Today’s Internet provides huge opportunities for children to learn more about the world in which they live, to communicate more widely and to study and have fun, but the Internet can also have a dark side. Children are often far too trusting of their virtual friends and this may lead to them unwittingly revealing personal information, or meeting someone in real life whose motives are less than pure. Some criminals will even take advantage of children’s naivety to extort money or download malware to the family computer.
However, children are not just victims on the Internet – some take part in illegal activities such as hacking.
Parents have to share some of the blame when this happens. “When their children start to get the hang of what they are doing, many parents consider that their mission is fulfilled,” Maria Namestnikova, Senior Spam Analyst at Kaspersky Lab, explains in her article ‘Children and the Internet’. “But that is when the parents’ work actually begins.”
The author suggests that one of the most effective method for parents to keep their children safe when online is to surf the Internet together, explaining what is safe and what is potentially dangerous as they go along. This approach, in combination with software solutions that include parental control functionality, offers the most all-round protection for any child. Surfing together may resolve a number of other problems of a family nature, as well as addressing issues of IT security. Anyone who cares about their child’s online safety ought to help them get to grips with this exciting new environment.
The full version of the article ‘Children and the Internet’ can be found at http://www.securelist.com
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