Islamabad: According to a recent survey by Kaspersky, 54% of children have been exposed to violent content on the Internet. 18% of parents surveyed also reported alarming situations when unknown adults tried to befriend their children in digital space. Another 25% even lost money as a result of their children’s online behavior – including cases of accidentally downloading paid games, buying something online without asking permission, or experiencing online scam.
The survey entitled “Growing Up Online” consisted 10000 online interviews including 5000 parent-child pairs, with children aged 3 to 17 years.
Kaspersky data shows that 79% of parents surveyed strive to have complete control over their children’s online activities, 15% of respondents activate their control only when needed, while only 6% tend not to get involved in their children’s digital life at all.
To protect children from online threats, Kaspersky experts recommend a combination of technical and non-technical measures. Non-technical measures primarily include increasing digital literacy for both children and their parents, while technical measures assume using parental control programs. Some such programs allow parents to not only control screen time and track their children’s geolocation, but also to protect them from age-inappropriate content, including on YouTube. In particular, Kaspersky Safe Kids application has wide functionality and its effectiveness is regularly confirmed by independent international testing labs. Affirming this, within the recent test AV-Comparatives researchers recognized the ability of Kaspersky Safe Kids to block 98% percent of inappropriate content with zero False-Positive cases.
“When it comes to children’s online safety, protection from inappropriate content plays a significant role. Our goal is to empower parents with the confidence that their children are safeguarded. We are honored and proud that our dedicated efforts in this regard are regularly acknowledged by independent testing organizations,” comments Seifallah Jedidi, Head of Consumer Channel in the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa at Kaspersky.
According to Kaspersky experts, by staying informed about the latest threats and actively monitoring their children’s online activities, parents can create a safer online environment for their kids. To help parents introduce their children to cybersecurity amidst the evolving threat landscape, Kaspersky experts have developed the Kaspersky Cybersecurity Alphabet with key concepts from the cybersecurity industry. In this book, children will learn about new technologies, the main cyber hygiene rules, how to avoid online threats and recognize fraudsters’ tricks. After reading this book together, parents be sure that their children will know how to distinguish phishing website, how VPN and QR-codes work, and even what honeypots and encryption are and what role they play in modern cybersecurity. Parents can download a pdf version of the book for free or view it online and go through the basics of cybersecurity with their child, building their cybersafe future.
