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Do you know what your Kids are doing online?

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Your child is active online. Did it ever occur to you that he or she uses a fake name so that they can’t be identified by you? Chances are, you, the parent, also uses a pseudonym. It’s very common.

12DCyberspace is full of obvious pseudonyms, but a phony name can also be a regular name that many people have. Your child will be lost in a sea of David Johnsons or Amanda Millers.

Intel Security did a study and found that 40 percent of kids use aliases or alternate accounts. Intel Security also found:

  • Many kids fessed up to cyberbullying, including making threats.
  • Far fewer parents in the survey, however, believed their kids were capable of cyberbullying.
  • Over 25 percent of the kids admitted they’d meet someone in person after first meeting them online.

Wayne State also conducted a study:

  • Over 50 percent of juvenile respondents admitted to tracking or stalking a romance partner or harassing/bullying them.

Parents really need to monitor their kids’ cyber lives. However, there are obstacles facing parents such as being intimidated by technology and feeling awkward requesting their kids’ passwords.

However, parental involvement, such as knowing the passwords, correlates to lower incidents of cyberbullying. So contrary to myth, parents are not overstepping boundaries by monitoring their kids’ online habits—within reason, of course.

But parents need to do more than just cyber-hover. Kids need to learn from the inside out how to cyber-behave in a smart, safe way. They need to learn how to think for themselves and understand how predators prey on kids. If they’re old enough to use social media, they’re old enough to be told all the dirt on what kinds of creeps are out there.

Parents must ask themselves, “Is my child’s life so empty that they can easily be lured by an online predator to meet him in a secluded place?” Or how about, “Why is my kid obsessed with adding friends? He already has over 3,000 and that’s not enough.”

Computers and social media, in and of themselves, do not turn kids wayward, into bullies or into victims. Predisposing family dynamics are already present, and they simply manifest themselves online. For example, a teenager who spends six hours a day creating fake Facebook accounts, stealing photos off of blogs, then adding these phony accounts as friends to her actual Facebook account, has pre-existing psychological issues.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Things to tell your Kids about Privacy Online

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Those were the days when all parents had to worry about was the creepy guy lurking near the playground. Now parents have to worry about creeps all over the world reaching their kids via computer. And there’s more to worry about. Here’s what to teach your kids: 2P

  • Screen names should not be revealing about location, age or even gender. Never use the full name. Choose a name that would never outright point to the user, such as “Chris J,” when everyone knows the user as Tina Jones. “Chris” can make Tina (Christina) still feel connected to the screen name. And “sweetcheeks” isn’t a good screen name for anyone, especially a kid.
  • Before posting anything, make sure the answer would be “yes” if asked if your grandmother would approve.
  • Deleting an image or comment doesn’t mean it’s removed from cyberspace. While it was up, it could have been shared and recirculated. The No. 1 rule is: Once it’s online, it’s permanently there, no matter what you do with it afterwards.
  • Don’t assume that just because the privacy settings are high, that only a very limited audience will view the posting. Somehow, some way, there’s always a way for something to “get out.” An example would be an authorized viewer sharing the image or posting.
  • Racy images and offensive posts may seem harmless now, but down the road can return to haunt the user when they apply for college, a job or are in a lawsuit.
  • Never impersonate anyone.
  • Discourage sharing personal things online; it’s better to just yak about it in person or over the phone. As for things like address and Social Security number, this information should never be given out unless for a job or school application.
  • Be polite online. “Speak” coherently, use punctuation, don’t ramble, don’t swear and don’t use all caps. Use spell check when possible.
  • Avoid sex talk online at all costs. A predator can pose as anyone and win the trust of kids.

Parents should learn about how privacy settings work so that their kids aren’t left to figure it out themselves. Otherwise, uninformed kids might just let it go and not bother. This approach will let the whole world see what they’re posting. Privacy settings for all accounts should be high, including chat and e-mail accounts.

  • Keep the lines of communication open with your kids.
  • Peruse the social networking sites your kids use to see if they’re posting anything risky or inappropriate, such as announcing vacation plans (something that burglars search for).
  • Tell your kids to report anything suspicious online, just as they’d report to you if someone was hiding in the bushes outside your house.
  • Review the friends list of your kids.
  • Install Hotspot Shield VPN. This is security software which, in addition to antivirus/phishing software and a firewall, will help prevent hacking.
  • Make the non-negotiable rule that you can check your kids’ devices at will, and that any online “friend” your child wishes to meet must meet you first.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

A Quarter of all Underage Kids Will Meet with Complete Strangers

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According to a new Intel Security study, more than 2,000 American parents and kids ages 8-16 were surveyed to unveil some interesting things.12D

  • 79% of the juvenile respondents learned online safety from their parents.
  • 35% of them said they’ve been a cyberbully.
  • 27% of them said they have met, or would meet, a person in real life who they initially met online.

Technology is often blamed for all of this. But what drives these behaviors is the same force that drives the schoolyard bully to trip the bookworm and steal his lunch, or the lonely girl to get into a stranger’s car after school: parenting!

Parents need to get more involved and bone-up on their cyber smarts! Because, according to our kids, 79% of them learn online safety from you —the parent

  • Your kids want a social media account? Great—you get to have their password in exchange. Leave no other deal on the table.
  • Did you know it’s legal for parents to use monitoring software on their kids’ devices? Monitoring isn’t a break in trust. It’s simply an exercise in smart parenting.
  • Parents think because they are on Facebook with their kids, that they are “informed” about their kids’ activities. Facebook is like going out to dinner with a tween. They tolerate it, but are embarrassed by you. And while they behave in public, they may not be so well-behaved when unsupervised.
  • Apps such as Kik, Snapchat, Instagram and many others are potential platforms where risky business can take place. And these are some of the sites parents are less familiar with. Which is why you should be there.
  • Discuss with your kids the sites you do not want them visiting —including “pro-ana” sites that give tips on how to waste down to skin and bones, and other sites that give advice on how to cheat on tests. If you’re not familiar with these sites, search for them.
  • Tell them they should never reveal their password to a friend any more than they would give that friend the key to their diary (if they had a diary, of course).
  • Reinforce with your kids that anything they post online will outlive the galaxy. Digital is forever.
  • Make sure your kids are made to feel at ease approaching you about online worries or concerns. Never make them feel they’ll be judged, criticized or blown off over any questions or comments. Don’t set yourself up to be a “Why didn’t she come to ME about this?” type of parent.
  • Cover your bases: Educate your kids about common hacking scams, install parental control software and make sure your entire family’s devices have security software installed and that it’s always updated.

Digital lives are no different than physical lives and need to be treated with the same care and concern. While parents may think they have a handle on their kids’ online lives, they probably don’t. It takes a bit of denial to function as a parent because if a parent actually thought through all the horrors a kid can get into, they’d cease to function. As a result, some parents go the complete other direction and fool themselves into thinking everything’s just peachy.

Understand this: It’s not the same today as when we were kids. We know this. But the big difference is when kids fall today, they fall harder and it’s on a national and sometimes international scale that can impact the whole family.

Robert Siciliano is an Online Safety Expert to Intel Security. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked!

Company proves why you shouldn’t post Kids’ Pics online

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What if you knew there existed a possibility that some company, without your knowledge, grabbed a photo of your child and put it on their product and then put their product online for sale?

2PKoppie Koppie sells coffee mugs with photos of kids on them—and YOUR child could be one. Though this begs the question, who on earth would want a coffee mug with a photo of a stranger’s child on it, there’s actually a market for this.

Koppie Koppie has taken photos of kids from Flickr. Koppie Koppie is actually more of a social experiment, says the duo who run the site at koppie-koppie.biz. The pair claim that the drive was to raise awareness of privacy issues, yet at the same time, insist that they haven’t done anything wrong because they haven’t violated Flickr’s rules.

The images that Koppie’s founders use come with the Creative Commons licensing rights: Commercial re-use is not restricted.

Though what Koppie Koppie has done is actually legal, it still counts as a violation of the rights of the parents of those kids.

Writers use these photos for their articles, for instance, an article about parent-child relationships, but with professional child models, the parents of the young models know this. So is taking the use of the photos up a notch (or two or three?) by putting them on mugs as a display crossing the line or is to create awareness that maybe you shouldn’t be positng pictures of your children online?

These guys found a loophole and slithered through it, since the privacy policies of social media fall short with explaining the context of how images can be shared online. But they make a good point.

Going further down the continuum, we may have a company sooner or later selling T-shirts with YOUR child’s face on them—without your knowledge.

Koppie Koppie says it will take down a mug of your child within two weeks of your complaint. But think of how many parents will never read this article and know what Koppie Koppie has been up to or anyone else for that matter.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention. Disclosures.

Promote Child Home Safety

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A recent controversial SuperBowl commercial from a major insurance company depicted a young boy who died as the result of numerous preventable household accidents such as poising and falls. The commercial got lots of traction via social media. Although it was presented tactfully, many people didn’t approve. The truth hurts and sometimes isn’t pretty. However the message was clear; so many child deaths are preventable!

1H“I’m home!” If your child is not reliable at notifying you they’ve arrived home from school, set up a real-time alert system. Home security/automation systems can assist with this.

Don’t answer the door. Your kids should be under strict orders never to answer the door no matter what. Role play this with them; pretend you’re a stranger on the outside of the door, begging to use the phone for an emergency. Instruct your child that if someone’s crying help, to NOT open the door and instead dial 9-1-1.

Smoke detectors. Have smoke alarms in the house and educate your kids about them.

Carbon monoxide detectors. Newer smoke detectors are 2-in-1 carbon and smoke detectors. CO gas is odorless and invisible. Ingestion is painless. That’s why it kills so easily.

Hide cords and wires. Not only are these a tripping hazard for adults, but toddlers just love to pull at these. Toddlers have been known to put these in their mouths and stick objects into electrical outlets. Put “baby proof” covers on outlets and bundle and/or hide the cords.

Eliminate anything that can act as a noose. It’s difficult to imagine how a toddler can end up hanging dead from a curtain cord, but it’s happened.

Buckets. Babies and toddlers love playing in small spaces like card board boxes and even buckets, but buckets can easily robs them of life under certain circumstances. Never leave a toddler unsupervised near a bucket of water (you’re bathing the dog and you leave the area to answer the phone or check your cooking food).

Toddlers have been known to topple head-first into buckets of water and drown because they couldn’t lift their heads out. Note the proportions of a toddler’s head to the rest of his body and you’ll see why this kind of fatality happens.

Baths. Never leave babies or young children unattended in bathtubs, even for “just a few seconds.”

Hide the matches. Why is it that parents can be so good at hiding the candy but not the matches? All to often we read about home fires being started because a child was “playing with matches.” Disclosure: I lit an entire couch on fire in my house as a kid while playing with matches. My mother will vouch. Sorry mom!

Hide the guns. Keep your guns available to you for protection but impossible for your kids to get to. There are numerous gun safes and lock that should be deployed.

Poison control. Our first child was allowed to go into the bottom kitchen cabinets and pull out everything she wanted to and scatter it all over the floor. Once. Made for a fun video. Of course the cabinet containing the cleaning supplies was off limits. The second child didn’t have this option due to all the cabinet locks. Don’t forget the bathroom and linen closets and even the garage.

Home security. The smartest child in the world can still be victimized by a thug who broke through a window. Windows should have shatter-proof film. Your child should learn how to activate the house alarm so that it will go off if someone tries to break in. You can be connected to all this with smartphone applications.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Spy on your Kids yes or no

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It’s one thing to bust into your kid’s diary and read it, but if your kids want the privilege of engaging in the cyber world, they need to understand that parents are justified in “spying” on them. Or are they? Depends on whom you ask and how far they go at “spying” on their kids.

2WFrankly It’s not spying at all and both kids and parents should get over it. It’s called parenting. My kids are still young, but as they get older there will be hardly a thing they do online that I won’t be aware of. The internet isn’t a right, it’s a privilege to someone under age. No 13 or even 17 year old of mine will be on it without being supervised. Same goes for passwords. I’ll have access to all of them. This may be far-reaching to some, akin to the ancient form of spying: listening in on the extension phone to a phone conversation between your kid and his buddy. But really, it’s simply being a parent.

Spying can also be a life saver. Kids are being bullied today like never before. And as a result, they are hurting themselves. And then there are all the illegal things they may be doing. These same acts can get them killed. In this case, knowledge is definitely power to keep your kids safe.

Parent believe and they are right that spying is “an invasion of privacy and a violation of trust.” If you get caught, your relationship could be sabotaged, this is true. So spy openly and honestly. Tell them. Show them. Remind them. If kids know you are watching, they are often less likely to do things they aren’t supposed to.

The element of surprise, however, may be a factor. It makes a world of a difference if, from an early age, the parent establishes with their children that there will be “spying,” vs. never discussing this concept with the kids, and then one day you get busted.

Don’t use the word “spy,” either. Instead say “monitor” and let your kids know

How do you balance protecting your kids and maintaining trust? Team up with your kids. Make family agreements and contracts that show transparency. This will go far is keeping a close eye on their safety and security.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing  identity theft prevention.

How to keep your Kids safe Online

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Every parent should know all the ways they can keep their kids safe in the online world. In McAfee’s 2013 study, Digital Deception: Exploring the Online Disconnect between Parents and Kids it was found that:7W

  • 86% of kids think social sites are safe and post personal information such as their email addresses (50%) and phone numbers (32%)
  • 48% have looked at content their parents would disapprove of
  • 29% of teens access pirated illegal digital media
  • 12% of teens met a stranger online and then in the physical world
  • 54% of kids say their parents aren’t involved in their digital lives at all
  • 42% say their parents simply don’t care what they are doing online
  • 17% of parents believe the online world is as dangerous as the offline world
  • 74% of parents have thrown in the towel and are exhausted with their kids digital lives.

That last stat isn’t just scary, it’s sad. Because protecting your kids online isn’t an option, it’s a requirement. This isn’t a technology issue, it’s a parenting issue. And parent who say “I give up” are giving up on protecting their children from harm.

Here’s a basic road map of what to be aware of:

Dirty sites. This just doesn’t mean a porn site that a teen decides to check out after accidentally stumbling upon it. There are sites that promote weapons, drugs, school cheating, even how to starve down to dangerously low body weight.

Harmful contacts. Your child can be in contact with anybody in the world, without you even knowing it, and this contact may be a pedophile building up trust in your child—a trust that leads to an in-person meeting.

Information overload. Do your kids know what and what not to blab about in the cyber world? Going away on vacation soon? The whole world may find out (and the whole world includes burglars) after your chatty kid tells all on Facebook.

Sitting sickness. Sitting at the computer for hours on end not only can interfere with sleep and disrupt alertness the following school day, but excessive sitting can result in weight gain and bad posture, plus proneness to snacking on junk food.

Online bullying. Yes, words (even typed) really CAN hit harder than a fist. Cyberbullying leaves marks that are just as invasive as a swollen black eye.

Pirated content. If your kid has no money, but tons of digital files like movies and music, he may be a pirate. Law suits are being filed against parents who don’t take control of their kids online activities.

Hacking. Today kids are either hacking other or being hacked themselves. Knowing what your kids are doing and how to protect your devices is essential.

What can parents do?

Treat your kids as you’d want them to be treated. This includes online. Lay down specific rules regarding computer use and where they can visit online. Instruct your kids to promptly report any threatening or insulting online behavior.

Consider installing parental control software. A parental control program in its fundamental form will allow a parent to decide which category of sites are off-limits and how much time a child can spend online. The software is designed to prevent the child from disabling it. McAfee Family Protection allows parents access from any PC.

Parental controls also come in hardware form, but can’t provide more sophisticated control. Parental control apps exist for mobiles, yielding stronger control than software that’s filtered at the router level. Apps are available for Android, iOS or both.

What’s illegal for your boss at work to do to you is perfectly legal for you to do to your kids: use spyware to track their keystrokes, take screenshots, snag passwords, etc. Spector Pro and PC Pandora are examples. However, for most kids, this level of control isn’t necessary. But they’re invaluable if a troubled child may be interacting with a pedophile, or if your very curious child is just plain rebellious.

Install security software. It’s not enough to have antivirus, antispyware, antiphising and a firewall. You must also protect all wireless communications with Hotspot Shield VPN which locks down their devices Wifi preventing hacks.

Know who they are communicating with. At any given point and time it should be required that parent can check devices and openly discuss any conversations being had. If the parent can’t meet the person or the persons parents, then the child shouldn’t be talk talking to them.

Require device and account passwords. No matter where they go online or whatever devices they own, the parent should have full access at all times.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

Find Missing Kids with SafetyLink

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Find your lost car keys, smartphone and abducted child. Yes, you read that correctly: There’s now a device that can locate your missing child (or wandering elderly grandmother). And the device that can do this is TINY.

SLImagine a device that can be used as a keychain and not only locate missing people, but your dog that’s run off. Sanjay Chadha did, and the result is SafetyLink, which uses wireless technology combined with smartphones and cloud sourcing to provide community protection.

Chadha is the co-founder and CEO of Safety Labs Inc., the developer of SafetyLink. Chadha came up with the idea as a result of the much publicized gang rape that had occurred in New Delhi. So disturbed by this crime, he awakened one morning at 4 a.m. and knew it was time to develop a mobile-based solution that could save people in danger.

Enter SafetyLink

The main targets of SafetyLink are children, women and senior citizens. Should a child become lost or abducted, for example, or a hiker take a serious fall, they simply press and hold the coin-sized button of the device. This will send an SOS.

The SOS will then be distributed by a cloud server, alerting individuals who are in the user’s network—who have proximity to the user. Emergency services (e.g., 9-1-1) will also be notified.

And guess what: SafetyLink has key features that prevent prank calls. The device includes GPS technology to locate the user (imagine a child in the car of an abductor, pressing the button—which can be worn as a pendant—the predator would never suspect a thing!

The SOS will make its way to the dashboard of a police cruiser in the vicinity. The police will be on the predator’s tail in no time.

SafetyLink can be used by “anybody and everybody,” says Chadha. It easily clips to a child’s jacket or backpack, Grandma’s fanny pack or your dog’s collar. It needs charging only once a year, due to Blue Tooth technology. And remember, it can also locate missing car keys and phones.

How does Safetylink alert?

A parent, for instance, determines the travel range of their child and sets this up via an online application. If the child wanders out of (or is taken out of) this travel range, the parent’s smartphone will beep.

The parent then registers the child’s SafetyLink with the cloud server: The police and community will be alerted to search for the missing person. Think of this as a wireless leash. It can be switched on and off; the travel range can be adjusted; and people can always be added to the network.

This new product sure sounds like a winner. However, its success depends on community participation. People are encouraged to download the free application. The device costs only $35.

Thus far, 220 have been pre-ordered from the U.S., Canada, Europe, India and Brazil.

Where can pre-orders be made?

Safetylink.org. The product will be officially on the market May 2014.

Keeping Kids Safe Online

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It is no surprise that cybercriminals are taking advantage of the Internet and the people who use it. The Internet is like a bad neighborhood with bad guys around every corner. Any parent with an ounce of sensibility should recognize that when your child is on the wild wild web, they are at the same risk as they would be walking through the red light district in any big city.

I’m not saying this because I want to instill fear and panic, I’m bringing this up because sex offenders, pedophiles, criminal hackers and identity thieves treat the online world as if it was the physical world and use the anonymity of the web and the easiness of approach to seduce your children into doing things they wouldn’t normally do.

The Secret Online Lives of Teens, a survey conducted by McAfee, reveals that tweens and teens are relatively clueless about online privacy. The study sheds light on this generation’s tendency to use the Internet in ways that translate to danger in the real world.

There always has, is, and will be a predatory element out there. Generally, most people don’t want to think about that or even admit that it’s true. Instead of acknowledging the risks, most people completely discount this reality, telling themselves, “It can’t happen to me or my kids.”

The good news is you can do something about it. As soon as a family member becomes active online, it’s time to educate them—no matter what age they are—about cyber safety.

  • Set up the computer in a high-traffic family area and limit the number of hours your children spend on it.
  • Be sure you have computer security software with parental controls.
  • Decide exactly what is okay and what is not okay with regard to the kinds of web sites that are appropriate to visit
  • Use only appropriate monitored chat rooms
  • Never log in with user names that reveal true identity or that are provocative
  • Never reveal your passwords
  • Never reveal phone numbers or addresses
  • Never post information that reveals your identity
  • Never post inappropriate photos or ones that may reveal your identity (for example: city or school names on shirts)
  • Never share any information with strangers met online
  • Never meet face-to-face with strangers met online
  • Never open attachments from strangers

Once you have established the rules, make a poster listing them, and put it next to the computer.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to ADT Home Security Source discussing Home Security and Identity Theft on TBS Movie and a Makeover. Disclosures.