When a group of graduate computer science students in Fredericton sat around discussing cyber-security last year, two voices that carried the most weight were those belonging to the parents of young children.
The group understood the dangers the internet poses for kids, and Smart Castle Labs was born.
This young startup is developing a device that will help protect children when they use the internet and do more than simply filter out inappropriate websites. It will use sentiment analysis and other functionality to battle cyber-bullying, internet luring and other online evils.
“Our team members all have network security backgrounds and we have these brainstorming sessions with each other,” said Smart Castle Labs CEO Elaheh Biglar in an interview. “Two team members have children and they shared their concerns with us.”
She later added that the type of security tool they are developing is “now used only in network-based technology but we want to bring it to the home.”
Six months into its development, the Fredericton startup is one of five finalists for the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation’s Breakthru competition. The results of the contest – which will award a total prize pot of $750,000 to the top three finalists – will be announced at the Breakthru Gala dinner in Fredericton on March 19.
Formed by five University of New Brunswick students, Smart Castle is in the early stages of developing a hardware device called DrawBridge. Parents can plug it in at home so all the family’s internet-based devices work off it. The team is taking a layered approach to developing the product, so it will rely on a powerful filtering system, natural learning techniques, sentiment analysis and image analysis to protect children.
The goal is to understand how kids are is interacting with the world online so parents can feel sure their children are protected from the array of dangers that lurk in cyberspace.
Biglar said the team decided on a hardware solution because a pure software product would have to be installed on a range of devices – phones, tablets, desktops, game consoles – with a variety of operating systems. By having a single device for the household, the parents plug it in and know that all devices are covered.
The Smart Castle team, which includes three PhDs, has completed its research into the product, which was an extensive process. Team members have also been speaking at schools about cybersecurity, which has helped to gain an understanding of what devices children use.
Biglar said the team is now working on the software for the device, and all five members are committed to proceeding with the company. She estimates it will need about $1 million in funding to finance the company for about two years. By that time, they hope to put out a basic product that would protect the child from harmful websites. One or two years after that, they hope for a more advanced product that would target threats like cyberbullying.
The team is also continuing to research the field of online threats to children, said Biglar. “It’s a process that will go on forever because of the nature of the problem.”
Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support start-up companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies are featured in this column nor do they have the right to review columns before they are published.
