Well begun is half done and that certainly applies to online security. So spend a few minutes today to check out these five tips so you and your child are instantly equipped to remain safe online!
- Is everything up to date?
A good place to start is to check if all the apps you and your kids use are completely up to date. Through the app stores, most apps regularly release updates. This is not only to introduce new functionalities, but also to remove any bugs and thus make the app safer to use. Ideally, your apps update automatically as soon as an update is released.
- Check your privacy settings
Great that some apps are free, but remember that when this is the case, you are the product! Think of social media where our data is sold to advertisers, so that we receive personalize advertisements. But also free games where your child is overwhelmed by in-app purchases. So, check the privacy settings and indicate what data you want this app to gather from you and whether this free app is really the best option out there. Sharing your location is useful for Google Maps and the weather app, but not necessarily for Candy Crush. And the shopping app Temu doesn’t need access to your camera through third parties (especially while the app is not running!).
- Use a strong password
Make sure you use secure passwords. So not 123456, but a passphrase that your child can remember well. Use for instance a fun sentence with lowercase letters, uppercase letters, characters and numbers. Think of something like this: Il0ve@pples!
You also see a lot of password managers nowadays like 1Password. These are a like digital safes that store all your passwords. All you have to do is remember the password of this safe.
- Discuss what your child shares
Just as you explain to your child how to close and lock the door to your house, you also want to do this for the online world. The technical part is already covered with tips 1 to 3: the door can be locked. But how your child behaves and especially what they share is very important for their own safety. So, explain that it is important that you never share personal information with strangers. No full names, date of birth, address, bank account number, nor the name of your pet. Not even with people who appear trustworthy (e.g. a person pretending to be someone from school).
- Solving together
Sometimes things go wrong. That is part of it and it is important that your child knows that they can come to you. So, do they get a message from a stranger or have they accidentally shared something they didn’t intend to? Make it clear that they never have to solve this alone! You can take action with them. From reporting a message and blocking to ask help from agencies such as Helpwanted to take action.
