Astaro announces a program on Web security that will benefit children and schools in Asia (except Japan). Read on to find out more.
Astaro Protects Children by Offering Free Web Security to Schools in Asia
In a bid to curb cyber-threats among children, Astaro sponsors primary and secondary schools in Asia with free web security software
Singapore – November 8, 2010 – Astaro, Europe’s leading Unified Threat Management (UTM) vendor, today announced that they have launched an education programme that offers primary and secondary schools across Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) Astaro’s industry leading Essential Firewall and a three-year web security subscription for free. Named the SpyderWeb SchoolGuard programme, Astaro aims to protect young children in Asia from cyber-threats, including instilling responsible Internet usage habits as well as allowing schools to block or control access to potentially malicious and explicit websites.
Asia is increasingly exposed to cyber-attacks, spurred on by the growth of IT infrastructure and broadband access in the region. According to a report from non-profit US cyber-crime research organisation Team Cymru, countries in Asia are now facing the same level and type of cyber-attacks as the countries in the west. Edison Yu, Frost & Sullivan’s industry analyst, ICT practice, Asia Pacific, suggests that users are sometimes the source of attacks; they are voluntarily keying in their personal information online. This is seen particularly on social media platforms and instant messaging programmes.
Children are going online at a younger age and more often than before with schools introducing e-learning as part of their curriculum. While the Internet holds educational benefits for children such as conducting research, doing their homework and making new friends, it puts them at risk of experiencing online harassment and bullying, pornography or harmful content. Children may also unknowingly trigger threats such as clickjacking, malware attacks, spyware and botnets.
The Essential Firewall and three-year web security subscription that typically cost USD $5,160 will provide primary and secondary schools access to Astaro’s full suite of web filtering. This allows schools to monitor their students’ activities online, scan for viruses and malware, as well as block selectable categories of Web usage and Internet sites. For example, schools can block or minimise access to peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, instant messaging programmes such as Windows Live Messenger and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
“In an increasingly cyber-connected age, it is important to educate and protect young children in cyber space, especially in schools, where there may be lesser supervision. However, we find that schools in Asia, especially in the under-developed regions, may not have the funds or resources to install sophisticated security software, a need we want to fill by offering our web security software at no cost. Parents and teachers can now have peace of mind that their children are protected by Astaro and can securely explore the Internet in their schools,” said Norbert Kiss, Vice President, Astaro Asia Pacific.
”We hope that seeing the benefits of Astaro’s robust web security software in the school will influence the teachers and parents to secure their homes and workplaces as well,” he added.
Primary and secondary schools in Asia can participate in the SpyderWeb SchoolGuard programme by registering with an Astaro premier partner or distributor or sending an email to marketing-asia@astaro.com.
Astaro embraces open source practices, and continually supports the open source community through funding and manpower for open source projects, or making available free security solutions. Most recently, Astaro launched the Essential Firewall edition of its flagship security solution Astaro Security Gateway and made it available for free to all enterprises worldwide.
For more information about the SpyderWeb SchoolGuard Programme, email marketing-asia@astaro.com.
About Astaro
Astaro offers the most complete and easy to use Internet security appliances available. Astaro’s award-winning products provide the latest protection with the best total cost of ownership. Software, hardware and virtual appliance offerings provide users the flexibility to meet a wide variety of deployment scenarios. Distributed by a growing worldwide network of more than 2,500 resellers, Astaro products protect over 100,000 networks across 60 countries. Astaro, headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, offers free downloads of its products at www.astaro.com.
Astaro has offices in major cities in six countries across the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore). In the region, Astaro has 19 dedicated security distributors and thousands of small to mid-sized customers.