ISA was delighted to be named Tech Company of the Year at last week’s TechConnex Gala Event in North York.
The 2015 Tech Company of the Year award recognizes the organization that has demonstrated business leadership and excellence in innovation and a commitment to the knowledge-based sector in the Greater Toronto Area and possibly throughout Canada. Consideration in this category requires increasing profitability, community involvement and thought leadership, and demonstration of sound business fundamentals. Read the full press release here
According to the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Centre, as of August 2nd, there were 533 publicly disclosed cyber incidents against the K-12 sector in the United States in 2019. That number surpasses the total for the entirety of 2018, and there are still five months remaining of this year. Digital incidents targeting education are on the rise. That means your child’s data is vulnerable.
And, although cybercrime and malware may appear to live in the world of adults and business, threat actors regularly target youth where they’re most active – online via social media, video streaming sites and online video games. As a case in point, you can look to the phishing and hacking issues that the online game Fortnite faced. Youth are vulnerable targets because they are more trusting and naïve, and often have little knowledge of cybersecurity.
Unfortunately, we can’t tell you what happened to their lunchbox, or how they managed to lose their third pair of winter gloves, but we can help keep their online presence safer. The following are some ways to keep your child safe in the digital world.
Start educating your kids early and often
Begin teaching your kids about safe online behaviour early and often. Even a six-year-old can understand the basics of what malware or phishing is if you explain it in the right way. Stranger danger is the same online as it is in reality. When news of a cyberattack comes on TV, or you read about a cyberattack affecting ordinary people in a cybersecurity blog you follow (like ISA’s for example), explain what’s happened to your child in a way that’s appropriate for their age. They need to understand how email phishing and corrupt links work long before they get an email address so that they don’t compromise shared family computers that may contain sensitive data.
Parental controls and software help keep your kids safe
Parental controls and software were created for a reason, so go ahead and use them. There are a variety of protective applications you can install on PCs running Windows and OS X, and for both iOS and Android mobile devices. Pick one application and use it across all of your child’s devices.
Make friends with your children’s friends
Being in the know on who your children are connected to and communicating with online is essential. Not only should you follow all your kid’s social accounts, but you should also follow the people that follow them. Encourage them to add only people they know in person to their online accounts (especially when they are very young). Monitor their social media accounts closely and know their passwords.
The ability to fully access your child’s online activity should be a condition of allowing them to have a smartphone, tablet, or social media accounts. Youth can be overly trusting, and occasionally pedophiles pretend to be other children online. While this is rare, it’s still something to be watched for. More probable risks than pedophiles are cyber-bullies, or threat actors attempting social engineering attacks to obtain sensitive information. Also be wary of inappropriate material, images or behaviour being shared or discussed. Once they’re 18, they can have privacy from you. Until then, you’re ensuring their online safety to avoid ugly realities like sextortion.
Behave the same online as in person
Teach them that what they do online is real. How they behave online has consequences, just as it does at home or school. Remind them to use manners online, and to be polite and kind because people are on the receiving end of their comments and messages.
But, also teach your children about what they should or shouldn’t share online because this can impact their information security. In “real life,” children wouldn’t tell a stranger their deepest secrets or give thieves their house address and key – they need to be just as careful online. Private information can be conveyed through pictures and videos, as well as words. For example – a pic snapped in front of the house may give away their physical address, so reinforce the need to be aware of what they post online.
Keep certain stuff super-secret
It’s critical to teach your children to keep their passwords, home and email address, and other personal information, private. They need to avoid giving out that information online, but also avoid entering it into web forms (even if they look legitimate). If they’re online and are led to a web form that asks for email or home address, encourage them to show the screen to you to ensure that it’s safe. The safest bet for parents is to fill out all online registrations. It’s also strongly recommended that children use an alias online and keep their real identity a secret – “SpidySensesTingling4U” is far better than “Robert Finlay” for safety.
Digital footprints are forever
Make your children aware that anything that they post online most likely will be discoverable forever – even when they’re ancient (like, in their 30’s). This awareness is especially important for teenagers, where pictures from parties could come back to haunt them or posted “jokes” with friends may portray them in a bad light later. This applies to social media posts, comments on blogs and YouTube, discussions on online gaming networks, and what they may write on social networks that have yet to be invented.
Keep in mind that Snapchat my be temporary, but the screenshots that friends can take are not. Screenshots can be posted elsewhere, becoming part of the unavoidable digital footprint. Traces of online postings often remain, even if you’ve deleted them. It’s challenging to get young people to think about how their actions now will affect them in the future, but it’s imperative to keep repeatedly and patiently reminding them of this reality.
In our digital society, being online and using mobile devices are part of how we live and learn from a young age. As a parent, you need to educate your children about cybersecurity and staying safe, as you would teach them about taking safety precautions in the real world. Help them to stay safe by being proactive not reactive and continuously monitor their online and social media activities. Have a safe and happy back to school!