Tag Archives: security
Help Kids Keep Their Online Information Private and Advertisers at Bay
Posted on 27. Jan, 2013 by lynette.
Kids spend a lot of time online, and the information they post – and even the information they don’t post such as where they click, what they like, what they’re searching for – is valuable data to organizations who want to sell them something.
Whether they know it or not, in a single day, kids who use social networks and mobile devices are sharing lots of data that can be used to create and deliver very targeted advertising to them. Here’s a look at part of a teen’s day, the digital trail they’re leaving, and what you can do to help kids protect their privacy.
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Can You Trust That Link?
Posted on 21. Sep, 2012 by lynette.
In an age when everyone can author or share information to a mass audience almost instantly, it is more critical than ever to develop and sharpen our ability to discern the credible from the implausible things we see online.
There are many purveyors of false or biased information on the Internet – a company seductively advertising the effectiveness of its weight loss product, a politically-motivated organization hoping to persuade you to vote for their cause, a hacker attempting to fool you into clicking on something that infects your computer with malicious software.
Thankfully, among the mounds of information we find online, there is also the credible and the safe. It’s a good habit to have and teach others how to figure out which is which. I believe the skill to do this is made up of 2 basic things: information literacy and information security.
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How to Teach Kids to Steer Clear of Cybercrime
Posted on 27. Apr, 2012 by lynette.
Hackers. Spammers. Identity Thieves. These are not words that elicit the level of concern and emotion that bullying, sexting, or online predators do when kids are involved. But your kids (and you) are more likely to encounter the work of cybercriminals than possibly any of the other risks we talk about in the world of online safety.
While kids are not necessarily the target of such crimes, cybercriminals set up their elaborate traps where many people are, to increase the likelihood of succeeding in their deception. Social networks, mobile app stores, popular websites, gaming downloads, and even texts – the places where young people spend most of their time online – are not entirely cybercrime-free.
The goal of cybercriminals can be anything from getting you to download software that spies on what you’re doing, steals your personal information, or takes over your system along with thousands of others to deliver spam or take down a website on their behalf.
There are many more methods, too many to enumerate. But here are just a few of the ways that kids could fall for the tricks of cybercriminals and what you can teach them.
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Online Community Promoting Child Pornography Taken Down
Posted on 03. Aug, 2011 by lynette.
Today, was a sad day as one of the darkest and most malicious uses of the Internet was uncovered.
In the U.S., 72 people were charged and 52 arrested in the U.S. and abroad, for participating in the online distribution of images depicting the sexual exploitation of children, including infants. When you read about the horrific acts committed against these children, it is very difficult to get through the details. But beyond the child safety issues, this case brings up a number of other things relevant to current debates around online privacy, anonymity, and censorship.