Net Nanny, a provider of online parental activity control and monitoring tools, is adopting mobile trends in the consumer electronics space. The company revealed Android and iOS versions of its product, featuring a long line-up of features specifically designed to handle mobile traffic.  CES is a prime opportunity for Net Nanny to debut its mobile offerings, given the rising popularity of mobile browsing for smartphones and tablet devices.

Mobile browsing protection & monitoring

Net Nanny will offer protection on WiFi networks as well as 3G and 4G.  One of the main functions is that the app scans webpages on the fly, meaning that any profanity or otherwise inappropriate text on a site will be blocked based on the filters set by the user, which is often a parent concerned with the safety of their kids’ mobile browser interactions.

Parents can customize filters and profiles beyond the ones already built into App Nanny. They can also override a block if they find it fit, block other browsers without safe browsing settings (on Android only)  and more. This catalog of admin features will expand with future versions, adding things such as remote device lock and data swipe and other remote administration functions.

“Everyday, around 150,000 new web pages are created,” said Russ Warner, president and CEO of Net Nanny. “When you couple this with the fact that kids are spending nearly half of their day on the Internet, parents need all the visibility they can get so they can better manage how their kids experience and use the Internet. Net Nanny mobile is a key tool to help parents protect their children online.”

Addressing a unique need

The need for security in the mobile space is only getting more evident, and many cloud services have recognized the growing demand. When it comes to protective parents, it’s Net Nanny addresses a gray area in the mobile space where security has yet to mature to PC levels, capitalizing a third-party market that bridges the vulnerabilities of an evolving mobile web with the established security offerings you’ll find on the PC.

Another industry that’s exploiting the rising demand for mobile security is the enterprise sector, and it’s worth noting that Net Nanny shares a lot of similarities with enterprise device management platforms and other security software.  This is especially evident from the admin point of view, though not surprising considering two rising trends: the consumerization of IT, and the less desired increase in threats on privacy and security.

Net Nanny recognizes the overlap between parental security and enterprise security, and will actually be expanding into the enterprise sector as well.  We expect to hear more about Net Nanny’s long term outlook for mobile security at CES and in the coming weeks.

Contributors: Maria Deutscher