“Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, and this is especially true for parents who today have to protect their children from undesirable and sometimes dangerous information in both the real and virtual worlds,” comments Sylvia Ng, General Manager at Kaspersky Lab Southeast Asia. “A mom or a dad cannot always be next to their kid to prevent a casual encounter with, say, pornographic content or sites promoting drug use. That’s why specialized IT solutions are so important in warning parents and helping to prevent children from visiting this type of content.”
Unfortunately, Santa Claus was not available for comment.
Internet Security tips – to help improve your kids’ online safety
Children can be just as vulnerable online as they are in the real world. So it’s important that you do whatever you can to reduce the chances of your kids being exposed to any risks. Here are a few online safety tips to help keep your kids safe online:
● Talk to your children about the potential dangers that they may face online.
● If possible, locate the computer in a family room.
● Try to make the computer a shared family experience.
● Encourage your children to talk to you about anything they experience online that upsets them or makes them feel uncomfortable.
● Restrict the content that can be accessed via the computer:
○ Many Internet security solutions can help you to do this
○ Internet Explorer includes a Content Advisor that can also help
● Provide guidelines that let your child know what they are allowed – and are not allowed – to do on the Internet. For example, your guidelines could tell your child whether they are permitted to:
○ Register with social networking or other websites
○ Make online purchases
○ Download music, video, or program files
○ Use instant messaging programs
○ Visit Internet chat rooms
○ If your child is allowed to use instant messaging and / or visit chat rooms, it’s worth explaining to them that it’s dangerous to chat with or send messages to anyone that they don’t know and trust.
● Install a rigorous anti-malware product that’s capable of defending the computer against malicious programs and hackers. Many Internet security software products combine antivirus capabilities and advanced Parental Control features that make it easier to protect your children when they’re online.
