ATTLEBORO - Until this year, the school department's computer network security was so soft a malicious hacker could have broken into school records as easily as pulling up outside the building and tapping into the system with a wireless laptop.

"We know it was possible because we tried it," said school Business Manager Marc Pacheco.

But over the summer, the school department beefed up its Internet firewall and upgraded security standards.

And students who want to download music or shop online at school will find that a more difficult task, too.

School department information processing specialists have installed new software, replacing more than 30 switches and adding a server to make school computing more secure. The changes will also permit schools to track e-mails back to individual computers and their users, crack down on bandwidth-robbing video and music downloads and other inappropriate uses of the Internet.

Also, the school department's records and Web sites will be more resistant to tampering, Pacheco said.

The massive changes, under the direction of network systems administrator Jonathan Plourde, are designed to bring the school department's control of its online computers into compliance with state standards, he said.

The changes should also help the school department monitor and adjust its computer networks to keep systems running efficiently.

Previously, Pacheco said, the schools did not have the capability of recording e-mails and computer usage that would allow officials to pinpoint abuse or inappropriate Web browsing.

Schools also didn't have the tools to quickly adjust settings to respond to and control time- and bandwidth-wasting downloads such as music videos.

"You could automatically tell when school was out at 1:50, because everything started working better," Pacheco said.

Although reports of abuse have been rare, Pacheco said the new hardware and software should help schools keep better control over its networks and even make computers run faster.

The new technology is being coupled with a new Internet use policy that is currently being developed.

The proposed policy is scheduled to be submitted to the school committee's policy subcommittee later this year.