 |
Online security threats faced by children, teens and you.Online security threats for kids and teens are only increasing and it will only get easier for criminals and pedophiles to target children and teenagers as it has become common place for kids to post or display all their personal information. Never before have we seen such unprecedented open and unmonitored access to our children than with the internet and social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Yahoo 360 and others. Kids now have the mind set that providing or displaying their personal information online is "normal" and "everybody is doing it". And even if they have been warned about the potential dangers and online security threats of personal information posting and they have made good choices about what to include in their own postings, they have no control over what their friends may choose to post on their own sites - information that may include personal details about your child. And the friend's posting could be the most revealing. Further, messages posted by friends on your child's social networking site are often laced with clues about their full identity and physical location. In addition to irresponsible posts on website, they may also give no thought to the free flow of personal information given over IM's (instant messages) and text messages. Since they are minors, we may not have to worry about our children's credit card number getting stolen, but we do need to worry about the theft of their identity, or their unauthorized impersonation, or even the possible physical access to our kids via the world-wide posting of the personal details of our children's' lives. To get an idea of the effects of posting personal information, view this very short video from
ProjectSafeChildhood.gov. As the discussion above shows, there are real dangers and online security threats to kids and teenagers as they use the internet. But there are also dangers to you, the parent or relative, via your kid's internet use and surfing habits. Whether your child or teenager has their own computer or uses yours, their online habits and behaviors can increase your risk of becoming a target and can lead to holes in your computer's security which opens the door to more online security threats and ups your risk of identity theft. -They may ignore firewall warnings thereby unwittingly opening the door for hackers. -They may disregard warnings from you or your security software about visiting a known spyware site which results in your computer becoming infected (social networking sites are rapidly growing source of spyware distribution - specifically targeting younger and less cautious visitors). -The may dismiss anti-virus or other security software updates leaving you and your system vulnerable to the latest malware. -They download screen savers, music, game trials and other "free" software which may be bundled with spyware, viruses and other malware. -They open IM attachments or click on IM links that lead to websites containing a variety of nasty surprises. -They click on a video clip only to get an error message indicating they need the latest version of software to view it. They then download the software which is really a trojan - which in turn, downloads more spyware and other malicious programs. Warnings, updates and safety precautions are only useful against online security threats if you or others using your computer adhere to them. And although the collection of children's personal information online is subject to the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which has features in place for the protection of children under the age of 13, children of all ages tend to think it's cool to appear older and even lie about their age, so the protection afforded by the COPPA law is often weakened by those it's designed to protect. Therefore much of the real protection falls to you. -Explain to kids the dangers of posting private information and the risks of identity theft (theirs and your own). -Instruct your kids to never give out or submit their real or full name, address, phone number, school name or email address to others on the internet or to a website. -Watch with your kids as they surf the net. Have them show you their favorite sites. Learn about what they're doing so you can help guide them. -Use content filtering software. The use of parental controls in your security software will greatly aid in the disregard or overriding of your security features. All the major internet security suite software programs have controls that you can easily configure. You can also get stand-alone content filter software. As I've mentioned elsewhere on this site, my favorite is
ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite. -Do what you do in the real world in the online world - know where your kids are going, who they are hanging out with, etc. Don't take a lax attitude just because you think they are safe and sound in their room or at home.
|
