“Cybersecurity” warns against children being hunted through “social networking sites”

The Cyber ​​Security Council has warned against children sharing their personal information and geographical location online, as it may entail various cyber and security risks, such as identity theft, tracking, and others.

He warned that lurkers may target children through their public accounts on social media sites, and pointed out that public accounts on social media sites expose children to many risks, including the ease with which strangers can access their personal information, and the misuse of this information in ways such as manipulation, cyberbullying or stalking.

The Council stated that statistics show that more than 39% of parents and 33% of children in the Emirates have public accounts on social media and websites, according to a study by Kaspersky, a company specializing in cybersecurity, which exposes them without their knowledge to the risks of revealing personal details such as location, Names of schools and hobbies.

The Council explained, through its ongoing digital awareness campaign through its official account on the “X” website, that although online participation may seem simple, it opens the door to potential threats, starting from tracking and identity theft, to the security risks that you may face. In your home, calling on parents to protect their families’ privacy by following some simple steps, including stopping location sharing, restricting app permissions, and thinking twice before publishing personal details. The Council warned that excessive sharing of information on the Internet is a real danger to the privacy of individuals, as it makes their personal details such as locations, school names, and hobbies available to everyone.

He also warned that cybercriminals may exploit this information to track a person’s movement, steal his identity, and break into the house, calling for protecting oneself and families from these risks by adjusting privacy settings, restricting the validity of applications, stopping location sharing, reviewing shared content, and not waiting until you are exposed to danger. .

In a related context, the Cybersecurity Council stated that studies indicate that 32% of children in the Emirates have received messages from strangers over the Internet, and indicated that keeping account settings “public” on social networking sites may seem simple, but it may expose our children to… Personal information can be easily collected by strangers, and once it becomes public, you lose control over how it is used.

The Council stressed the importance of setting the account to a private account to protect your child’s privacy, and ensuring that sensitive details, such as their geographical location and the name of the school, are kept away from unwanted eyes.

He pointed out that risks can be reduced by protecting personal information, keeping it out of the reach of others, converting the child’s account to a private account, and being vigilant and aware of the risks that children may be exposed to through social networking sites.

He noted that “permissions” for applications allow access to features such as your child’s location, camera, or microphone.

He stressed that unnecessary permissions may expose our children to the risks of privacy violations, such as data breaches or location tracking, calling for regularly reviewing application permissions, stopping any unnecessary access, and teaching the child the importance of application privacy to maintain the safety of his or her information.

32% of children in the UAE have received messages from strangers online.

“Cybersecurity”:

. Sharing information online opens the door to potential threats from tracking and identity theft, to security risks we may face at home.