Meeting One of the People Behind Bitdefender 2019: Liviu Holban

Whether your child is 6 or 16, chances are that you worry about what they’re doing online. In fact, according to a UK-based non-profit organization called Internet Matters, almost 50% of parents are concerned about what their kids are doing on the Internet. The fears range from stranger danger to sleep disruption.

Liviu Holban understands this reality all too well. He is the Engineer Manager of Bitdefender Parental Control. The goal behind this product is to give parents more information about what their kids are doing in the digital space thanks to the ability to do everything from block certain calls to restricting access to a certain website.

“The common vision that we share inside the Bitdefender Parental Control team is that we don’t want to influence the parents-children relationship and turn it fragile,” explains Liviu. “The parents need to talk to their children about the difficulties they encounter, they need to find solutions together through communication and setting rules together. What we want to do is give a helping hand to the family, give parents the information about their children’s behavior online, give them a starting point in their discussions and towards problem-solving.”

Every day that Liviu goes to work he thinks about helping parents manage this process more easily, so that moms, dads, and guardians are empowered and, in turn, the world is a safer place.

“I feel this is a product that helps both sides to be safe in a world where cyberbullying and predators exist,” says Liviu. “Kids satisfy their normal curiosity through browsing and social platforms, but both expose you to cyber threats. For parents is hard to find out when their child is under a threat.”

Bitdefender Parental Control works on your desktop or mobile device. The standalone app makes it easy to see what your child might be doing on their Android phone or tablet. Each child has a profile so you can customize what you want to monitor and track. You can also stay on top of your child’s location or monitor Facebook activity, as two examples of the power behind this technology. Even more, a new feature that detects online predators and cyberbullying is now available to Bitdefender BOX users.

When asked why Bitdefender Parental Control keeps getting better and better, Liviu has this to say, “I have great colleagues. I think that’s the answer. They’re all doing a great job, we all pull in the same direction. Starting from the consumer’s needs, I think it’s important that we have a research and product team that provides us with insight and propose relevant solutions. Next, the people working in the detection labs, together with the cloud team provide us the actual solutions. And, in the end, I’m happy to be in a team that implements these solutions, a team that has a lot of dedicated people sharing a common view on what we want to achieve.”

Liviu’s favourite quote from Winston Churchill reveals why this work is more than just a job: “Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.” For the Bitdefender Parental Control team, that something is online safety for the entire family.