With kids at home over the summer, there will likely be an increase in screen time in many Wisconsin homes. The internet offers a world of opportunities for entertainment and communication, but there are risks too. Parents and guardians should talk with their children about how to be safe, secure, and responsible online.
Malware, email phishing scams, and unexpected in-app charges are some of the issues that kids could run into. Talk about these risks with your children and use parental monitoring features on devices and web browsers to limit problems before they arise.
Follow these tips to help your children make smart cyber choices over the summer break:
- Restrict access to age-appropriate content by using parental controls. There are specific kid-friendly search engines that limit results to sites that are suitable for children. Consider locking devices with a password so your children can’t download or buy apps without your approval.
- Be smart about smartphones. If you want your children to have a smartphone in order to stay connected over the summer, understand the capabilities of the device. Research apps and try them out yourself. Download and install software updates and set the phone to lock automatically with a password. Turn off in-app purchase capabilities.
- Talk to your kids about what they’re doing online. Which games, social networking sites, and other online activities your kids are into? Make sure you are comfortable with them.
- Teach your children what NOT to click. Clicking on links in unexpected texts or in pop-up windows could infect a device with malware and put the family at greater risk of identity theft.
- Establish rules for downloading. Teach kids to be wary of exciting offers for “free stuff” that prompt them to act immediately and provide personal information. These pitches are likely either malware transmission ploys or “phishing” traps set to steal their personal information.
- Talk to your kids about the importance of privacy. Make sure they understand not to share personally identifiable information (PII), especially on social media sites. PII can include their full name, birth date, home address, telephone number, email address, or Social Security number.
Make learning fun! The FBI has developed a free computer literacy program called “Safe Online Surfing” or “SOS” (sos.fbi.gov).
- SOS is a series of online games that teach valuable cyber lessons. Students learn how good passwords and double authentication help keep them safe. They learn about what they should do before downloading new apps, how to screen friend requests responsibly, and about privacy violations.
- Parents can use it with their children at home, and the program includes materials for grades three through eight in English and Spanish.
COPPA – online child safety (for summer)
To help protect children’s privacy, the FTC enforces the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires websites and online services to obtain consent from parents before collecting personal information from kids younger than 13.
COPPA violations include websites and apps that collect personal information from kids (including names, email addresses, and user names) without obtaining parental consent and failing to take reasonable steps to protect this information.
Examples of “real-life” situations to watch for online
Parental Advisory: Dating Apps
Parents be warned: some dating apps – like FastMeet, Meet24 and Meet4U (all made in the Ukraine) – allow adults to find and communicate with children. Concerned parents should remove these apps if they are on children’s devices. You also can set your kids’ devices so they must get parental approval before purchasing any new apps.
FastMeet, Meet24 and Meet4U let children create public dating profiles. So, adults can use these apps to connect with children. If that’s not scary enough, the apps collect users’ real-time location data. In other words, adults can search by age and location to identify children nearby.
Apple and Google Play have removed FastMeet, Meet24, and Meet4U from their stores, although it’s possible that updated versions of these apps could appear in the future. To find info on how to delete existing versions of these apps, go to Apple’s website (iPhones) or Google’s website (Android phones).
Malware from illegal video streaming apps
Smart TVs and streaming boxes/sticks let you stream video through popular apps like Hulu, Netflix, etc. There are other apps that let you watch illegal pirated content, and hackers are using those apps to spread malware.
Purveyors of pirated content are now spreading apps and add-ons that work with popular streaming devices. If you download an illegal pirate apps or add-ons, the chances are good that you’ll also download malware.
If malicious software on the pirate app gets inside your wireless network, it may try to infect other devices connected to your network. That could put at risk the computer you use for sensitive transactions like online banking or shopping. It could expose your photos and personal information.
If you want to avoid downloading malware when you stream video, don’t watch pirated content – not online and not through a video streaming device.
WhatsApp vulnerability may let hackers into your phone
WhatsApp (the popular collaboration and messaging app owned by Facebook) was recently found to have been compromised, with hackers from using software that injects a virus into the phone by making an actual phone call through WhatsApp.
There’s a lot of speculation about how the hackers were able to infiltrate a user’s phone, including the use of real software that “spies” on people for different government agencies. That software developer has firmly stated it is not responsible for this type of activity and has not authorized anyone to use its spying product outside of its government clients.
WhatsApp patch: WhatsApp has issued a patch to its 1.5 billion users and seems to have blocked any further hacking attempts. It is important that users always update their apps and software – even if other programs haven’t been attacked, updates are essential for securing any vulnerabilities.
WhatsApp logins: It is important to know which websites are connected to the apps you use. If your WhatsApp login is connected to your Facebook login, for example, both sets of credentials may be vulnerable. Users are encouraged to change their WhatsApp and Facebook passwords at this time.
