Parental Control Software
Donald Tabone
Having a kid of 11 and working in the security field, one of my
biggest challenges is how to limit the amount of crap my kid can be
exposed to whilst browsing the net.
I currently have him setup with Kaspersky AV and ZoneAlarm FW with
everything disabled except for the Parental Control feature and the IM
security feature. So far this seems to work well as i get to select
different categories of websites that my kid can't view. This works
well albeit adding a little overhead to his browsing experience (of
course) which both and him can accept.
Here lies the problem though --- how can results be EFFECTIVELY
filtered within google images/search. In a similar manner, my kid also
watches a lot of cartoon episodes on youtube. How can i prevent him
from being exposed to search results excluding words like 'bondage' or
'brutality' ?
I've read an article on short news titled "YouTube Banned in Schools
by Australian State" found here http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=60617
Of course i have various options, like blocking URL's from my router
--- however it will be a matter of time before my kid circumvents
these controls. The relationship is very open with my kid and we agree
that he would tell me if there is anything that offends or baffles
him. This i would like to retain --- however at such a young age, i
wouldn't like have him exposed to certain stuff. Having said that, i
accept the fact that in his puberty / adolescent years he will
definitely be looking up he might be shy asking about.
What are your views / opinions on the topic (besides constant
supervision which I not in a position to do)
D.
Jeremy Pullicino
Jeremy.
Giannella De Leonardo
There isn't a thing that annoys kids more than having parents acting
more like a CCTV system rather than their 'friends'. It is considered
normal that kids might consider your anti-p0rn system as a challenge,
and by time they would try to experiment to 'crack' the system,
they're all rebels after all.
I guess in this case, building up a relationship is essential. Treat
your kid as a grown-up (even if he isn't), this will make him feel
more secure with himself and maybe mature, and this may help him
reason this thing out himself and help him understand rights and
wrongs.
Check this site out: http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguide.htm
- A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety.
If you feel that should still have a parental control system, at least
make it 'invisible'. Check out the software called 'Golden Eye'; I
heard it is really good.
Hope this helps.
On Mar 8, 9:24 am, "Jeremy Pullicino" <pullic...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I would concentrate on good logging of the sites he/she visits, and regular
> screening of these logs, rather than blocking based content/keywords.
>
> Jeremy.
>
Giannella De Leonardo
YouTube:
It's up to the YT community in YouTube to determine the difference
between approprate and inappropriate videos.
Just beneath the video there is a small link called 'Flag as
Inappropriate' whenever this is clicked the 'flagged video' is
promptly reviewed by YouTube administrators and most of the times
flagged permanently. The casual anonymous visitor would be blocked
from seeing the video with a message. Obviously if you're a member
you just need to 'Confirm' and see whatever you want.
- So I guess the best way to go around this is to ensure that your kid
does not have a YouTube Account. I hope he did not create one yet
cause it would be difficult talking him into removing it.
Search Engines:
Have you heard of Yahoo SafeSearch / Google SafeSearch? These checks
in the search 'preferences' will filter out offensive sites, images,
groups etc... Obviously it would be VERY difficult to filter sites if
your kid directly types the word 'Porn' etc, but they help a lot. You
can set it to strict/moderate/no filter.
Hope this helps.
On Mar 10, 11:40 am, "Giannella De Leonardo" <gdeleona...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Donald Tabone
--
Whoever came up with the phrase, "the devil is in the details" may
well have been thinking of the challenges in security -
http://www.maltainfosec.org
Jason Fenech
I have 2 kids both of whom have computers with internet access at
home. With the all the amount of rubbish and explicit content that's
easily available on the Internet, it's not hard to imagine the worries
and concerns that a parent like myself is subjected to.
Restricting internet access may be annoying to kids but then again I
always tend to choose the lesser of 2 evils. It is also important to
explain to kids why some things are best left alone or avoided, but
the ability of children to comprehend certain topics is obviously
related to their age, so at times it's easier said than done. I would
not even dream of explaining to a 5 year old why porn is not good for
him. I'd simply block access to it. Having said that, parental
education is of vital importance but a certain level of restriction
will always be required. Think of your workplace !
So, as I said I have 2 kids aged 9 and 12 and this is what I use to
try and control what they are exposed to;
Parent Control Software:
I use SurfKeeper (http://www.vttechs.com/sk/). It does a very good job
at a ridicously low price. Check it out. Besides web content
filtering, you can also use it to set time restrictions i.e. you can
specify at which hours your kid can connect to the Net.
Firewall Restrictions:
I use an MSI wireless access point which comes with an in-built
firewall that even does outbound packet filtering !
So basically first thing I do, is set up an Outbound Packet Filtering
list allowing ports 21, 53, 80, 443, 1723 (vpn) from my internal
network to the outside. The router by default effectively block most
of the undesired incoming connections. This has the immediate effect
of closing down most IM software (which I consider as being a total
waste of time) and will also limit most malware specifically those
that use port 25.
Then I set up a Domain Filtering list just in case something slips
through Surfkeeper. For example, I block runescape.com - a very
addicitive online game - whenever the kids are studying for their
exams. I also define *xxx.com , *sex.com, etc, etc. It's just a matter
of experimenting and finding ways to block what gets through. It's
basically a multi-tier approach.
I also use URL Filtering and this comes in very handy when one wishes
to block for instance Google Images. You simply define the following
string -> http://images.google.com.mt and the trick is done. Same
applies for YouTube. If ever the kids need to look up for a picture or
a video, maybe for their homework, I'd open up the sites temporarily.
Even though this is a bit out of context, I'd like to mention Ad-Aware
Professional, something I use on all of my home computers (just in
case spyware makes it through) and I also like to use the inbuilt MS
Firewall, which despite its limitations does an excellent job. I
usually tend to stay away from anti-virus products, at home at least,
as from my experience they create more problems than they actually
solve. If you pay attention to shutting down windows services you do
not need, disabling netbios, closing down all ports except for the
basic ones and educate yourself and those around you not to visit
sites such as those that offer cracks, warez, etc, etc, then you can
be pretty sure that your computer will be malware free for a long time
to come.
Last but not least, if you can afford Vista, it does offer many
improvements amongst which in-built parental control features and at
last, a firewall which scans both incoming and outgoing traffic !!!
Hope this helps
Jason
On Mar 10, 1:29 pm, "Donald Tabone" <dtab...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the useful info Gian :)
>
> well have been thinking of the challenges in security -http://www.maltainfosec.org- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -