You text. You snap. Today’s generation of device-addicted kids teens and adults has been a breeding area for cyber attacks.
In a recent survey conducted by Norton by Symantec, observed globally, 60% of parents allow their children access to the Internet before age 11. Even though 78% of parents agree that children today face more online risks than children five years ago, only 50% check their children’s browser history and 46% limit access to certain websites and apps.1
Just as you have taught your child to look both ways before crossing the street, it is important to teach them a few essential cyber life skills.
- Never leave your device unattended
- One minute it’s there and the next minute it’s gone. Smartphones, laptops and tablets have a decent resale value. Besides, now cybercriminals make more money by stealing the data that’s stored in these devices than from reselling them. Information like passwords, addresses, birthdates of family members, and Social Security numbers fetch a pretty price in the underground economy. Criminals can patch together the information on all these devices to commit identity theft.
- Children make excellent targets for device theft because there is a high probability for all this information to be on their devices due to school and sports activities that require this information. Teach your kids how valuable these devices are, and to keep them close.
- Click with caution
- Whether subtle or bold, phishing is dangerous. One careless click is all it takes for malicious software to get into devices and wreak havoc. Talk to your kids about not automatically clicking on links in emails. Show them how to hover your mouse over the link to make sure it is going to a reputable address. Spelling mistakes, odd emails from popular companies, and threatening messages urging quick action are some of the telltale signs of a phishing email designed to install malware on your device. When in doubt, do not click on the link. Instead go straight to the company’s website and contact the person concerned or the customer service department to ensure such a mail was sent to you. Fortunately, most high-quality antivirus software, like Norton Security, will catch these phony emails before they come to you.
- Never ever share your password
- Be wary of using social media- If your children have accounts, check their privacy settings. The default settings may expose more information than you’d like. Change settings to the highest level of privacy. You never know who is snooping around their social media profiles. Teach your kids not to accept friend requests from people they — and you — don’t know. Some friend requests come from bots that will spam friends lists.
If you are a victim of CYBER hacking or fraud let us know here at EXACT. We have a full team, ExactCYBER, which offers the following services:
-We can help if you are being blackmailed or extorted.
-We can provide you with hacking prevention software to help prevent your computers and cell phones from being hacked or getting ransomware.
Reach out and let us help you. Stay protected with ExactCYBER!
