Children pose online security risk for parents

Friday, February 12, 2016 - 10:00 by Simon Crisp

A new report from Norton has found that many people in the UK have had their online security compromised as a result of their children’s use of the internet.

36 per cent of respondents to the survey said that they had suffered some form of breach as a result of a child’s actions, whether as a result of youngsters accidentally downloading malware or getting duped by phishing scams.

Many families share a communal computer to which all members have access, but it looks like parents need to do more in order to ensure that children are taught about the responsible and secure ways that the internet can be used.

89 per cent of people said that they are concerned about the online safety of their children, with almost half stating that their biggest fear is that kids will end up giving personal information away to strangers.

Of course, it is not just personal information relating to the children themselves which is at risk, but also data relating to their parents which could be compromised. And when it comes to carrying out safe shopping online, many people leave their accounts logged in and easily accessible to youngsters with a little tech savvy.

Report spokesperson, Nick Shaw, said that for many families, the weak link in internet security will be the youngest members of the household. And while having access to online tools is important for the education and development of youngsters, parents are being urged to engage with them and ensure they set some ground rules on the safest ways to use them.

This includes teaching children to create strong passwords for the services they use, so that when they too are old enough to carry out safe shopping online, their information will be well protected.