The Internet might be a fascinating world for kids, but most parents become really concerned about the time spent there. If you notice your kid is developing an addiction to staying up all night to be on the Internet, it could be a sign to set usage limits and time spend on the Internet. Make sure you clearly tell them about the time they can spend on their computer or laptop.

Parents should also clarify what their kids can and can’t do when they navigate online.

Staying online can be a daunting task and we cannot always predict where a discussion or comment will go or what type of people we find on social media networks.

You may check your kids’ computers, their smartphones or any other Internet-connected devices on a daily basis, but it really helps listen to them.

But how much do we actually know about our children?

In just a few words…not very much, because there will always be methods to evade our attention.

So, we strongly advise you to be patient and listen to your kids. Let them teach you about the social media platforms they use or the latest video that went viral on Youtube.

This is by far the easiest way to get information about their online habits, instead of losing time on spying their computers and trying to understand their browsing history.

So, just listen to them. Pretend that you don’t know too much about this Internet thing and let them start talking. There’s nothing more exciting for children than pretending to be teachers. Not to mention the trust they gain in themselves and finally, in you, as a parent.

Given the increasing number of devices kids use to connect on the Internet, it’s difficult for parents to supervise every time they’re online. Parental control apps can help. They are a great way to track your children online behavior and control what they are doing on their smartphones or other devices.

These software solutions act as an online guardian and help parents better monitor kids’ Internet usage, keep track of visited sites, control the Internet connection time, or block malicious websites and report any unusual online activity.

We all know that kids are naturally curious and attracted to new things, and they can easily access malicious links from untrusted websites or download video games from unknown web locations.

Thus, you need to consider installing a good antivirus solution from a reliable company that packs a real-time scanning engine, firewall and automatic update.

Here’s another Internet safety tip every parent should follow. Make sure you check if the Windows operating system used on your child device has all the latest and available security patches installed, such as browsers, plugins, desktop apps, etc. These updates include both security and feature patches and are meant to fix or improve the software you use.

Throughout our security alerts, we’ve learned that cybercriminals usually gain access to networks and systems by exploiting security flaws found in popular software tools like Adobe Flash, Java or browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

That’s why you need to verify the device your children are using and make sure all necessary security patches are installed.

If you hear your child complaining about slow-down issues, pop-ups all over the screen, new toolbars, a different default engine or random error messages, these could be warning signs of a malware infection.

An antivirus solution is no longer enough to protect you and your family against next-gen malware. To keep your kids safe on the Internet, we recommend using an anti-malware solution as an extra layer of protection to secure your digital assets.

The home Wi-Fi network is usually accessed only by members of the same house, but that doesn’t mean that malicious actors can’t get unauthorized access.

To better secure your home wireless network from prying eyes, the first thing to do is set up a strong and unique password so neighbors or other people can’t take control over your personal data.

But we have to take security seriously and do more than just adding a strong password. Online criminals might exploit your poor Wi-fi security measures and “listen” to your traffic in order to retrieve sensitive information or take advantage of your network to launch attacks such as Man-in-the-Middle attacks, network sniffing or data theft.

Your children may be safe at home, but with so many Wi-Fi public networks they connect to, how can we be sure they will remain safe?

We often go to public places and enjoy a coffee or tea, without even thinking about the online dangers or hackers that could wait for our connection to start.

Even if we can’t be anywhere, there are still a few things we can do to greatly improve their online security.

First, make sure the smartphone, laptop or tablet they use has some sort of protection, like anti-spyware or antivirus protection to keep the software protected against exploits and security breaches.

Secondly, information is the secret for your kids’ online safety, no matter where they are.

As challenging as might be for children to understand the risks of being online, cybersecurity awareness is vital these days. We should teach them to avoid talking to strangers online, how to distinguish between fake and real news, and explain about the most frequent security risks out there.

Various choices and decisions should be made to increase our family’s security strategy, but we need to establish what is it that we are afraid of. The limits we set may increase our online security strategy, but at the same time, we could risk blocking the naturaldevelopment of our children being surrounded by tech gadgets.

Children need to acknowledge that online actions lead to real-life consequences and have cyber hygiene on how to use the Internet safely.

FINAL THOUGHTS 

We need to teach children about cyber threats that put in danger their online safety. But we also need to “preach” online protection from malware threats and phishing attempts that usually target unaware or uneducated minds.