The Israeli Ministry of Education has selected NetSpark, in partnership with Bezeq International, as its preferred filtering technology provider. As part of the service, NetSpark’s proprietary web filtering solution will protect some 1,800 institutions and over 350,000 students across Israel.

NetSpark, a leading provider in internet content filtering, achieved another important milestone in becoming the official filtering technology partner of the Israeli Ministry of Education.

The project partners – Bezeq International, Israel’s largest Internet service provider, NetSpark and Israel’s Ministry of Education – launched the improved filtering protection at the beginning of the current school year. In just the first three months the initiative has rolled out the upgraded filtering services to over 300 educational institutions whose some 60,000 students now benefit from NetSpark’s state-of- the-art content filtering. The Ministry of Education has set a goal of connecting the full 1,800 institutions during 2017.

Senior staff at the Ministry of Education’s IT Department stated that previous filtering solutions were outdated and unsuitable for use in the current web environment.

“After testing many systems in Israel and abroad, we concluded that NetSpark’s technology is the best of its kind and will provide us with a solution that will enable us to overcome future challenges in securing our users as they access the internet, both through browsers and apps,” said the CIO (Chief Information Officer) from the Ministry of Education.

NetSpark has developed a unique real-time filter capable of offering full protection for encrypted protocols. This enables its users, including students in Israeli schools, to safely surf any website they choose without the threat of exposure to compromising content. The company’s solution protects users browsing the web from either PC or smartphone, which also includes mobile app use.

“NetSpark has become the provider of choice for academic institutions in Israel, whether private or public, when it comes to content filtering,” added Zvika Ilan, VP of Business Development at NetSpark. “Our solution is already installed or has been set to be implemented in the majority of Israel’s academic institutions. The next step is to create opportunities for growth in the academic world outside Israel,” added Ilan.

In addition to the schools, which installed the company’s solution as part of the partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Education, 50 leading yeshivot and ulpanot in Israel have adopted NetSpark’s filtering program for smartphones. The latter institutions implemented a policy requiring every student within their framework to install NetSpark’s solution on devices intended for use in the school setting.

NetSpark’s unique platform enables educational institutions to apply custom filtering levels to different groups of students or staff, which define permitted and blocked websites, time limits and more. The system allows for remote management down to the individual smartphone user.

NetSpark solutions are distributed in Israel, North and South America and Europe by internet and cellular providers and the TAG organization.