Teach Your Kids About Cybersecurity During Back to School Season
It’s back-to-school season and the Internet has become a part of daily learning for many students. Technology can be amazing– computer access for kids means that they can easily complete classwork, continue learning, communicate with their teachers and other classmates, and more. However, internet access also brings the threat of cybersecurity issues for kids, just as much as it would for adults. This may sound like a scary prospect, considering parents can’t fully monitor what their kids are doing at computers.
For example, do parents know what information their children are sharing online? Do they know how to tell when they’re facing a threat? This school year, I’d recommend having a conversation with your kids about online safety. Here are some simple tips you can teach them to help keep them safe online:
1. Don’t share, or limit posting, personal pictures online. This might include selfies, pictures with their friends, or even family memories. Publicly sharing this data online can quickly become a risk, so before your child becomes old enough to use social media platforms (age 13), I’d recommend telling them not to share photos with anyone online at all. Once you approve their use of social media platforms, you will want to teach them about account privacy and may want to encourage them to limit the number and nature of photos they share with the public.
2. Never reveal personal information like your full name, phone number, address, school name, or other location. Teachers, friends, or family communicating with them online may already know this information, but sharing this sensitive data with strangers online is a major concern. Filling this in on any random website, pop-up, or as a response to random messages can leak it to criminals.
3. Make usernames that don’t include your real name and use passwords that you don’t share. Usernames can help protect your identity on any website where one is needed, and password strength and safety is just as important for kids! Teaching them not to share their passwords with anyone is a great start, but they should also eventually learn about password strength.
4. Never respond to a weird or threatening email, message, social media post, or text. Whatever form of communication your kids are accessing, you’ll want to ensure they don’t fall for scams, bots, or other potential threats. By letting them know to be wary of strangers and how to react when they see something weird, you’ll help them navigate these common online scenarios.
5. Use the computer with supervision and tell parents if something is wrong. The truth of the matter is, you’ll likely want your young kids to use the computer under adult supervision only until you’ve had the chance to teach them more about cybersecurity and personal safety. That being said, even as grow they up, encourage them to always tell you if they encounter something weird or scary. If they’re being asked to provide personal information, it would be a great idea for you to vet the reason they need to provide it and treat it as a learning experience!
Safe computer usage for kids can be complicated, because there are now so many ways to access the internet and it’s impossible to always be watching. However, you can make a big impact on the safety of your kids by starting a conversation about basic cybersecurity and what they can do to be careful. Keeping cybersecurity as a part of your household discussions is a great way to help your kids grow up knowing how to defend themselves against cyber threats.
The information presented here is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.