While researchers feel that a lot more has to be done to make the internet a safer media, Pankaj Singh shares some basic security parameters to protect kids
With the easy availability of the Internet, the world has become a global village and everything is available at a single click. While the brighter side of this technological boon has made life easier, on a darker note, it has intruded in our personal space resulting in cybercrimes. If reports are to be believed, in 2018 Bangalore registered the most number of cybercrime cases. A recent survey reveals that the statistics are grim. Almost 76 per cent of Indians have been victims of some form of cybercrime and 60 per cent have been victimised because of computer viruses and malware. A tiny minority, only 8 per cent do not believe they will fall victim to cybercrime. Clearly, the overwhelming majority of Indians considers cybercrime a significant threat. In India, only 10 per cent of people feel safe online. Not only do many Indians believe they will fall prey to cybercriminals, the majority, approximately 57 per cent, believe cybercriminals will never be brought to justice. Internet, if used as a boon, it is the biggest tool for information, learning and connection. And when used as a bane, can result in massive destruction resulting in loss of respect and even lives. children are the most affected ones as today they are able to access more information than any generation before.
Youngsters and internet
Mostly used by youngsters and teenagers, use of this technological bliss calls for strict cyber security to keep the privacy intact. It has been found that from school to college, the dependency on the internet has not only exposed youngsters to quality content but has also raised a threat to their innocence with explicit content that is available at a single click. While scrutinising it every moment is not an easy job for parents, the need for cyber security has become inevitable.
Role of parents and teachers
Parents and teachers play a key role which involves the right guidance and discipline. It is important for them to guide them in terms of do’s and don’ts of internet usage and developing a healthy disciplined environment so that kids don’t fall prey to bad thoughts and habits. Open discussion about bad habits can help them understand the need of the hour. Also, the guidance about ways to deal with cybercrime can be helpful to handle any fraud.
Many a times children expose themselves to identity theft by disclosing personal information online. Scammers can trick kids into disclosing their social security number and other details to commit identity theft. Remind children not to reveal too much information about themselves, especially online.
Make sure your children know about the online privacy. Many apps have privacy policies which disclose that the apps collect and share their users’ information. Kids often accept these without even going through the terms and conditions. Even if your settings are set to private, remember nothing is private. Even the so-called private browser is not private. Let the children know that hackers could have access to your so-called private information.
Unused accounts can be a rich source of personal information for cybercriminals. Sometimes kids create an account with their first and last name or their birthday in the user name. Cybercriminals can patch these data points together and steal information from other sites that the individual uses. If you think you won’t be revisiting the site, it’s best to close the account.
Guidance goal
The subject of cyber security covers everything that can cause a threat to humans and data. The major areas covered here are — application, information, disaster and network. All these aspects have certain techniques that are used for the application of these security systems, which are apt for home, offices and schools. The application security also involves certain techniques for scanning and processing information that includes input parameter validation, user/role authentication and authorisation, session management and auditing and logging. At disaster security level, risk assessment, establishing priorities, developing recovery strategies are a few parameters that play a key role. And at the network security level, components like anti-virus and anti-spyware, firewall, intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and virtual private networks (VPNs), play a crucial role to secure remote access.
While the researchers feel that a lot more have to be done to make the internet a safer media but these basic security parameters are enough for school children and youngsters to have a secured exposure.
(The author is the managing director of Cambridge Montessori Pre-school.)