‘50% of parents unaware about their children’s online activities’

A nationwide survey carried out to see parents’ awareness parents about internet security and their children’s online activities has brought out some shocking results.

More than 50% parents from the surveyed families did not have any idea about parental control applications that can be used online to prevent their children from surfing harmful or objectionable content on the internet.

Parents had no idea which sites their children accessed, whom they communicated with while being of social networking sites, what was the case while they logged on to online gaming sites where trading also takes place.

The survey was carried out by e-security firm McAfee among parents of children in the age group 6-15 years from SEC A (higher middle-class) and A-plus households in key cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana and Kochi.

The survey was done in a structured manner with face to face interviews with the respondents.

Another important revelation from the survey was that though 81% of parents have cyber security software installed in their computers and laptops, 40% of them have not been updating it, which makes the software of no use. This leads to an even more dangerous situation as children, despite having a security software in place, will fall prey to attacks by cyber criminals.

About 56% of children have never confided in their parents about suspicious circumstances encountered on the internet. The attacks could be of any kind — virus attacks, hacking attacks, spam attacks, or the worst could be that they could be victims of cyber bullying.

Dr Shefali Batra, child psychiatrist from Mindframes, said, “Cyber space is more dangerous than the real world. If a kid is bullied in school or locality he can complain about it to his parents but when the same happens to him online, he will keep quiet about it thinking it’s his fault. The child will think that it was he who got in touch with the person online now who is bullying him.”

She added “This could lead to serious problems and the child could develop withdrawal symptoms or even turn suicidal. A 16-year-old had logged on to a social networking site and posted fake details about him. Criminals started bullying him and tried to extort money from him. He lost interest in studies, stopped attending college and had turned suicidal. He did not tell his parents. They approached me.”

The survey also revealed that many children have posted fake details about them, such as their age, profile, personal details on social networking sites, which makes them more vulnerable to cyber criminals.

In order to deal with this problem McAfee has launched the Cyber Security Mum campaign in which they have roped in a Pune-based teacher, Anindita Mishra, mother of two teenaged children, as the Cyber Mum India.

Mishra said, “I have two children who regularly surf the internet. I was worried about them falling prey to any kind of attacks online so I have been taking precautions and monitoring their activities.”
She added, “Through this campaign I will be able to make parents aware about threats and dangers faced by children online.”

Cyber experts from the city think that such initiatives and internet security softwares would only help if parents personally take interest and keep a check on their children’s online activities.

Cyber expert Vijay Mukhi said, “We keep hearing about such campaigns all the time. Softwares like Net Nanny act as internet content filter that help parents in controlling a child’s computer activity.

But if children disable the software, objectionable content and unsecured sites can be readily accessible. Parents must scrutinise their children’s cyber activities and instead of giving them a computer in their room, they should keep it in the living room.”

Ninad Karte, CEO and MD, Aptech, said, “A campaign like this is a good way to spread awareness amongst children and parents. But more than that, parents’ involvement with children and a healthy level of communication is most essential.”