Win with Kaspersky Lab on Safer Internet Day

Today is Safer Internet Day and, as Bud gets older and shows more and more interest in using our various devices, keeping him safe online is something I've really started to think about.

Kaspersky Lab have carried out a study recently and the results are surprising:

• 27% of parents believe their children have been exposed to some kind of online risk (by accessing inappropriate content or experiencing cyber bullying) in the last year
• 22% of those parents admit to taking no action to govern their child's internet usage, on any device.

David Emm, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab says 

'Regardless of how their children are accessing the internet, parents must remain vigilant, supervise their internet use and consider parental control technologies. However, as a parent myself, I find these statistics particularly worrying when you consider the increasing number of children using connected smartphones today. After all, when children use mobile devices to access the web, they are using the same internet, with the same risks – yet parents are often not as aware of the dangers.

There is a common misconception that smartphones and tablets don’t need the same level of protection as a PC, but with such a high percentage of parents not having a clear view of their children’s online activity, this way of thinking needs to change. The internet is an incredible resource, both for social use and in an educational capacity. But in the same way as we would teach our children to cross the road safely, we must teach them to be aware of, and respect, the dangers of the internet. Just because a threat is out of sight, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep it front of mind.'

To help parents and their children to stay safe online David Emm has come up with the following tips:

• Smartphones feature parental control, if you aren't sure where to find them then ask them to be demonstrated when you purchase the handset. Companies have a duty to ensure parents are aware of these and asking will create demand for the service.
• Ensure that in-app purchasing is protected so your child can't rack up a huge bill with expensive add-ons
• Install security software to ensure inappropriate content is filtered out
• Ensure your children can ask about anything they see or experience online which doesn't feel right to them, if they know they can talk about it without being told off they won't be afraid to share their concerns with you
• Cyber bullying is even more of an issue with smartphones as children tend to have them with them all day long and use them away from parental supervision more. Encourage your children to talk to you if they are feeling threatened, certain apps and websites can be blocked to protect them further.
• Look for sites that help you to use the internet safely - http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ - is a good example. By reading together you might be able to pre-empt issues before they become a real problem.

I definitely think I have a lot to think about before Bud and LM start to use their own devices, they are still at the age where all internet access is supervised but, like anything else, I want to teach my children to use the internet safely.

I've teamed up with Kaspersky Lab to offer one of my readers the opportunity to win a copy of their multi-device version of Kaspersky Internet Security which allows you to protect all of your family's devices - be they PCs, Macs, Tablets or Smartphones - on one single license.

To enter simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below. The blog post comment is compulsory and will unlock a variety of optional, additional entries. Please read the terms and conditions.

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