PRESS RELEASE

18^thNovember 2015

HELPING TO BEAT THE BULLYS

NEW APP ENABLES PARENTS TO MONITOR CHILD'S ONLINE ACTIVITY

Cyberbullying has grown to become a serious problem for children of all ages. A new and unique App, Shieldbully, launched today, is a low cost, easy-to-learn-and-use, mobile device app which offers parents an invaluable window into their child's online world, allowing them to remotely monitor and control their child's online activity.

Cyberbullying involves sending hurtful or offensive messages online. It is linked to higher levels of depression, suicidal thoughts and social isolation among young people, according to a report commissioned by the Department of Education and the HSE National Office for Suicide Prevention in 2014. Abusive emails and sexting are the most frequent forms of cyberbullying with a recent UK report showing that 30% of 15 year olds have sent a naked photo of themselves at least once and 5% of 13 year olds have sent naked photos several times a week.

The Shieldbully App, from Liverpool based Safe Net Technologies, allows the monitoring of a child's online activity through the parents Smart Phone or Tablet. This easy to use mobile application can be downloaded free from Shieldbully.com, or the advanced range of parental controls for £3.99 per month, Shieldbully provides these advanced parental controls for all the children's devices.

Shieldbully allows parents to set time limits governing when children can go online with their tablets or smartphones; block questionable Apps; and receive daily and weekly summaries of online activities sent to the parents mobile device. It also helps to minimise other mobile device "non-bullying risks" such as smartphone dependency or addiction, and the health and safety risks associated with a child's prolonged exposure to smartphone emissions.

Shieldbully provides extensive controls (via an easy centralized dashboard) which tracks social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Snapchat) plus all other App and SMS messaging management. It enables the scheduled locking of the child's device, or blocking Apps. This can also be done remotely from the parent's mobile device. Only the emergency call button is available, and only the parents can unlock the device. Shieldbully enables the parent to monitor where their child currently is through the use of their child's smartphone location service.

Safe Net Technologies CEO and father of four, Peter Kirwan said "Today we allow our children to be educated by the Internet. This comes with a range of positives and negatives. Unintentionally we are opening their young minds up to Cyber Bullying, Grooming and addiction to Gambling and Pornography. This can lead to depression, lack of self-worth, and in the saddest circumstances, suicide. We are allowing our children to be robbed of their innocence. As parents we feel helpless in this battle against irresponsible individuals, and in some cases industries, that actively target children".

Peter continues: "As a father in this situation I wanted to replicate the controls that I have in the real world in my children's online world. We all carry Mobile Phones and I felt this was the most effective and simple way of regaining control. I sincerely hope that the Shieldbully App will play a major role in protecting children from the darker side of their online life. This is the internet equivalent of fastening a life jacket or seat belt".

The increasingly negative impact of social media and excessive mobile device usage has on children has even attracted the attention of celebrities. Hollywood actress Kate Winslet - star of the new Steve Jobs film - recently stated in an interview with the Sunday Times, that parents should take iPads "out of their children's hands" as they are "losing control" of them to a world of social media. Shieldbully aims to restore this ‘control' to parents whilst retaining the child's right to some online privacy.

Whilst Safe Net Technologies acknowledge that anti-cyberbullying software is not new, the existing products do tend to be all or nothing - either full on "spying" or limited effectiveness. Shieldbully is different as Ken Garner Marketing Director for Safe Net Technologies explains: "All parents have to manage that difficult balance between freedom and safety; we do it all the time in the real world. It's much more difficult in cyber space where it seems to be a black and white choice between privacy and security, when in actuality what is required is both good privacy protection and good cybersecurity. This dilemma is compounded by the fact that most children are more tech savvy than their parents!"

Ken continues: "Uniquely, Shieldbully balances both security and privacy. It has been designed to automate and de-skill the monitoring and supervision of a child's mobile device thereby enabling parents to replicate in the child's online world the parental moderation and child safety rules they impose in the real world."

Shieldbully also offers parents access to a virtual chat room where they can compare experiences with Apps and Websites etc. The purpose of this is to help enlighten each other should you discover a dangerous or inappropriate App or Website.

Mutual consent between parent and child is required to install the app, which can be downloaded fromwww.shieldbully.com.

ENDS

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Nikki Proctor

Safe Net Technologies Ltd UK Press Officer

uk.press@safe-nettech.com. Tel: 07921 189048

Free trial app available for journalists - please contactuk.press@safe-nettech.comwith trial request

NOTES TO EDITORS

Safe Net Technologies CEO Peter Kirwan and Ken Garner, Marketing Director are available for interview on request.

About Safe Net Technologies

Safe Net Technologies Limited is a Liverpool based software development company, incorporated in the UK in September 2014. The company was formed to distribute its anti-cyber bullying software to parents of children between the ages of 8 - 16 who own Internet enabled devices.

ANDROID APP CURRENTLY AVAILABLE - APPLE VERSION TO BE LAUNCED DEC 2015

APP INFORMATION ATTACHED

Newsletter September 2015 outlines the app.

RELEVANT LINKS

Department of Education and Skills Report 2014

https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/The-Prevalence-and-Impact-of-Bullying-linked-to-Social-Media-on-the-Mental-Health-and-Suicidal-Behaviuor-Among-Young-People-Briefing-Note.pdf

Kate Winslet

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11968503/Kate-Winslet-tells-parents-to-take-iPads-out-of-their-childrens-hands.html

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SHIELDBULLY APP FEATURES

Monitoring app usage.

Shieldbully enables a parent to monitor their child's app usage, determine if it's age appropriate, monitor the time of access and the duration. In addition to providing useful, actionable information Shieldbully enables active intervention. Apps can be disabled and deleted remotely and access times can be controlled.

Gallery

Parents can also see all photos sent and received from their child's device. Get alerts on your mobile phone and computer that include updates about questionable photos, videos, texts and instant messages. A parent can also block photo-sharing sites they deem inappropriate for their child.

Analytics

Provide the parent with information about their child's App usage including the time the apps were accessed and how long their child spends on each individual app.Reports of anything problematic are then viewed via an online dashboard.

Control

Parents can set up time limits for when children can go online; block questionable sites and programs; and receive daily and weekly summaries of Internet activities.

Contains extensive controls (on an easy centralized dashboard) for tracking social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Snapchat) instant messaging management, and data protection

continued....

Web browser history.

Shieldbully provides a comprehensive overview of the websites which a child might have deliberately (or accidentally) accessed. The App used for online shopping, gambling, dating, chat sites, pornography can be blocked.

Child Location.

Parents can view the child's GPS location.Being able to see where your child is located, at all times, is the ultimate safety feature.

Messages

Track your child's activity on social networking sites, View all sent and received SMS messages (excluding in-app chat functionality).

Screen Off

Enables the blocking of the child's screen either at a scheduled time or remotely from the parents mobile device. Only the emergency call button is available. Only the Parent can Re-activate the device.

 SHIELDBULLY: CREATED BY PARENTS FOR PARENTS

Most parents want their child to have access to the vast learning resource which is the Internet and World Wide Web. But that liberty requires both security and privacy.

All parents have to manage that difficult balance between freedom and safety.

We do it all the time in the real world.

It's much more difficult in cyber space, especially when kids are much more tech savvy than their parents.

Shieldbully helps to restore that technological imbalance, helping busy mums and dads to replicate online the parental supervision, care and control they provide in the real world.

 There is no security without privacy and no privacy without security.
And keeping your child safe online requires both security and privacy.

Shieldbully provides granular controls balancing both security and privacy to suit the individual needs of both parent and child.

Continued.....

USEFUL STATISTICS

• 38% of 13-18 year olds have received a sexually explicit message.

• 39% admit sharing intimate images.

• 40% do not see anything wrong with sending topless images.

• 56% are not aware of instances where images and videos were distributed further than the intended recipient.

• 70% knew the sender; the majority were peers or current girlfriends or boyfriends. A small minority were from known adults.*

*Survey conducted by ‘South West Grid for Learning' (SWGfL) & University of Plymouth over 500 13 - 18 year olds.