The safety of our kids is of utmost importance for us parents and we all know there are monsters lurking online waiting for the next opportunity. Having your information hacked from a child friendly website was unthinkable yet it happens. This breach is an example why parents should be very careful in choosing tech toys for kids. Tech toy companies with data of millions of children and parents on their sites should take security matters seriously. These companies should also be penalized for breach security breach.
What hackers can do to stolen identities of kids
This breach in security exposed how vulnerable kids’ toys are especially tablets for kids with wifi due to their weaker security. Identity thieves can pose as their victims in order to get loans, or credit cards. Kids have no credit record so hackers can use their identities to start with a clean background. Kids won’t know this until they become adult themselves. Criminals can use the identities of the victims to evade the authorities. Or worse, imagine what these criminals can do with data such as your name and address, your password and your child’s age and gender.
It is not only tech toys for kids that we should carefully monitor but also educational apps and games especially if kids connect online. Even apps such as Minecraft can be used by criminals. Kids connect online while playing Minecraft in multiplayer mode. But then how can we be sure that the persons on the other end are actually kids?
Tips on How to Keep Your Child’s Privacy
Cybercrime is a reality of today’s generation and technology is here to stay so we all have to learn how to deal with it. Here are some tips on how to keep your child’s privacy.
Moderate Use of Internet
Once your kid’s information get hacked, there’s no turning back. The safest is to keep kids offline. There are tablets for kids that uses cartridges and do not need to connect to the internet. These are much safer compared to those which connect online and these are appropriate for younger kids.
Do not let your kids have their own social media account
As parents we are always too excited to share to friends and family the milestones of our kids. So much so that we also want them to have their account online as soon as they know how to use the internet. Please don’t. There are a lot of predators lurking online, looking for opportunities and vulnerabilities. If you want to open an account for your kids, don’t let them have access if they are still too young. There’s a reason why social media only allow kids 13 years old and above to open an account. If you manage your kids social media accounts or post on your account, check your privacy settings and make sure you are only sharing to the right people.
Don’t share personal information online
If you need to input data about your child in order to gain access to educational apps or for a personalized experience, you can always use a fake name and picture. We should also monitor our kid’s use of gadgets that connect to the internet.
Educate the kids on cybercrimes
It’s easier to control tablet use of preschoolers but it’s a different case for tweens and teens. Besides, older kids will learn a lot from various apps and educational videos online. It is then our responsibility as parents to teach our older kids how to use connected devices responsibly and how they can protect themselves from becoming victims of hackers and other online criminals.
Keep the communication lines open
It is always best to keep talking to our kids. We wouldn’t know there’s something wrong if we don’t keep communicating with them. Always encourage kids to talk to you whenever somebody or something makes them uncomfortable.
As parents, we should also keep ourselves abreast on the latest cybersecurity threats, how to detect and respond to these threats. I personally attend the annual DECODE Cybersecurity Conference (https://decodeph.com/). This year’s two-day virtual event, which aims to shine a spotlight on intelligent detection and timely response, is set on November 28 and 29, 2022.
DECODE 2022: Detect & Respond event participants will learn about recent and relevant developments in the security industry, including emerging threats and vulnerabilities, deepfakes, fake news, scams and spam which are very common in social media.
There is also a special Side Track session specifically for students, Email Threat Detection and Response, December 2, 2022 at 1:00 – 3:00 PM. By attending the session, you can gain the right knowledge for spotting some of the most dangerous and common attacks that currently threaten users through this session.
Final Thoughts
Technology is changing so fast but as parents we also have to learn ahead of our kids so that we always stay on top of what’s happening with them. Until they are old enough to be responsible for themselves, it is safer that we keep a closer tab on our children’s use of technology.