Is your kid spending excessive time on the internet? Does he/she know about Cyber crimes and most importantly the basics of internet security? Does he/she practice these?

Internet security is a joint effort. You (the family) have to protect your child. The following article talks about internet security and shares some tips. Try these out and tell us how things work:

Preamble

Internet can be a wonderful source for children to get valuable information , play games, get homework help, connect with their friends and what not! But oftentimes, parents tend to overlook the fact that ‘not everything or everyone on the internet is looking out for their children’s best interest’.

Cyber Crimes

Now that the cyber crime is rising at an alarming rate, parents are constantly looking for help to educate themselves about safety measures and protect their children from bad outcomes and scenarios. There is no easy fix that addresses this concern holistically and your child is likely to be exposed to potential risks in everyday actions. In that case, make sure to do the following –

For the parents –

Monitor children’s Cyber Security – Look for safe search resources that can help you with parental supervision. You can opt for softwares which manage internet security for you and save your children from any possible harm.

Teach your children about privacy – They should know about the importance of Internet Privacy. They should be careful while posting any personal events, issues or their whereabouts. You must make them aware about the potential risks of revealing personal information online and educate them about how to avoid security breach. My son is a avid gamer and follows many gamers who have millions of other followers. Yet he too had to be made aware that just because someone has many followers doesn’t mean they are credible!

Set house rules – Try scheduling things around your house to have specific windows of time for using internet. You have to be strict in terms of giving internet access to your children and making sure that they are not spending more time online as compared to the real world.

A few tactics that might come handy are:

Avoid giving your children unlimited access to the computer

Set precise hours for Internet access for everyone (including you!)much like “TV time”

Consider installing parental control software to give you complete control over how children access the internet

Choose whether to block or to allow specific websites for specific usernames

Always have a understanding that you can and will have access to their phone, tablet, laptop and such.. It’s a privilege not a right!

For The Kids

Kids on their part should never

Provide personal details like name, phone number, email address, password, postal address, school, or picture without your permission

Open emails from unknown sources

Respond to strangers online

Post their photos with the locations

Add random people on their social handles

Summary

Keep tabs on your children’s social media whereabout. It’s not disrespectful of their privacy -really! You as a parent do think of where they are at time of the day right this is much the same – It is important for you to stay updated with what your children are posting on their social media accounts. Monitor their profiles, check their status, look for the trends that they are following, look for negatives or mood changes and do think of any online action that may have caused it The motive is not to spy but to stay aware of what is actually going on, in your children’s life.

Always remember, you are just trying to stay one step ahead to prevent any mishap from occurring in your children’s life.

Better to be safe than sorry.. Most certainly in this case!

Hope these safety measures help you in protecting your children from any sort of security breach. So let us know if you have other suggestion as parents need to help parents all the time!