allow
    conditions:
      contentLength:
        max: 5000
      context:
        type: "educational"
    reason: "Allow standard educational responses"

- id: block-external-links
    action: response.send
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      content:
        matches: "https?://(?!.*\\.(edu|gov))"
    reason: "Only .edu and .gov links are permitted in responses"

- id: block-response-with-pii
    action: response.send
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      content:
        matches: "(student_id:\\s\\d+|grade:\\s[A-F]|GPA:\\s*\\d)"
    reason: "Responses must not contain student PII or grades"

Action Boundaries

Education agents should be bounded to their specific function — a tutoring agent should not access administrative systems:

rules:
  - id: allow-lms-content-read
    action: api.call
    effect: allow
    conditions:
      endpoint:
        pattern: "/lms/courses//content*"
      method: "GET"
    reason: "Agent can read course content from LMS"

- id: block-lms-admin
    action: api.call
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      endpoint:
        pattern: "/lms/admin"
    reason: "Agent cannot access LMS administration"

- id: block-student-communication
    action: api.call
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      endpoint:
        pattern: "/messaging/send"
    reason: "Direct student communication requires instructor approval"

- id: allow-assignment-submission-read
    action: api.call
    effect: allow
    conditions:
      endpoint:
        pattern: "/assignments//submissions*"
      method: "GET"
    reason: "Agent can read submissions for grading assistance"

- id: deny-all-apis
    action: api.call
    effect: deny
    reason: "Default deny for all other API calls"

Parent/Guardian Data Isolation

Prevent agents from accessing parent/guardian contact information that could enable unauthorized communication:

rules:
  - id: block-guardian-data
    action: database.query
    effect: deny
    conditions:
      query:
        pattern: "FROM {guardians,parents,emergency_contacts}"
    reason: "Guardian data is never accessible to AI agents"

Why SafeClaw

• 446 tests covering education-specific policy patterns including FERPA edge cases
• Deny-by-default — zero student data access until explicitly and narrowly scoped
• Sub-millisecond evaluation — no impact on interactive tutoring responsiveness
• Hash-chained audit trail — tamper-proof log of every data access for FERPA compliance audits
• Works with Claude AND OpenAI — consistent student protections regardless of LLM provider

Cross-References

• Education Agent Safety
• How to Limit Agent File Access
• GDPR Compliance for AI Agents
• Least Privilege for Agents