Back to school in the COVID era. Why parents need to be vigilant in protecting their kids’ devices against phishing scams, malware, and cybercrime.
The back-to-school commercials are running on TV and radio.Teachers are finalizing their lesson plans. And kids are picking out theirclothes for school.
But while back-to-school time is always busy, there’s one step that parents often forget: teachinginternet safety to their kids.
Students face plenty of online threats during the school year,everything from cyberbullying and sexting to phishing attempts and the theft of their laptops andsmartphones.
Fortunately, you can decrease the odds that your children fallvictim to online threats this school year by watching for the most commononline dangers and taking the steps to protect your children against them.
Here’s a look at some of the most common online dangers your childmight face this school year, and the strategies you can use to keep yourchildren safe.
1. Update your security software
As always, the first step in keeping children's laptops and otherdevices safe from malware is to make sure these devices are protected by security software. This is thebest tool to prevent your children from accidentally downloading malware orspyware on their computers.
If your school district provides your children with laptops ortablets, these devices will most likely have some antivirus protection alreadyinstalled. But you should check to make sure.
Be especially vigilant, though, if your children are using theirown or your devices when completing homework assignments after school. Makesure you've installed this important software on the devices in your home.
2.Turn on automatic security updates
Cybercriminals are constantly adjusting their malware and spywareattacks. Fortunately, so are the makers of security software. That’s why it’simportant to turn on the automatic update feature on the antivirus software installed on any of the devices your children useduring the school year.
Doing this will make sure that this software is updated with thelatest protection. Updates often specifically protect devices against the mostrecently discovered viruses.
3. Turn on automatic updates for all apps and programs on your children’s devices
Hackers often directly target the apps and programs on laptops andother devices to infect these machines with viruses. To make sure they don’thit the ones installed on your children’s devices, turn on automatic updatesfor all apps and programs on their laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Children use plenty of apps and programs during the school day.These programs can be inviting targets for cybercriminals if they aren’tupdated with the latest protection against malware and viruses.
The malware they use to infect computers can allow hackers to takeover your children’s devices, spy on their online activity, and steal anyinformation contained on them. That is why it’s so important to keep those appsand programs updated and protected.
4. Educate your kids about phishing
And adults aren’t the only ones who fall for these scams—so doteens and tweens. And children are more likely to fall for phishing scams whenthey’re increasing their time online, which for many might be during the school year.
In a typical phishing scam, con artists will send an emailclaiming to be from a bank, credit card provider, or service provider such asNetflix, Amazon, or Hulu. The email, which looks legitimate, might claim that these financial institutions or banks have detected unusual activity on theaccounts of victims.
Or they might state that victims need to update their accounts toavoid having them closed. In most cases, the emails will include a link thatvictims must click.
Once victims click the links, they are taken to a website thatalso looks legitimate. This site might ask consumers to input their bankaccount information, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers. Ifvictims provide this information, the scammers behind the emails can use it toaccess their online bank accounts or credit cards.
Kids are more likely to fall for phishing scams that appear tocome from videogame providersor retailers. They might quickly provide their own or their parents’ creditcard information, for example, to what they think is a video game companythreatening to shut down their gaming accounts.
Parents should inform their children on how phishing scams work.And they should remind them to never respond to any email asking for personalor financial information. Instead, parents should instruct their children toshow any such emails to them.
5. Watch for cyberbullying
Cyberbullying, in which adults or children use the internet tothreaten others, is a real problem for school children.
Children are more at risk of cyberbullying when they are spendingmore time online, such as during the school year. It's important, then, forparents to talk with their children about online bullying, explaining to themthat hateful comments delivered online are never OK. Parents should tell theirchildren to come to them immediately if they are victimized by cyberbullying.
If you have evidence that your child has been the victim ofcyberbullying, block any messages from the bully and tell your child not tocommunicate with the aggressor. Collect evidence of the bullying by takingscreenshots of hostile messages or taunting photos. Record any harassingvideos.
And if the bully goes to the same school as your child, contactthe school or district office. If the bully is threatening to harm yourchildren, report the cyberbullying to your police department.
6.Teach your children about strong passwords
The best way for your children to keep hackers from accessingtheir accounts at gaming and social media sites? Teach them the importance of strongpasswords.
Hackers can crack simple passwords easily. Tell your children touse passwords that include a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters,symbols, and numbers. These complex passwords are far more difficult forhackers to crack.
Another option: Consider using a long passphrase that your childcan remember, but others would find difficult to guess.
Don't let your children use the same passwords at multiple sites,either. If a cybercriminal cracks their password at Instagram, they can thenaccess any other social media or gaming sites that your children protect withthe same password.
You might not think that strong passwords are as important foryour children if they don't have their own online credit card or bank accounts.But many children have their own accounts at online gaming sites. And you mighthave entered your credit card information on these sites so that your childrencan make in-game purchases.
If hackers steal your children's passwords, they can access thesesites and the credit card information stored on them.
Remember, too, that some children might actually spend more timeon their online gaming sites during the school year, when they're not asinvolved in summer traveling sports leagues or traveling on vacation with thefamily. There is more opportunity for hackers to use phishing attempts to trickthese children into surrendering their passwords.
7. Consider limiting online gaming
Many teens spend long hours playing video games each day. Thiscould interfere with their schoolwork, causing them to miss homeworkassignments and perform poorly on tests.
Apoll conducted by the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and published in early 2020found that many 13- to 18-year-olds are spending hours each day playing videogames. A total of 41 percent of parents said their teen boys play video games everyday, while 20 percent of parents said their teen girls did the same.
The poll found that 37 percent of teen boys are likely to spendthree or more hours gaming when they do play video games.
The survey found that 34 percent of parents said that gaming makesit harder for their children to complete their homework, while 31 percent saidit interferes with their teens' extracurricular activities.
Parents may consider limiting the amount of time teens spendplaying video games during the school year and take steps to encourage them toparticipate in other activities, such as spending time with friends or joiningextracurricular activities at their schools.
8. Watch for online predators
As children spend more time online, whether during the school dayor when at home working on essays, reports and other homework assignments, theyare more at risk of encountering online predators.
TheNational Center for Missing and Exploited Children said that it received 37,800reports of possible online enticement targeted at children during 2020. That'sa jump from the about 19,100 reports the center received in 2019.
Online enticement is when adults use the internet to engagechildren in sexual conversations or try to convince them to send sexuallyexplicit images of themselves. Some online predators try to befriend childrenover time with the goal of one day setting up an in-person meeting.
It’s a good idea for parents to speak with their children aboutthe dangers of online predators and about how they operate. That includesexplaining to children that some adults pretend to be children online tobefriend them.
They should also tell their children that they can only chatonline or game online with people whom they've already met in real life.Parents may want to set limits on the amount of time their children can spendonline.
9.Have a conversation about sexting
When your kids return to school, they might start texting morefrequently. This is natural: They are connecting again with friends they mightnot have seen during summer break.
Make sure, though, that your children aren’t engaging in sexting,sending sexual messages or photos to each other through text messages.
A risqué or nude photo could come back to haunt your children.Lewd photos or texts could be spread around their school to humiliate them.Others might use these photos or messages to blackmail your children.
It’s important, then, to tell your children to never sendinappropriate texts describing sex acts or containing nude or semi-nude photosto others. Explain clearly to them how doing this could result in long-lastingor severe consequences.
10. Teach your kids to neverleave their laptops and smartphones unattended
As they’re chatting withfriends or hustling to their lockers, your children might leave their laptop orsmartphone unattended. If they’re heading to the local pizza parlor afterschool with their friends, they might leave their smartphone by itself at abooth as they head to the counter to place their order.
These are all perfectopportunities for thieves to steal these devices. And once thieves get them? Ifthey can log on—and they often can figure out how to do this—they can gainaccess to your child’s emails, files, and other personal information.
Make sure to remind yourchildren to never leave their devices unattended, no matter how hectic theirschool day gets.
11. Make sure your children havelock screens on their phones
Criminals who steal yourchildren’s phones can nab plenty of information. It’s important, then, to makesure your children’s phones are protected by lock screens. These screensrequire users to enter a password, code, or pattern before they can unlock a phone and access its features.
A lock screen won’t keep everythief out of your child’s phone. But they do increase the odds that someone whonabs your child’s phone won’t be able to access the messages, photos, and filescontained on it.
12. Do your children'sschool-issued laptops use strong filtering software?
Children may be tempted to visitadult and other inappropriate websites. Make sure, then, that the laptopsissued by your school district contain filtering software that will helpprevent your children from accessing sites that contain p*rnography, racism, orviolent messages.
And if you discover that thefiltering software used by your school district is easily bypassed? Contact thedistrict’s leaders to inform them of the problem.
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