LONDON, January 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- BSI has awarded the first Child Safety Online Kitemark to help parents protect their children from inappropriate content on the internet.

Tim Loughton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, presented the first child safety online Kitemark to Netintelligence , the cloud based security service from managed hosting services company iomart Group, during his keynote speech in London today at the BETT Show, the educational technology exhibition.

Designed to provide parents with the confidence that harmful internet content will not be seen by children, the Kitemark requires internet filtering software to be easy to install, easy to use and effective in blocking inappropriate online content such as pornography, violence and racism.

The UK's children have greater access to the internet than ever before, through PCs, mobile phones and even gaming machines. According to the UK communications regulator, Ofcom, three in four children aged 5-15 now use the internet at home - yet only 43% of parents of children aged 5-15 say they have controls or filtering software in place; a situation that has actually worsened since 2008 (49%) [1]

In obtaining the Kitemark, Netintelligence was vigorously tested to ensure that it met a range of criteria including its ability to block harmful sites whilst allowing access to suitable internet content, its flexibility, performance, security and ability to function across a range of operating systems and browsers.

Ken Coveney, managing director of BSI Testing Services commented: "Kitemark certified filtering products will give parents tremendous support and offer a level of control that does not compromise parent-child trust. Parents and carers will know they are getting a safer and more reliable product, which has been independently tested and will offer the most consistent level of protection currently available on the market."

Angus MacSween, chief executive officer, iomart Group, said: "It is a great honour to receive the UK's first certification for child safety online. The Kitemark is instantly recognisable as a symbol for safety and reliability."

Congratulating Netintelligence on their award, Children's Minister Tim Loughton said:

"The internet is a fantastic resource but it's vital that the Government, parents and businesses work together to make sure children and young people are kept safe online. We know that under half of parents use parental controls and that many would welcome a Kitemark to help them better understand how to keep their children safe.

"That's why I'm delighted that today BSI have awarded the first Kitemark for parental control software to Netintelligence. The standards set by BSI are rigorous and the availability of Kitemark software will help give parents confidence that their children will be protected from harmful or inappropriate content on the internet. I hope that other parental control software providers will follow suit and demonstrate their products are equally effective." ---------------------------------

[1] Ofcom, UK children's Media Literacy Report, 26th March 2010.