Why you need to teach children about privacy on the web

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Take care of your data from a young age​

Experts in the field of information security pay attention to the spread of the problem of oversharing - the excessive provision of personal information on the Internet. Most often, children and adolescents, not knowing about the possible negative consequences, post a large number of photos on their pages in social networks, put geotags, and indicate their phone number in the public domain. This information can be used by attackers. Read about the threats of oversharing and what data is dangerous to share on social networks in RSpectr.

LITTLE LIFE EXPERIENCE

According to Kaspersky Lab statistics, 50% of children indicate in social networks their real age, 31% - the number of their school, 15% post photos with the interior of the apartment, 14% - publish information about relatives.

And although this phenomenon of oversharing is typical for users of all ages, children are the most vulnerable category due to their inexperience and insufficient level of digital literacy, experts emphasize.

Due to their limited life experience, it is especially difficult for young users to predict the consequences of their actions both in the real world and in the digital one, Andrey Kryuchkov, director of technology marketing at Acronis Infozashchita, said in a conversation with RSpectr.

According to him,

children and adolescents often do not understand that the information that they willingly share on the Internet can somehow affect their real life​

Andrey Sidenko, head of online child safety at Kaspersky Lab, points out that young users are happy to publish information about themselves and their environment. At the same time, 28% of the children surveyed said that their pages on social networks are in the public domain, 38% leave the possibility of correspondence for everyone.

The expert adds that adults in social networks can talk in detail about their lives, including children. Thus, according to a survey by Kaspersky Lab, more than a quarter of parents publish publicly available posts with photos of their children.

WHAT ARE THE RISKS?

Young users often do not see the danger in the publication of personal data, and yet this can lead to serious consequences, experts interviewed by RSpectr say.

Personal information can be used by intruders and, using social engineering methods, get into the child's trust. Having comprehensive information about travel routes, hobbies, friends and family's level of well-being, attackers are able to act very convincingly, warns A. Sidenko.

For instance,

When communicating with children in social networks and instant messengers, scammers can try to trick them into clicking a phishing link, transferring money or giving out their parents' bank card details​

“Meeting new digital acquaintances offline can also pose a threat. According to our survey, almost half of children meet new people in social networks, 37% of them subsequently meet with them in real life, ”A. Sidenko said.

Placing the exact address of residence can push to stalking when the persecution of a person begins, said Pavel Korostelev, head of the product promotion department of the Security Code company. Subsequently, the victim may be asked to pay a ransom to end the stalking. And the posted geolocation data, coupled with vacation photos, can provoke theft, A. Kryuchkov points out. Another example - candid photos that remain on the Internet forever can damage your reputation after many years. An overly emotional comment under a post can provoke aggression and lead to bullying.

Andrey Kryuchkov, Akronis Infozashita:

- Social networks are a storehouse of accessible information that fraudsters can use for their own purposes. There are a lot of scenarios on how to use it, many of them are based on manipulating trust.

Pavel Kuznetsov, Deputy Managing Director for Cybersecurity Technologies at Positive Technologies, notes that posting data about visits to a place or event can be used by cybercriminals to attack parents: “your son / daughter, being in city N, got into an unpleasant situation, urgently need money".

The open publication of data on a variety of personal moments, for example, pet nicknames, can be used on the password recovery service from any account.

Yevgeny Sukhanov, director of the information security department at Oberon, gives the following example: if a young person posts negative publications on social networks and uses obscene vocabulary, then with further employment such a candidate, even with professional knowledge, has less chances of being accepted and further developed in this area.

FORBIDDEN FRUIT IS NOT EFFECTIVE

In an effort to protect the child from danger on the Internet, parents often try to block the child's access to the Internet, prohibit starting pages on social networks, spending time near the computer, says Denis Khnykin, teacher, head of the department of personal mentors of the InternetUrok online school. But according to him,

it is necessary to understand that the stricter the prohibition, the stronger the desire to violate it​

It is important to teach children to use the resource given to them competently, and today this is one of the tasks of education.

“But it's not enough just to bring digital hygiene to classroom hours. It is important to teach children this skill by example. Therefore, both parents and teachers should correctly manage their pages. Then the children will see that sharing all their personal information is “frivolous”, “not in an adult way,” "D. Khnykin believes.

Experts unanimously oppose the bans.

According to P. Kuznetsov, even if a family, up to a certain age, seeks to protect a child from excessive immersion in virtual worlds, he still learns about them through some channel, for example, from peers. And, of course, he wants everything to be no worse than others - the same mobile device, a profile on a social network or an account on a photo service.

P. Kuznetsov believes that the foundations of digital literacy should be laid in the family. According to the expert, it will be useful for parents to attend various events and programs to raise awareness of cybersecurity. They are held within the framework of industry conferences and various lecture halls by both specialized business organizations and government agencies.

Andrey Sidenko, Kaspersky Lab:

- In the early stages, these issues, of course, should be dealt with by parents. Later, teachers should join this process, for example, in the framework of computer science lessons. When buying gadgets, it is important to tell children about the basic rules of safe behavior on the Internet, the principles of privacy, to warn about the threats and consequences of careless handling of their data. Experience shows that constant dialogue is indeed more effective than prohibitions, restrictions and tight control.

E. Sukhanov complains that the school curriculum lacks risk analysis of personal information disclosure and teaching methods of behavior in the online space.

A. Kryuchkov emphasizes:

prohibiting children from using the Internet and gadgets in the modern world is impossible, but you can teach them the skills of safe behavior in the digital environment​

Socially responsible IT companies create special educational projects. For example, "Akronis Infozashita" has developed Cybersecurity Courses for Schoolchildren and Teachers.

“With his help, we wanted to help teachers teach schoolchildren digital hygiene, as well as provide them with all the necessary materials so that they can easily transfer this relevant knowledge to children,” says A. Kryuchkov.

Pavel Korostelev, "Security Code":

- Digital hygiene should be taught first and foremost by parents. But, as a rule, most adults themselves do not follow the rules of cyber hygiene. Therefore, the educational task falls on schools and universities. Also, digital hygiene should be promoted with the help of youth idols. Children actively watch YouTube and TikTok, so it would be nice if bloggers periodically reminded them of the simple rules: be skeptical about everything that is offered on the Internet, do not follow links in messages, do not leave personal data.

WHAT CAN BE PLACED AND WHAT IS NOT COST

P. Kuznetsov advises both adults and children: before you post any information in the public domain, you need to develop the habit of asking the following questions:

• Why am I doing this, what goal do I want to achieve by posting pictures or other data? Perhaps you will come to the conclusion that you actually do not need the publication.
• Does this data contain something that was received by me through confidential channels, something that can embarrass me or other people, cause a conflict? So you will critically evaluate the published information from the point of view of their harmlessness.
• What audience will this information be available to, am I sure of it, will it not harm me or other people? So you can understand with whom exactly you are ready to share information.

You can have a similar conversation with your child and explain the same principles to him in a simplified or playful way.

A. Sidenko emphasizes that children can use social networks or instant messengers, after all, this is an integral part of the life of a modern person. “It is normal to share photos from a trip to the sea, a trip to the zoo or a movie, but you should not talk in detail about events in your life on social networks, especially if any user can access the information on the page,” the expert says.

According to A. Sidenko, the child's profile on the social network should not contain the number of the school where he studies, home address and detailed geolocation, mobile phone number, candid photos.

P. Korostelev believes that it is dangerous to share the information that will allow us to establish the identity of a person. That is, just a surname and a first name are unlikely to give anything to scammers. But the surname and first name plus photo, age, address of residence or passport number already promise problems.

A. Kryuchkov does not advise children to post on the Web:

• information about the schedule of lessons;
• photos indicating the income or wealth of the family;
• compromising pictures;
• stories about the parents' vacation or long leave.

A memo on how to protect personal information on the Web is posted on a special portal of Roskomnadzor personal data.children ...

The experts of the department give, in particular, the following recommendations:

• Limit the amount of information about yourself on the Internet. Remove unnecessary photos, videos, addresses, phone numbers, date of birth, information about family and friends and other personal information.
• Don't send videos and photos to people you meet online and don't know them in real life.
• When sending someone your personal data or confidential information, make sure that the addressee is really who he claims to be.
• If someone on the Internet asks for your personal data, for example, place of residence or school number, class, other data, consult with your parents or an adult you trust.

Images: RSpectr, AdobeStock, Pexels, Pixabay, Freepik.com
A source

 

[David Mamedov]

not only in social networks, but also in the internet.

 

[poles1469]

Children need to be taught a lot ...

 

[частный детектив. Узбекистан. Ташкент.]

But also how to use the Internet correctly.

 

[Детективное агентство. Грузия.]

This is a plus for everyone! It even needs to be taught in school!

 

[Частный детектив Азербайджан]

Верно подметили! Спасибо за инфу!

 

[Kiril Harchevnikov]

It is safe for life itself.

 

[Детективное агентство Израиль.]

Now is such an age that without knowledge of technology or something else - you are nobody

 

[Частный детектив Донецк]

Without a banal knowledge of network security - you are a teapot_)