Family Safety Week (April 23-27) is just around the corner. The date is always a timely moment to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. Take a look at some topics below to inspire you this week – and, why not, always – and help keeping you and your family safe online.
Parental controls
If you wish to prevent your young kids from venturing onto inappropriate sites, remember to set parental controls. As well as engaging with your children to educate and guide them through a safe digital life – and so that you fully understand the latest developments – it makes good sense to take advantage of the filters and controls, which you can use to reduce the chance that they will come across inappropriate or offensive content. Yet, they are not an online “babysitter”. You still need to know what your child is doing online.
Learn to teach
There is no other way to be clever. You gotta learn first in order to be able to educate. Some of the issues vulnerable children can encounter online include cyberbullying, pornography, as well as privacy and identity theft. Learn. Be close.
Strong passwords
Encourage all of the family to create strong, memorable passwords online to help keep invaluable data safe from hackers.
Having a strong, separate password for your email means that if cyber criminals steal the password for one of your less important accounts, they can’t use it to access your email account.
Two-factor authentication provides an extra layer of security, as it means your account can only be accessed on a device that you have already registered. When you first log in with a new device you are asked to complete a second step after entering your password, such as providing your fingerprint or entering a unique code, which has been sent to your phone.
Online interactive games
Social networks and online interactive games are here to stay. Therefore, it’s more important than ever to have a basic level of knowledge on how these sites work and how to set privacy settings if required. Be very close to your kids before someone else does.
Nearly everyone has first-hand experience with it, seeing a friend or relative’s account suddenly posting inappropriate links or worse. Scammers target Facebook and other social networking sites to harvest information about you and your connections. Fortunately, Facebook privacy settings can be implemented to protect yourself against online identity theft.
In addition to all that, ZoneAlarm Extreme Security is a must-have to protect your family during Family Safety Week and throughout the whole year. It is the best solution to filter out inappropriate web content, limits time spent online, and analyzes usage statistics about various online applications.
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Don’t forget to protect your family’s mobile life, too! ZoneAlarm Mobile Security offers you and your family a unique multi-layered protection to your smartphones and tablets. Shop, bank, and enjoy your favorite social media while ensuring their credentials are not compromised. Also, you won’t need to worry when your loved ones try to connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots, we’ll rank them for their safety.
Cyber Aware, the U.K. cross-government awareness and behavior change campaign, was an important source for this article.
