Educate kids and teenagers on digital hygiene, says Kaspersky
MANILA -Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky stressed the need for teenagers and younger children, who are now often online, to learn about digital hygiene to protect themselves from cyberthreats.
In a statement on Monday, Kaspersky noted that 44 percent of the children aged 8 to 16 were always online while 73 percent of the teenagers said they could not “imagine life without a smartphone” and half of them bring their mobile devices to bed.
About 37 percent of the kids, in addition, have dealt with online dangers, including bullying and exposure to inappropriate content.
A recent study by Kaspersky showed that Filipino kids’ top applications were YouTube, TikTok, Messenger, Roblox and Facebook. They are also usually spending their time on Chrome browser, Netflix, first-person shooter game Call of Duty and mobile online battle arena game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
READ: YouTube, TikTok are leading apps for kids in PH from January to March – Kaspersky
“As one of the world’s most active digital citizens, it is no surprise that the Filipino children are enthusiastic explorers of the digital world themselves,” Sandra Lee, managing director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky, said previously.
Article continues after this advertisementHowever, Kaspersky recently warned against phishing scams disguised as popular digital games like Roblox, targeting the young gamers.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: Phishing targets kids via fake gaming sites
The cybercriminals are doing so by creating fake web pages mimicking globally recognized games, which leads children to download malicious files.
The cybersecurity firm suggested, as such, that parents be more mindful of the online habits of their children so they can protect them from the digital attacks.
Earlier this month, Kaspersky conducted a workshop on basic cyber hygiene for educators across 71 public schools in Valenzuela City in partnership with the Department of Education.
“Through the workshop, we will be helping educators learn about the basics of cyber hygiene and become familiarized with Kaspersky’s free tools and resources for teaching online safety in the classroom with the end goal of passing on that knowledge to their students so they can navigate the digital world safely and responsibly,” said Trishia Octaviano, academic affairs manager for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky.
