By: Dale Roberts, Principal at Centarus 

The internet is full of opportunities for people to learn, have fun, and interact with others. Unfortunately, the internet also brings with it new risks, and these risks particularly endanger teenagers. The resources needed for parents and their teenagers to use the Internet safely are provided in the advice that follows. 

Start with the Hardware 

One of your teen’s most vulnerable online activities should be where your child internet protection strategy should begin because it is right in front of you. Nevertheless, if your kid has their own laptop (or frequently borrows yours), it might get them into a lot of trouble. A laptop that may provide unrestricted access to email accounts, personal information, and even crucial passwords and credit card data might disappear in an instant if left unattended in a public setting. Thus, start with safeguarding your teen’s laptop if you want to improve their cybersecurity. 

Malware, Viruses, and Spyware 

The next most important step is make your teenagers aware of what kinds of cyber attacks they could be targeted by. Here are some of the most common attacks: 

Malware 

All malicious software is collectively referred to as malware. 

Virus 

The virus is a sort of malware that can infiltrate a computer’s operating system covertly and control it to take activities that harm the system or impair its functioning. 

Trojan Horse 

Trojan horses are ostensibly innocent programmes or tools that hackers use to infiltrate your operating system with malware. 

Spyware 

Spyware is harmful software that enables a third party to access your computer’s data without your knowledge. 

Social Media: Online & In Public 

Malware and scams aren’t the only internet hazards, as horrible as they are. Teenagers can now live a significantly larger portion of their life online because to social media. Yet while social media enables kids to stay in touch with friends and family even when they are separated by great distances, many of life’s risks have also followed them online. 

Protect Your Mobile Hardware 

When using mobile phones, tablets, and other devices that could store sensitive data of a similar nature or that could be used to access personal information online, many of the same security precautions you take with your laptops should also be taken. Urge your adolescent to secure all of their devices with passwords and turn on the device location feature. 

ID Theft 

So why is it so dangerous for a teen to disclose their location? There is a clear risk involved with disclosing passwords for online merchant accounts or credit card details. But why would an image that shows someone’s address or an address cause issues? 

Sadly, teenagers are just as prone to identity theft as adults are, and the repercussions for teenagers of someone using their information to apply for a credit card or access other financial resources can be just as serious, if not worse, than the repercussions for an adult. Teenagers don’t typically have a credit history, so having an identity thief damage their credit rating might make it difficult from the beginning to get a good credit history. 

Scams and Online Shopping 

But, online con artists use various methods in addition to identity theft. Internet buying has risks of its own. In the infamous example previously mentioned, a young woman believed she was purchasing an expensive prom dress at a great price only to find out that the dress she received in the mail had nothing in common with the online image. It was of low quality, ill-fitting design, and was not returnable. 

How can Centarus help with Keeping your Teens Safe on the Internet 

Centarus can assist in helping you protect your teens on the internet by first securing all of their devices with the antivirus and firewall services we offer. Our firewall services can also give you the chance to block your teens from viewing any online content that you may not want them seeing. If you need any help or any of these services please get in contact with us here at Centarus today. 

Special thank you to Centarus for writing this blog as a follow up to CORA’s Teens & Tech-Enabled Abuse campaign! Want to learn more about this topic? Check out Cyber Abuse & Teens.