Today is Safer Internet Day, and new research reveals that more than eight in ten parents (86 percent) are concerned about their children's safety on the internet.
According to the Norton Cyber Security Insights Report, three in four parents believe children today are more exposed to online dangers than children five years ago.
In addition to cyberbullying, parents' chief concerns are that their children might:
• Download malicious programs or apps (66 percent)
• Disclose too much personal information to strangers (65 percent)
• Say or do something online that makes the whole family vulnerable (54 percent)
• Post something that will haunt them in the future with job or university prospects (51 percent)
EEK. Hands up who else has come out in a cold sweat all of a sudden?
But this year, as part of Safer Internet Day, Norton has shared these tips for how to identify the signs of cyberbullying and establish "netiquette" with your kids:
1. Establish a set of guidelines for how your children use technology – also known as online etiquette. These may include how much time can be spent online, which websites are safe to use or what kind of language is appropriate when chatting.
2. Create a set of House Rules for children's online communication, downloading, websites that are safe to visit, and cyber harassment. A decrease in negative online experiences is closely linked to households where there is an open dialogue with children about online safety.
3. Teach young children to use strong and unique passwords across all their accounts and never to share passwords, even with their friends.
4. Discuss the risks of posting and sharing private information, videos, and photographs, especially on social media websites - everything posted online is a digital footprint for children and can be challenging to completely erase. Parents should help ensure children are not posting content that will compromise their security or which they may regret when they are older.
5. Children are likely to imitate their parents' behaviour, so parents are encouraged to lead by example and show their children how to safely surf online.
6. Encourage kids to think before they click; whether they're looking at online video sites, receiving an unknown link in an email or even browsing the web and seeing banners or pop-ups, remind your children not to click links which may take them to dangerous or inappropriate sites. Clicking unknown links is a common way devices are infected with malware and also can reveal private and valuable information to criminals.
7. Use a robust and trusted security software solution for all household devices - from tablets to smartphones, laptops and desktops.
8. Most importantly, encourage and maintain an open and ongoing dialogue with your children on Internet use and experiences.
You can check out Norton for more information on how to spot the signs of cyberbullying.
We'd love to hear your thoughts on this story. Do you worry about keeping your kids safe online?
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