Cyber Warfare

Research on the quality of Internet safety shows that 18% of children have come across harmful or inappropriate content online, 33% of children said that their parents do not know what they do on the internet

Being a parent in the digital era is often a challenge, especially for most of us, who’ve been brought-up in the 20th century when the greatest “hi-tech” threat to the young minds was television. Needless to say in the 21st century the Internet – a wonderful and extremely accessible resource – poses certain hazards to children.

The growth of digital media has revolutionised our children’s lives, providing new entertainment, networking and social opportunities. However, the internet also brings a whole world of concerns, including online abuse, exposure to inappropriate content and cyber bulling. With growing numbers of children having uncontrolled access to the internet, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that children have safe and positive online experiences.

According to research, carried out by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety in 2011, 18% of children have come across harmful or inappropriate content online, 33% of children said that their parents do not know what they do on the internet, and 31% of 12–15 year olds do not use privacy settings on their social networking profiles.

Educate Yourself to Improve Internet Safety

Whether you are a parent, a teacher or a guardian of a young child or teenager, you need to set limits and make sure that your kid surfs a secure cyber environment. The first step you should take is to educate yourself. Whether you are a tech-savvy parent or still have trouble using the mouse, you should find information about possible cyber threats to you and your family. In order to ensure your family’s Internet safety, you need to get to know what you are dealing with.

Educate Your Child to Improve Internet Safety

The most important step on the way to internet safety is teaching the child how to recognize and avoid potential threats like sexual predators, bullies and scams. Kids are using various devices to access the internet – laptops, tablets, smart phones, and outside home they have countless access points such as internet cafes, friends houses, public hotspots. Let’s face it, you can’t walk next to your child in “cyberspace” so you need to make sure they are ready to walk alone.

• Tell them why they should not offer any personal information to strangers.
• Depending on their age, teach them about Internet scams, identity theft, copyright laws, and virus threats from unfamiliar downloads.
• Educate them about the risks of posting personal information and pictures on social networking sites.
• Tell them what to do if they view inappropriate material online.
• Guide them in how to deal with communications from Internet strangers including people in forums, chat rooms, and social networking sites.

Invest in Web Filtering Software to Improve Internet Safety

Family safety software is becoming extremely advanced and an effective way to filter dangerous content. NetNanny is our top choice of traditional parental control with a strong focus on distinguishing between reasonable and inappropriate activities. It does everything you’d expect and goes beyond the competition in real-time per-page content analysis and resistance to attack by budding hackers. NetNanny is a powerful, yet simple to use parental control and Internet safety solution that helps parents protect their children and monitor their Internet use. To find out more about NetNanny, please click here. 

Another excellent alternative that we recommend is Entensys KinderGate – a stand-alone Internet monitoring tool. KinderGate monitors categories of webpages visited by your child without denying access to any resources and employs a huge database with 500 million websites that is updated on a daily basis. More information about this outstanding tool is available here.

Cyber parenting is easy when you have enough information and feel confident that you can guide your child in an environment that is not always safe. Learn, get involved and be part of your child’s online experience.

For more information on software sourcing , please give us call on +44 (0)1962 280258, or email sales@softwareparadise.co.uk.