Feature of the Day: Secure Internet Filtering

Thursday, January 15, 2009, 9:14 am

Tags: ssl filtering, proxy, secure, encrypted

I'd like to use this time to discuss and educate parents about some of the latest and greatest features found with Net Nanny.  In this last release, Net Nanny 6.0 introduced several ground-breaking features, unfortunately many parents have a hard time grasping the importance and relevance of some of these features.  One of the main features introduced in this release was “Secure Internet Filtering”. 

“What does that even mean?”  Great question!  Let's break it apart.  “Secure Internet” or “Encrypted Internet” describes all of the websites you would normally visit, except the encrypted versions of them.  For example, http://www.netnanny.com is a URL or website that you would regularly visit.  If we changed http://  to https:// you would now be visiting the secure version of the website.  All this really means is, any information you put on this website cannot be viewed by anyone that may be “tapping” your internet line.  This is important for credit card transactions, usernames and passwords, and all that information you don't want others to know about. Unfortunately tech-savvy kids are using this very technique to get around parental controls and internet filtering.  "https://some-adult-website-that-your-kids-shouldn't-be-looking-at.com". 

Now the “Internet Filtering” part of the puzzle.  This is the beauty of this new feature.  Net Nanny will be able to correctly filter the websites that use https:// whilst maintaining the security of your private information.  Although this ability has been around in the corporate and business environments for a while, no other family-friendly parental control product can do this.  We've simply taken the corporate appliance technology and brought it into your home.  Nice!!   

Now you might be saying, “I need another example, where else have I seen something like this?”  Remember all of those espionage movies where the President says, “Is this line secure?”, and he picks up the phone and talks to General Schwarzenegger about the “launch codes”.  It's a lot like that, but Net Nanny is like the Presidential aid in the background that screens the call and makes sure it's secure before the President takes it.  Net Nanny will ensure your personal information is still secure, but prevent access to unwanted “calls” or in our case objectionable websites.

I hope this helps you understand a little more about Secure Internet Filtering.  In upcoming posts I'll tackle ESRB games, cyber-predators and cyber-bullying.  Stay tuned.

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