Rik Ferguson is Trend Micro’s vice president of security research. He has created a series of Internet security advice videos to help consumers. In this video, he offers some tips on how to help protect your children when they go online.
Internet safety for kids is more complex than ever before, because it now includes all mobile devices in your family. Creating a safe Internet environment requires a combination of parental controls and family trust.
Here are a few highlights from the video:
| - Keep the family computer in a high traffic area of the home. If children have their own computers or mobile devices, control their use through an administrative account and security software with password protected parental controls.
- Use the admin account to block creation of new user accounts on childrens’ computers and password protect adult computers and accounts to prevent children from using them.
- Establish time limits for children to use their computers, this includes both the times when they can use their personal devices and how along they can use them each day or week.
- Talk with your kids about what sites they can and can’t visit. Explain why you care and what consequences they could face if they don’t follow family rules, which you’ll enforce with parental controls. Use the Internet with your children and let them show you what they like to do. Then show them the family friendly things that you like to do. Sharing interest encourages trust.
- Know who’s connecting with your children via social media and what they’re doing on the site. It’s important to have accounts on these sites yourself or at least have your children’s passwords so you can check in on them from time to time.
- No matter what, it’s important to keep an open dialog about ongoing online use while still giving your children the space to express themselves safely online.
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Set online rules such as:
| - No personal information should be given out in screen names
- Don’t give personal information to online strangers
- Don’t send photos to anyone (Warn kids of the personal public and legal consequences of photo sexting.)
- Don’t share your passwords with anyone except your parents.
- Don’t meet online friends unless your parents meet them first and give permission
- Don’t download anything without your parents’ permission.
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A word about online bullying
Make sure that your kids know that they have your support and protection from online bullying. No child should be left alone with the social and personal humiliation bullying brings. Sometimes you can feel that there’s no escape, and your family should be that safer place.
Watch the video now.
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