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Norton Family parental control
- Company
- NortonMobile
- Version
- 3.4.8.15
- Devices supported
- Mobile
- Operating system
- Android
- Price *
- free of charge
- Language of interface
- chinese, czech, danish, dutch, english, french, german, greek, italian, japanese, korean, norwegian, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, slovanian, spanish, suomi, swedish, turkish
- Test date
- SIP Bench III, 4th test cycle, Summer 2016
EFFECTIVENESS
Effectiveness score for users up to 12 year old: 2.4 out of 4 points
Effectiveness score for users 13 years and older: 2.4 out of 4 points
Effectiveness score for users 13 years and older: 2.4 out of 4 points
USABILITY
Installation of the tool: n/a
Configuration of the tool: There are two ways to manage the configuration, web-based or via app login. It is possible to jump between the steps and to save settings at any point of the configuration. The process is mostly consistent and meets users' expectations.
Usage of the tool: The alert message is context-sensitive and worded with respect to children's capability of understanding. It offers a dialogue between parents and child. The child can ask the parent, via a message, for permission to see a website. The reporting is comprehensible, easy to handle and provides various views of the results.
Usability of the installation process: n/a
Usability of the configuration process: 3.2
Usability of the usage of the product: 2.4
Overall score for usability: 2.9 out of 4 points
FUNCTIONALITY
The parent can configure the filtering tool on the mobile device or in a web browser. This allows managing the protection of all children’s devices, which have Norton Family Parental Control installed, to be protected at the same time and via the same user profiles. However, it is not possible to assign more than one user profile to a mobile device.
It is possible to block the access to specific content by either setting specific categories or by adding specific URLs to a black or a white list. The user can also activate the monitoring function that provides information on children’s web activities (reporting). It is possible to set time limits to access the Internet. Safe Search and personal data provision are available. It is also possible that children ask for unblocking by parents and a redirection to a safe resource is offered. Social media activities and video streaming platforms can be monitored.
SECURITY
Access to harmful content throught web cache sites and Google Translate.
Does not filters pages inside an iframe.
Overall score for security: 1 out of 4 points
DETAILED FUNCTIONALITY
| Area of need | Functionality | Specific issues | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management | Management of User profiles | Create several profiles | Yes |
| Remote Management | Manage on various devices | Yes | |
| Monitoring | Remote access to monitoring | Yes | |
| Filtering Customisation | Topics | Customisation of Filtering Topics | No |
| URLs White List | Restrict Browsing to White List | No | |
| Default White List | No | ||
| Modification OR Creation | Yes | ||
| URLs Black List | Creation of User's own Black List | Yes | |
| Keywords | Keywords | Default Black List | No |
| Default White List | No | ||
| Creation of a User's Black List | No | ||
| Creation of a User's White List | No | ||
| Time | Time Limit Settings | Set a specific time frame or web access duration | Yes |
| Blocking Message | Type | Ask for unblocking by parents | No |
| Redirect to safe resources | No | ||
| Usage Restriction | Web | Block Access | Yes |
| Monitor Access | Yes | ||
| Safe search | Availability | Yes | |
| Social Networks | Block Access | Yes | |
| Monitor Usage | Yes | ||
| Personal data Provision | Block | Yes | |
| Streaming | Block Access | No | |
| Monitor Access | No | ||
| P2P | Block the application | No | |
| Monitor Downloads | No | ||
| Skype | Block chat | Yes | |
| Block video chat | Yes | ||
| Monitor | No | ||
| Prevent new Contact | No | ||
| Windows Life Messenger | Block chat | No | |
| Block video chat | No | ||
| Monitor | No | ||
| Prevent new Contact | No | ||
| Block email client and/or webmail access | Yes |
DETAILED USABILITY FINDINGS
| Yes / No | |
|---|---|
| I: installation in 3 steps or less | Yes |
| I: choice of installation for beginners or advanced users | n/a |
| C: different degrees of strength for the filtering | Yes |
| C: different content criteria for the filtering | Yes |
| C: option to transfer filter configurations between target users | No |
| C: option to transfer filter configurations between devices | Yes |
| C: overall comprehensible configuration | Yes |
| C: overall conformity with user expectations | Yes |
| C: overall easy to learn | Yes |
| U: alert message in a child friendly language | No |
| U: option to customise the reaction in case of blocking | No |
| U: overall easily operable and comprehensible reporting | Yes |
DETAILED SECURITY FINDINGS
| The Tool prevents the user from by-passing the filter by: | Yes / No |
|---|---|
| Using the IP address instead of the URL | Yes |
| Using an alternative browser | Yes |
| Changing time and date settings* | Yes |
| Disabling or uninstalling the software without a password* | Yes |
| Closing the filtering tool trough the Task Manager | Yes |
| Using a proxy instead of a direct connection to the Internet | Yes |
| Accessing the web-pages through the Google Cache | No |
| Reaching a website through translation sites | Yes |
| Renaming a blocked application | Yes |
| Using Safe Mode | Yes |
| Filtering Content personalised by user | n/a |
| Filtering Content evolving through time | n/a |
| Filtering Multimedia content | n/a |
| Filtering outbound content | n/a |
