More than half children aged between six and nine use the internet daily

KUWAIT: To help parents take the right steps towards children safety on the Internet, independent software assessor AV-TEST has evaluated a number of solutions specifically designed to protect children while they are online - and has awarded Kaspersky Safe Kids with three approved certificates.

As young children spend more time online, many parents are struggling to protect them from exposure to a raft of dangers and cyber threats. These include viewing inappropriate content, becoming a victim of cyber-bullying or unwittingly sharing private data. In fact, more than half of children aged between six and nine are now using the internet every day, and 38 percent of parents in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region believe they cannot control what their youngsters see online. With operating systems only providing basic protection tools, it is imperative that parents bolster protection to safeguard their children from evolving and growing online threats.

In recognition of its performance as one of the best child protection solutions on the market, Kaspersky Safe Kids achieved these certificates for its use on three of the major desktop and mobile operating systems: Windows, iOS and Android. This endorsement comes after AV-TEST evaluated 11 parental control tools for desktops running on Windows 10 and MacOS, as well as 11 parent control apps for Android, iOS and Fire OS.

The test assessed how third-party child safety apps and internal operating system security tools performed in offering filters and settings to keep young people protected online. These were: protection against cyber-bullying, access control to adult content, control of private data transfer, controlling time spent on digital devices, protection from online money traps, protection against online grooming and protection of privacy.

Parents today face a tough challenge when it comes to protecting their children online from threats such as harmful content. They therefore need comprehensive software to help them. Kaspersky Safe Kids desktop version is just that - it was found to be more effective at protecting children from accessing harmful websites, with a superior filter that blocks adult material in seven out of 10 content categories, when compared to competitors and internal operating system tools. With explicit and adult content not limited to the obvious - including pornography or gambling websites - Kaspersky Safe Kids can block content which is often overlooked, for ultimate peace of mind. This includes content around the illegal exchange of data and file sharing, and sites which contain weapons, ammunition and violent content.

The test also discovered that the Kaspersky Safe Kids app, along with the desktop version, does not only block more prohibited content links, but also protects children from more security threats than internal operating system tools. These include the control of private data transfer and protection from online money traps. The test also found that the Kaspersky Safe Kids desktop version was the only tested and certified solution that protects children from online grooming - something of vital importance to parents considering that, according to some research, it can take as little as 45 minutes for offenders to groom a child online.

Timur Biyachuev, VP, Threat Research, at Kaspersky Lab said: "We are delighted to receive AV-TEST endorsement for our Kaspersky Safe Kids app as it reinforces our commitment to keeping children protected from many of the harmful threats and situations they may face when they are online. These types of independent assessment are very important in demonstrating which security industry products consumers can rely on."