Children going online may be inadvertently opening up their family PCs to cyber threats in Singapore, despite the general awareness of security and privacy in the well-connected country, according to a survey released today.
As many as 30 per cent of parents here have had their online security compromised due to their kids’ actions, it found.
These could be down to them downloading a virus on a family PC, sharing a password with someone who misused it or responding to an e-mail scam, for example.
The findings from Symantec were gleaned from online surveys it conducted late last year. The security firm had surveyed 1,000 adults in Singapore, as part of a study of 17 markets in Asia-Pacific.
While parents here were generally worried about how their young ones used online devices, they could do more to prevent their kids from being exposed to undesirable online activities, such as online bullying.
Although 68 per cent of parents do something to protect their children, the remaining 32 per cent don’t have any precautions, according to Symantec.
Many parents would, for example, require their kids to use a PC in a common area or under supervision. They also limit what they post about their children on social media networks. However, more can be done, the security firm suggests.
It advises parents to discuss acceptable online behaviour with their children and educate them on the dangers online, such as cyber bullying.
Also, they could check that their children are not sharing information such as passwords with strangers, and set parental filters to keep out content that is not appropriate for children.
