“Cyber bullies, stalkers, hackers, and inappropriate content are online. Spend the time to educate your children about the risks, how to identify and avoid them before they happen, and that anything that makes them feel concerned or uncomfortable is cause for your immediate attention and intervention.”
This is the advice of Brett Russell, chief information security officer (CISO) of MetroFibre Networx.
“Open the lines of communication so that your child shares any concerns with you.
“Put the necessary security and monitoring measures in place to keep them safer online.
“Because children are online so much without your supervision, you want to empower them with the understanding and knowledge to be able to identify acceptable and unacceptable online content and behaviour when you are not around.”
- According to the company, there are four types of risks while being online:Content risks – Sexually explicit and other inappropriate content in music videos, movies or online games; simulated or real violence; hate sites; fake news; harmful content about self-harm, drug use, suicide; negative body image content, and more.)Contact risks – Coming into contact with online predators posing as children, scammers, and others who may try to persuade them to meet in real life or provide location details.) Conduct risks – Behaving in inappropriate or hurtful ways online or being the victim of such behaviour, which includes cyber bullying, sexting, making unauthorised online purchases, or revealing inappropriate content or information.) Contract risks: This includes your child signing up for contracts, or terms and conditions they are not aware of or do not fully understand, or making unauthorised purchases which may open them up to identity theft or fraud, receiving inappropriate content, marketing messages or scams, and having their personal data collected from apps and the device they use.
