Here's a stranger danger refresher to protect your children on the web

Amid frightening accounts of children who have been kidnapped, protective measures have become vital. Making this difficult is the internet and its chat rooms and social platforms children sneak onto.

Cyber risks are increasing with criminals commonly using social engineering and phishing tactics to steal credentials, defraud innocent victims or extort money, according to cyber security specialists Fortinet's regional director Doros Hadjizenonos.

Risks children face online include criminals and predators, cyberbullying and exposure to inappropriate content.

Identifying social engineering is increasingly difficult: cyber criminals now often use AI tools to make their phishing content, deepfake videos and photos convincing. Even cyber-savvy adults find it difficult to spot sophisticated phishing tactics and children are far more vulnerable. Here are Hadjizenonos' tips to make sure your children stay safe while surfing the web:

OPEN COMMUNICATION

Making children aware of the risks is the first step towards keeping them safer. Children need to feel comfortable asking questions and talking to parents about anything they aren’t sure about. They also need to learn by example. Parents and guardians should be good cyber security role models and explain why they don’t access certain sites or click on suspicious links.

SECURE DEVICES AND NETWORKS

You must keep the software on all devices updated and secure home networks. Ideally, everyone should use multi-factor authentication and log out of social media sites when they finish engaging on those platforms. Parents should also encourage children to use strong passwords or passphrases and not to reuse the same passwords across multiple accounts.

Our recommendation is to get them to create a throwaway account for travelling. This can be used for the specific purpose of connecting to public Wi-Fi networks without any sensitive information being involved.

BE AWARE OF WHAT YOUR CHILDREN SHARE

It is important to caution children about the risks of sharing personal information, photos, videos and other content. Cybercriminals can extort money from children who are not diligent, so children should share nothing they do not want the world to see, for example, personal information such as their address, school name or payment details for online games.

These details could be exploited by malicious actors who send fake links to their favourite games, putting their parents' financial security at risk. Children should also know about the risks of “live streaming” their lives on social media, as this can tell predators where they are or signal to criminals the family home is unoccupied.

STRANGER DANGER

Children need to be cautious of who they meet and talk to online and what information they share with these people. For example, catfishing is where predators direct message young people on social media pretending to be someone their age who would like to be friends. This is an increasingly common tactic used by predators.

PARENTAL CONTROLS

This can be a valuable tool — particularly for parents of younger children. These controls and monitoring solutions can help parents block access to offensive content and monitor who their children talk to.