Online Safety for Your Family

For many children and adolescents, the Internet is an important part of everyday life. Their education, social lives, and free time are increasingly tied to online resources such as e-mail, chat rooms and social networking Web sites. As in the real world, however, the virtual world of the Internet presents a number of risks to youthful users. For parents, many of whom may be new to computers, this raises an important question: How do I keep my children safe online?

Fortunately, there are good answers to this question. The latest McAfee® Security Suite, FREE for all Comcast High-Speed Internet subscribers, offers a wide range of tools to reduce the risks of children's online activities. Parental involvement and education, however, is still the best way to secure your child's safety online.

What you should know about online safety

The Internet offers many resources for adults and children alike. Below are the most common online resources used by children and adolescents, and the risks that these resources pose.

Chat rooms and instant messaging—Online chat rooms and instant messaging allow kids to communicate instantly with their friends or with an online community. In such situations, children's curious, trusting nature can lead to trouble. Digital predators masquerade as children in order to gather information about and meet underage victims. But kids will also pretend to be older than they are without thinking about the risks of such actions. To a child, sharing one's gender, age, and favorite hangout could seem harmless. But predators can use this information to track down the child. It is also common for kids to get into online fights called "flaming" or to become the target of online bullying, especially as they reach adolescence.
E-mail—Like chat rooms and instant messaging, kids are using e-mail more than ever and taking advantage of the instant communication and ability to send attachments such as photos and documents. While e-mail can be a very helpful communication method, it may contain a virus or inappropriate material. Even worse, a predator can easily disguise their identity by their e-mail address when sending this material. Kids should never open an e-mail from someone they do not know or give their real names/e-mail addresses to anyone other than a trusted adult.
Blogs and social networking—Kids, especially teens, often seek to explore their sense of identity and expand their peer group through blogs and social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook. While such exploration can be healthy, it also puts kids at risk of sharing too much information-like names and addresses. This information can have the immediate effect of attracting unwanted attention, but it also can affect the child well into the future.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing—File sharing invites new privacy problems. P2P programs allow users to browse and download files from the personal computer of anyone else who uses the same program. This makes it easy for hackers and cyber-criminals to spread viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware. Kids can also accidentally download misleadingly labeled materials.
Web sites—Kids of all ages enjoy searching the Web for sites about their interests. However, many child-oriented Web sites solicit information from kids in surveys and forms in exchange for prizes or get them to register online for fan clubs. All too often such sites are fronts for scams or other online threats.

What you should do to keep your family safe online

Here are the top ten ways that you can help protect your child online.

Use software safeguards and controls. Fortify your computer with strong security software and make sure to keep it up-to-date. Also, use parental controls that help you filter out inappropriate content and monitor your child's online activities. As a Comcast High-Speed Internet subscriber, you can download the FREE McAfee Security Suite and access a variety of powerful tools to further protect your children. Operating systems may have parental control features. Check your operating system guide to see how to activate parental controls.
Put your computer in a common area. Make online monitoring easier by putting your computer in a highly visible, well-trafficked area of your home.
Encourage kids to share their Internet experiences with you. Talk openly with children about the risks and benefits of the Internet.
Don't allow kids to fill out online forms or surveys. Many such sites are phishing for personal information.
Teach kids to ignore e-mails and instant messages from people they don't know. Many scams, malicious software threats, and online predators rely on the curious and trusting nature of their message's recipients. Teach children that they should never open attachments or click links in messages whose sender they do not know.
Don't allow kids to download files from users they don't know. Kids could be downloading infected files, or inappropriate and/or copyright-protected pictures, games, and music.
Don't allow kids to use unmonitored chat rooms. As with blogs and social networking sites, kids should never reveal personal information or share photos in chat rooms. Make sure they understand that online friends are still strangers.
Don't allow kids to meet people they met online. Explain that online friends may not be who they say they are.
Monitor your children's use of the Internet. Consistent parental involvement is the best way to build secure online habits in children and quickly deal with trouble, should it occur.
Monitor your child's blog and/or social networking site. Check that your child does not reveal personal information or post inappropriate material online. Many social networking sites provide tools to help protect kids from unauthorized contact. Make sure these tools are operating on your child's site.

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