(NC) As a parent, one of your most important roles is to keep your children safe. Some of the ways you do that are by feeding them nutritious meals, staying on top of their regular check-ups and teaching them basic street smarts. Increasingly, it’s also important to teach your kids how to be cyber safe. Here are four things every parent and child should know.
Communicate and monitor
The most important step every parent should take is to have an open line of communication with their children about online safety, no matter how young or old they are.
At a fairly young age, teach them that they should never share personal information online, like their home address or school name, and to ensure that those details are never visible in the background of images that they post.
You can also set up parental controls to block inappropriate content and regularly monitor their chat threads for suspicious conversations or activity. If you set up their computer in a communal area of the home – and prohibit going online behind a closed door – it will be easier for you to monitor activity.
Teach password safety
Explain to your kids the importance of using unique, hard-to-guess passwords for every game, app or website they use that requires one. Explain that if they use the same password across multiple platforms, all of their accounts could be exposed if one is hacked.
Passwords should have at least 12 characters and a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. Another option is to use passphrases. These are at least 15 characters long and are a mix of four or more words strung together that you can remember but would be nearly impossible for someone – or an algorithm – to guess.
Use tech wisely
If you’re in charge of your children’s devices, be sure to regularly install updates and patches whenever available. You can make this chore easier by setting up automated updates. You should also turn off any application features your children don’t need – and that could expose their personal information – such as cameras, microphones and location trackers.
Show older kids how to automate their updates and turn off those potentially privacy-invading features when they’re not needed.
Find more cyber safety tips at getcybersafe.ca.
