With schools about to close for the year, and summer holidays fast approaching, kids around the country will be spending more time online on their mobile phones, chatting with friends, sharing their holiday photos and consuming online entertainment, not to forget the gaming on these devices.
By Paul Williams, Fortinet country manager: southern Africa
Unfortunately, the internet can be rife with cyber bullying, malicious and inappropriate content, and criminals who seek to prey on kids and their families through social engineering attacks, identity
theft, ransomware and other crimes.
Entrench online safety awareness
To keep kids safer online, talk to them about the risks and your expectations for them online. Make sure they understand what they need to do to stay safe such as keeping personally identifiable information (PII) private (names, addresses, phone numbers, personal banking information and more).
Consider setting boundaries that may include rules about how long they may be online, what sites they are allowed to visit, and what tasks or activities they can do based on age appropriateness, knowledge, and maturity. For example, create lists of approved websites and applications or require parental approval for certain activities.
Reinforce the importance of not opening mails, messages, or attachments from people they don’t know, and never agreeing to get together with anyone they “meet” online. Take the time to set up your kids’ phones and check their privacy settings on social media sites for the safest possible experience.
Safer social media
Social media is highly popular among children and young teens, so parents should warn them of the dangers abounding in this space. Be aware of inappropriate content and unsafe or unhealthy practices. Start practising family sharing groups with the same type of phones and application that offer these features too the parents for monitoring and approvals process…in this way the parent has visibility of the child’s digital footprint and activities.
They must pay attention to the risks of catfishing, in which a person takes information and images from another to create a fake identity. Then the catfisher uses this false identity to trick targeted individuals into associating with them or doing business online with the goal of stealing from the victim or humiliating them, or both.
Encourage kids to tell a trusted adult if they see inappropriate content, are unsure about something that doesn’t seem right or makes them uncomfortable. Through the NSE Training Institute, Fortinet offers free cyber awareness courses – NSE 1 and NSE 2 for anyone interested in building their knowledge of cybersecurity. It is for all age groups, including young children.
How to defend against cyber threats
It is of paramount importance that parents make sure their own devices, and their children’s devices, are secure. For online accounts, it starts with using strong and differentiating passwords. Some best practices include avoiding easily accessible information such as birthdays, default passwords provided with devices, the user’s name, or simple combinations of numbers or words (like 1234, pAssword).
Enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) is the next step in bolstering account security. MFA confirms the identity of users by adding a step to the authentication process, either through physical or mobile-based tokens. MFA is highly recommended for financial accounts, so if your child has an independent bank account, make sure they have it set up.
A significant threat stems from the network your child is connected to. Unsecure networks, such as public WiFi are often used by cyber criminals as a way to gain access to devices that are connected to it. It’s a good practice to turn off WiFi until it’s needed or confirm the network name and exact login credentials with the appropriate staff before logging in.