Online Safety (for Parents) – Nemours KidsHealth

The Internet can be wonderful for kids. They can use it to research school reports, communicate with teachers and other kids, and play interactive games.

But online access also comes with risks, like inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and online predators. Using social media apps and websites where kids interact, predators may pose as a child or teen looking to make a new friend. They might prod the child to exchange personal information, such as address and phone number, or encourage kids to call them, seeing their phone number via caller ID.

Parents should be aware of what their kids see and hear online, who they meet, and what they share about themselves. Talk with your kids, use tools to protect them, and keep an eye on their activities.

Internet Safety Laws

A federal law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) helps protect kids younger than 13 when they’re online. It’s designed to keep anyone from getting a child’s personal information without a parent knowing about it and agreeing to it first.

COPPA requires websites to explain their privacy policies and get parental consent before collecting or using a child’s personal information, such as a name, address, phone number, or Social Security number. The law also prohibits a site from requiring a child to provide more personal information than necessary to play a game or enter a contest.

Online Protection Tools

Online tools let you control your kids’ access to adult material and help protect them from Internet predators. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) provide parent-control options. You can also get software that helps block access to sites and restricts personal information from being sent online. Other programs can monitor and track online activity.

Getting Involved in Kids’ Online Activities

More important than blocking objectionable material is teaching your kids safe and responsible online behavior, and keeping an eye on their Internet use.

Basic guidelines to share with your kids for safe online use:

• Follow the family rules, and those set by the Internet service provider.
• Never post or trade personal pictures.
• Never reveal personal information, such as address, phone number, or school name or location.
• Use only a screen name and don’t share passwords (other than with parents).
• Never agree to get together in person with anyone met online without parent approval and/or supervision.
• Never respond to a threatening email, message, post, or text.
• Always tell a parent or other trusted adult about any communication or conversation that was scary or hurtful.

Basic guidelines for parental supervision:

• Spend time online together to teach your kids appropriate online behavior.
• Keep the computer in a common area where you can watch and monitor its use, not in individual bedrooms. Monitor any time spent on smartphones or tablets.
• Bookmark kids’ favorite sites for easy access.
• Check your credit card and phone bills for unfamiliar account charges.
• Find out what, if any, online protection is offered by your child’s school, after-school center, friends’ homes, or any place where kids could use a computer without your supervision.
• Take your child seriously if he or she reports an uncomfortable online exchange.

If you’re aware of the sending, use, or viewing of child pornography online, call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678 or go online to their CyberTipline. They’ll make sure the info is forwarded to law enforcement officials for investigation. Contact your local law enforcement agency or the FBI if your child has received child pornography via the Internet.

Watch for warning signs of a child being targeted by an online predator. These can include:

• spending long hours online, especially at night
• phone calls from people you don’t know
• unsolicited gifts arriving in the mail
• your child suddenly turning off the computer or other device when you walk into the room
• withdrawal from family life and reluctance to discuss online activities

Talk to your kids! Keep an open line of communication and make sure that they feel comfortable turning to you when they have problems online.

The Internet and Teens

As kids get older, it gets a little trickier to monitor their time spent online. They may carry a smartphone with them at all times. They probably want — and need — some privacy. This is healthy and normal, as they’re becoming more independent from their parents. The Internet can provide a safe “virtual” environment for exploring some newfound freedom if precautions are taken.

Talk about the sites and apps teens use and their online experiences. Discuss the dangers of interacting with strangers online and remind them that people online don’t always tell the truth. Explain that passwords are there to protect against things like identity theft. They should never share them with anyone, even a boyfriend, girlfriend, or best friend.

Taking an active role in your kids’ online activities helps ensure that they benefit from them without being exposed to the potential dangers.

Internet Safety Tips by Age: 8-10

Tip Sheet: 

Eight- to ten-year-old kids have a strong sense of family. They are interested in the activities of older kids in their lives; they are starting to develop a sense of their own moral and gender identity; and they tend to be trusting and not question authority.

Watching online videos, visiting virtual worlds and playing online games are favourite online pastimes at this stage. Children these ages are also starting to use social networking platforms – one-third of students in grades 4-6 have Facebook accounts, despite terms of use agreements that restrict children under the age of 13 from using these sites – making this a good age to establish basic ground rules for socializing online.

It is at this stage that parents start thinking about cell phones for their kids (half of children in grades 4-6 have access to their own or someone else’s phone on a regular basis).

8- to 10-year olds:

• are curious and interested in discovering new information
• lack the critical thinking skills to be online alone
• are vulnerable to online marketers who encourage them to give out personal information through surveys, contests and registration forms
• may be frightened by realistic portrayals of violence, threats or dangers
• begin to communicate with online acquaintances they may have not met in real life
• may be influenced by media images and personalities, especially those that appear “cool” or desirable
• may use virtual worlds to explore different identities and behaviours
• may be exposed to search results with links to inappropriate websites

Safety Tips

General Supervision

• Keep online activities – whether on laptops, tablets or family computers – in common family areas where you can easily monitor what your kids are doing.
• Investigate Internet-filtering tools as a complement — not a replacement — for parental supervision.
• Protect your children from offensive “pop-ups” by setting your browser to block popups, disabling Java on your computer and/or using blocking software. Ad blockers such as AdBlock can also keep kids from seeing banner ads with inappropriate content.

Managing Online Spaces

• If your child wants an email account, create a shared family email account as opposed to letting them have accounts of their own.
• Preview any websites, games or apps that your child wants to use.
• Use kid-friendly search engines or search engines with parental controls, such as KidRex, Fact Monster and Kids Click.
• Familiarize yourself with parental control features on any video game systems, smartphones, tablets and computers used by your kids.
• Only allow your kids to use reputable kids’ websites with monitored chat areas.
• If your child wants to participate in social networking, have him or her manage a family social networking page. This provides an opportunity for them to develop and practice privacy and safety skills with guidance from parents and siblings.
• If the primary reason for giving your child a cell phone is to stay in touch, choose a simple model geared for kids that does not provide Internet access.

Building Safety Skills

• Create a list of cell phone and online rules with input from your kids.
• Talk about the importance of safe and ethical social networking, that includes:
  • Only adding people you know as friends
  • Treating people online with kindness and respect
  • Not using a real photo as your main profile picture
  • Using a nickname or first name
  • Not adding apps without permission
  • Not uploading photos of people without asking first
  • Not sharing passwords with friends
  • (For ideas on rules for social networking, see the tip sheet Social Media Rules)
• Teach your kids to always ask you first before sharing personal information online.
• Talk to your kids about their online friends and activities just as you would about their other activities.
• Talk about healthy sexuality because kids can easily come across online pornography.
• Encourage your kids to come to you if they encounter anything online that makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened. (Stay calm. If you “freak out” they won’t turn to you for help when they need it.)

Internet Safety Tips by Age:

• Ages 2-4
• Ages 5-7
• Ages 8-10
• Ages 11-13
• Ages 14-17

Internet Safety – Tips for Children and Teens

We all spend a lot of time on the Internet these days, including kids and teens. Every parent wants their kids to feel safe online because there are things on the internet to be wary of. It’s not just viruses and hackers that can steal personal information that are dangerous; in addition to them, there is cyberbullying (bullying), inappropriate content and online predators that target children and teenagers.

Children and teenagers need the Internet to complete school assignments, communicate with teachers and other students, play interactive games, and perform other tasks. This is a great place to learn and socialize. But parents should be aware of what their children see and hear on the Internet, with whom they communicate and what they say about themselves. Here are a few tips to help keep kids safe online.

General advice

Children and teens use the Internet in different ways and for different purposes as they grow up. Parents of children in each age group worry about different things and want to control different activities. However, there is a set of general recommendations that parents of children and adolescents of any age should remember.

Keep usernames and passwords safe

Many websites used by children require a username and password. Make sure children know not to share this information with anyone, not even friends. Perhaps no one wants to cause any harm to the child, but even in well-meaning pranks, something can go wrong and cause trouble. Keep usernames and passwords private, and be sure to change passwords if you suspect someone may have learned them.

Change passwords periodically

In addition to reminding children not to share their passwords with anyone, it is also a good idea to change passwords periodically. Data leaks happen all the time, and leaking passwords puts you at risk for identity theft and other cybersecurity issues. Set up a schedule to change account passwords every 3-6 months, or whenever the platform reports a breach or data breach. You can use a password manager to keep track of all your passwords online and make it easier for your kids to find them.

Do not disclose personal information on the Internet

Children and adolescents should not give their full real name, address, neighborhood, phone number, or other information to anyone on the Internet. As a general rule, never share information that could help online predators find them. Even small details, such as the name of a school or a sports team, are enough to reveal an identity. If children use sites that allow them to chat with strangers, such as social media platforms, make sure they know that this information is private.

Be careful on social media

The activities of children and adolescents on social media require special care and attention. The Internet is huge, but incriminating photos, rude comments, and personal information can leave a strong mark, often forever. Remind the children that anything posted online is immediately public and anyone can see it. Even private accounts are sometimes leaked or attacked by intruders. If you don’t want any unpleasant moment to be repeated and disturb your children, explain to them that you need to be careful about your publications.

Use a strong cybersecurity solution

Kaspersky Safe Kids helps keep kids safe when they’re online. This solution can be used on all your child’s devices. It consists of two applications: one needs to be installed on the child’s device, the second – on the parent’s smartphone in order to view reports and change settings. Built-in parental controls even let you manage how much time your kids spend in front of the screen across devices.

Check age limits

Many apps and websites have their own age limits for creating accounts, browsing and registering. But the problem is that most of these sites do not actually have an age verification feature. For example, Facebook, Snapchat and Myspace only allow access from the age of 13, but children can specify a different age and register anyway.

Explain the dangers of sharing location data

Nearly all modern apps and websites have geotagging or location sharing features. Children and teens should be aware of the dangers of sharing their location and that they should not unknowingly agree to such a condition in app pop-ups. The public display of location data exposes children to various dangers, from networked Internet predators who can find them, to the risk of identity theft. Make sure kids understand what it means when an app asks if location data can be shared.

Make a list of internet usage rules

One of the best ways to manage internet usage for kids of all ages is to sit down and work together to create a list of internet usage rules according to their needs. You can show your child websites for kids and teens, talk about why it’s important to set rules, and ask them to share if they feel uncomfortable or threatened by something they find online, etc. Set boundaries, but be realist.

Use the same rules online and in person

Teach your children that the same rules apply to online and in person communications. When communicating on the Internet and writing comments, it is better to remain kind and polite, you should not write anything that you could not say in person. This also applies to anonymous posting. Posting offensive and rude things is not only ugly and impartial to others, but it can also damage your child’s reputation.

Set parental controls

Adjust and revise parental controls on all your devices according to the age of your children. This will help protect children from accessing inappropriate content online. Control settings can be configured in a number of ways, such as ensuring that children only have access to age-appropriate content, setting device usage times, controlling activity, and preventing sharing of personal information. In addition to parental controls, you can also use filtering and monitoring tools. Check and update these programs periodically. Here you will find information about apps and websites that are potentially harmful to children.

Use antivirus software

In addition to parental controls, use antivirus software on all devices. They protect Internet-connected devices from incoming threats, as well as detect, destroy and warn of possible threats to the system. Antivirus programs keep up with modern threats and help detect new viruses that constantly appear.

Talk about the existence of fake ads

Discuss with the children the advertising programs and fake ad scams they may encounter on the Internet. Some of the ads look like real offers to download a fake app, sign up for a sweepstakes, or provide personal information in exchange for free products. They can also be presented as links that can be shared with friends or posted on social networks. If children are aware of these types of advertisements and scams, they are less likely to fall for them when they encounter them online.

Educate children about the dangers of face-to-face meetings with strangers

Children should never meet face-to-face strangers they have interacted with online unless a parent supervises the encounter. Teach children and teens not to interact with strangers in person. Internet predators or participants in cyberbullying (bullying) can hide so that the child does not understand that he is communicating with someone from the Internet.

Monitoring Internet browsing history

Parents of children of all ages are encouraged to periodically check their browsing history to understand what websites their children are visiting. Make sure that history tracking is enabled in your browser settings and check it on all devices with Internet access. If you come across suspicious sites, ask your child about them. Show your kids how open they are when tracking their online activities so they don’t feel like they’re being spied on.

Age guidelines

In addition to the general guidelines, there are also age guidelines to consider when using the Internet for children.

2 – 4 years

• Do not allow yourself to spend time on the Internet.
• Do not allow any frightening images, either real or imagined.
• Prevent children from clicking on links.
• Limit the time spent at the computer.
• Teach basic computer skills with age-appropriate games and educational programs.

5 – 7 years

• Do not allow yourself to spend time on the Internet or on the phone.
• Do not allow any frightening images, either real or imagined.
• Prevent children from clicking on links.
• Use child-friendly search engines with parental controls.
• Set filters by age.
• Limit the amount of time you spend on the Internet.
• Limit the children to a list of favorite sites that you make together.
• Make sure that Internet-connected devices are in the public domain where you can observe them.
• Block instant messaging, email, chat, mobile internet, text, picture, video messaging, and message boards.
• Teach your children never to give out personal information online.

8 – 10 years old

• Discuss with the children what interests them on the Internet.
• Tell the children about the dangers of the Internet.
• Teach children never to give out personal information.
• Avoid scary images.
• Explain to the children how to communicate with friends online.
• Ask the children to tell you about times when they encounter something online that makes them feel uncomfortable.
• Spend time online with your kids or limit their access to only a set of approved sites.
• Locate Internet-connected devices in an open common area.
• Set parental controls appropriate for the child’s age.
• Use filtering and monitoring tools.
• Use child-friendly search engines.
• Prohibit the use of instant messaging, chat, and social networking sites intended for a more mature audience.
• Ask your child to use the same email address you use yourself or a special email address that you have access to.
• Encourage children to be open about their online activities.

11 – 13 years old

• Do not place devices connected to the Internet in children’s rooms.
• Set parental controls appropriate for the child’s age.
• Use filtering and monitoring tools.
• Monitor all devices with Internet access: cell phones, gaming devices, iPods and PDAs.
• Ask the children to talk about their online activities and the people they interact with.
• Prevent children from sharing personal information without your permission.
• Teach the children not to arrange face-to-face meetings with people they have met online.
• Require children to access their email and chats.
• Limit instant messaging to a list of friends you approve.
• Block access to chats.
• Teach children how to communicate with strangers on the Internet.
• Teach your children about unethical online behavior, including bullying, gossip, threats, profanity, and more.
• Check your browser history to track your children’s online behavior.
• Respect the minimum age for signing up for social networks (for example, 13 for Myspace and Facebook).
• Encourage children to visit age-appropriate sites such as TweenLand, ClubPenguin and others.
• Prevent children from posting photos or videos without your permission.

14 – 18 years old

• Make a list of Internet rules for your home.
• Set parental controls appropriate for the child’s age.
• Use filtering and monitoring tools.
• Check out the messaging apps your child is using.
• Monitor Internet-enabled devices other than computers, such as cell phones, gaming devices, iPods, and PDAs.
• Store internet-enabled devices in plain sight, out of children’s rooms.
• Talk to your teens about friends they have met online and talk about their online activities.
• Talk to your teens about not talking to strangers via instant messaging and make a list of friends together.
• Encourage teens to ask for your approval before dating online.
• Accompany teens to meet people they have met online but don’t yet know personally.
• Teach teenagers not to give out personal information.
• Tell teens about unethical behavior on the Internet, including bullying, gossip, threats, profanity and other troubles.
• Protect teens from spam by teaching them not to give out their email address on the Internet or respond to spam.
• Educate teenagers about copyright laws and responsible behavior on the Internet.
• Track all financial transactions your teens make online, including ordering, buying, or selling items.
• Ask teens to tell you about inappropriate sexual content or unwanted comments they have received online.
• Tell teens what to look out for or ask for before downloading files from the internet.
• Randomly check your browser history to see what websites your teen has visited.

Keeping children safe online is just as important as it is in the real world. There are many reasons why kids want and should use the internet, from completing school assignments to attending virtual events, extracurricular learning and interactive games with friends. The Internet is a rich resource and a fun place to connect if kids and teens know how to use it safely and avoid potential threats.

Online safety is achieved by constantly talking to children about how and why the Internet is used, and by knowing how to keep them safe. Understanding why children go online, who they interact with and what sites they visit is essential to keeping them safe. It is also essential to inform them about the risks associated with the Internet, how to communicate safely and politely on the Internet, and what to do if they encounter something inappropriate.

Talk to children, use tools to protect them and monitor their activities. Use Kaspersky Internet Security to minimize potential online threats, including malware, spyware, and Trojans. The Total Security suite also provides protection for online payments by keeping your data safe with a VPN. Find out how Kaspersky Lab products can help protect your family from potential online threats.

Related articles:

Online safety for children: apps and websites that parents should know about

10 ways to stop cyberbullying

Top 7 dangers and risks for children and teenagers in online games

basics of safe online behavior – Moscow and the region

The Internet is a virtual world, but it also has its own rules, similar to real life. Caution will come in handy both offline and online, so we share with you 10 simple rules that are very important for children to know. Show them this article!

February 9, 2022

6 minutes to read

Consult with parents

If a child wants to register on any site, create a profile on a social network and post their photos, it is better to consult with their parents before doing so. An adult will be able to better analyze the situation and understand if the site is dangerous, as well as help choose pictures that can be put on public display.

If a child is being bullied or harassed online, it is also important to tell adults about this.

Protect personal information

Even if the child thinks they know the person they are talking to online, there is no need to reveal details about yourself and your parents. Phone number, address, school and class number, place of work of parents and their schedule, time when there are no adults in the apartment, as well as data from documents, bank card numbers – such information should never be transferred to other people.

Do not share information about acquaintances

The above rule applies to other people. No need to talk about friends and classmates, tell where they live and study, what circles they attend. You can’t show their photos – neither post them on your social media profiles, nor even in private correspondence. If you want to post a group photo from a holiday or workout, you should first discuss this with those who are depicted in the picture. And it is better if they inform their parents that such a photo is published on the Internet.

Filter information

Fraudsters actively use the Internet for their own interests. They can deceive and manipulate people into pity or fear. Therefore, do not blindly trust everything that is written online.

Basic rules:

• do not open suspicious emails;
• ignore messages received from strangers;
• do not follow links that promise a lot of interesting things for free.

If someone asks for help in a letter or chat message, it is better to clarify what happened and whether it really happened – usually parents, relatives, friends can be called back.

Check data

Even adults fall for the bait of scammers and make the wrong decisions – not everything can be found out in a few minutes and a couple of mouse clicks. But, for example, the abundance of advertising on the page and the “screaming headlines” that offer a lot, for free and right now, are a clear sign that information from the site should not be trusted.

You can also:

• look for the same information elsewhere to compare details and presentation;
• check with parents, friends and acquaintances to what extent this information is true.

Do not communicate with strangers

This rule is very difficult to follow on the Internet. But it is one thing to talk to someone who has been playing the same online game for a month or six months, and quite another to answer the very first letter of someone who is annoyingly knocking on private messages. Any importunity, frequent requests, requests to write something, and even more so to send a photo, is a good reason to immediately stop communication and block a person.

Create complex passwords

A simple password is not only easy to remember, but also very easy to crack. Therefore, when compiling it, it is better:

• to come up with complex combinations consisting of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols;
• use different passwords for different sites – otherwise, someone who hacks one profile will easily gain access to all others.

Pay attention to websites

Phishing is one of the tricks that scammers often use. They create a fake site that is very similar to the one that everyone uses often. It can mimic an email service, a social network, or a game. But by entering your confidential data there, you can become a victim of Internet scammers. Therefore, it is important to be careful and pay attention to details, in particular, to the site address: it may differ from the correct one or two letters, for example, for VKontakte – vc.com or vk-com.com instead of the correct vk. com .

Be able to distinguish fake accounts

You can tell anything about yourself on the Internet, because it is difficult to verify this information. Therefore, it is immediately difficult to recognize the one who created a false identity and uses it for communication. But there are several formal signs of forgery that raise doubts:

• a small number of friends or their complete absence from the one who wants to chat;
• the desire to often agree, to constantly write something like “yes, me too”, “I had this too”, “we are so similar to you”;
• importunity, unwillingness to interrupt the conversation even after the interlocutor was directly asked about it;
• a solid age difference – it’s strange if an adult is stuffed into friends with a child.

Remember to be polite

In any situation, even if it seems like a hoax, you should not be rude, let alone use obscene language. It is important to write correctly and keep emotions under control.