Date: Mar 06, 2014 Author: Anna Marie Kukec Source: Chicago Daily Herald (
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by: Anna Marie Kukec
Bob Hanson of Cary wants to make sure consumers have enterprise-quality protection on their devices.
That means, get a free download of ViaProtect, an app that offers technology, on the same level used by businesses, in order to protect your privacy and avoid identity theft, said Hanson, vice president of sales for Oak Park-based ViaForensics.
It's available at Apple's App Store or Android's Google Play store, he said.
It also serves another purpose to parents looking to keep tabs of what children are doing on their divides.
"As a parent of three children, I can see what's going on," Hanson said. "It gives me the ability to see what is going on with my device and on my kids' devices, what percent of the traffic is encrypted and if there are any areas of concern."
ViaForensics, which works with enterprise clients, announced the app last month during a security conference in San Francisco. The company said it is offering ViaProtect for free because it wants to help protect consumers from unintentionally connecting to other devices or installing unwanted or unknown software. The company said ViaProtect isn't being used to track consumer habits but only to help them protect their devices, Hanson said.
From apps installed to Wi-Fi scans, network connections to tampering, viaProtect uses sensors to collect data and then the risk to your devices.
"It tells me where are my kids' devices going? What are those devices talking to?" Hanson said.
He said that he and his family started using it and found that the app indicated one device was actually communicating with another in Russia.
"You're able to drill down and see what was installed and what it's doing on the device. Then you can have it uninstalled," Hanson said.
Besides offering a way to find out what is taking place on your device, it also provides an opportunity to have a dialogue with your children, he said.
"Ten or 15 years ago, e-commerce was part of the Wild West and IDs were regularly stolen. But if we can educate consumers today, and realize that every employee is a consumer, too, then something like this can be installed on all devices to protect everyone," Hanson said.
After all, a lot of consumers use their personal devices at work or for work, he said.
"If we can get this into the consumer hands for free, it could generate awareness and education," Hanson said.
