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Children spend an average of 7.5 hours online every day, making them a constant target for a wide variety of online scams and phishing attempts, announced the Media Union Foundation (Médiaunió Alapítvány).
The statement quoted Ferenc Kardos, CEO of the foundation and head of the cybersecurity education campaign “You are the key”, who said that without due attention, a wrong decision can cause huge losses even in the family’s budget.
The banking expert from CyberShield (KiberPajzs) pointed out that “children who are used to being online all the time (..) have to look for alternatives to access the internet at grandma’s, while out on the town, or even at summer camps.
This forced digital nomadic lifestyle attracts digital criminals lurking on data.”
As an example, to minimize the attack surface, the expert highlighted that for the summer holidays, parents should consider increasing their children’s mobile internet data allowance or even buying them an unlimited package so that they do not have to rely on public WiFi. This might be an extra burden on the family budget, but several times the price of a month’s mobile internet subscription can be lost if credit card details are stolen via public WiFi.
The CEO noted that a good defense against USB fraud is for parents to get a USB data blocker. “To be on the safe side, put a charged external battery (power bank) in your children’s summer survival kit so they do not have to rely on public chargers,” the foundation underlined in the statement.
In addition, the expert advises parents to talk to their children about the phones, tablets, and laptops on display in shops.
It is important to know that if they leave their account logged in, anyone can then freely harass them, insult people they know, take money, or access any data and passwords.
This could put not only themselves at risk, but also their friends and family.
Furthermore, Kardos also pointed out that there are plenty of free security tips, tutorials, and videos available online for children and teenagers. He asked parents to encourage their children to look at them and to learn about the digital environment from a security point of view.
If we consistently apply these few precautionary steps and patiently explain to children what they need to be aware of, these attacks can be successfully and effectively prevented,”
concluded the CEO.
Via MTI, Featured image via Pexels