With the rise in popularity of social media, more and more people have begun to share the details of their lives - from exercising at the gym and eating at a restaurant, to special moments. However, there are users who often post pictures of their children, sometimes even starting with ultrasound, and create separate social media accounts for them. This phenomenon of the spread of children's photos from an early age is called “Sharenting”.
While most parents are obviously acting in the best interests of their children, they tend to be the biggest violators of their privacy. Therefore, before sharing various aspects of your children's lives, it is worthwhile to think carefully about what consequences this may entail in the future. As children grow older, some of the photos on the Internet can have unexpected consequences.
While toddlers are incapable of realizing their parents' actions, they cannot control their posting, however, as they get older, parents should consult with them about what content they are using is acceptable. For example, the daughter of famous actress Gwyneth Paltrow criticized her mother for posting a photo with her. “Mom, we discussed this. You cannot publish anything without my consent, ”wrote my daughter, who was then 14 years old.
The danger of line-up
You should never forget that any data posted on the Internet remains there forever. Therefore, it is worth thinking twice before posting pictures of children on social media. However, users tend to forget about safety rules when it comes to something as trivial as a birthday photo. That is why experts analyzed how much information one such publication can contain:
photographs of the child, probably with the name in the signature;
details that might reveal a location, such as landmarks or geotagging;
faces of other people who may also be against posting their photos.
Thus, attackers can obtain a name, date of birth and address from just one photo, which can then be used for malicious purposes. When uploading photos of children to social networks, do not forget that there they can be seen and used by people with bad intentions. If your social media profile is public, literally everyone who lands on it can see the content. Therefore, it is important to sometimes audit your friend list.
How to Safely Share Photos of Children on Social Media
The best and safest advice is not to post videos and pictures of children on social media at all, but for most modern parents this is almost impossible. Therefore, experts have prepared tips to help you avoid some of the risks:
Modern smart devices: technological progress or a new threat to humanity?
Today our life is closely connected with smart devices and the Internet. We have smart doorbells for smartphones, smartwatches to track kids and fitness trackers to check physical health. Also, thanks to the rapid development of IoT technologies, household smart devices have appeared - from kettles to smart refrigerators and smart washing machines.
All this makes our life much easier, but does not always make it safer. specialists have prepared a list of smart devices that have vulnerabilities and may pose a threat to the security of your confidential data.
Popular smart devices that are vulnerable to threats.
Children's trackers and watches
The priority for most parents is to ensure the protection of their children. In an effort to follow their child's every step, some parents choose smartwatches with location-tracking capabilities and, if necessary, communicate with them.
Unfortunately, manufacturers may have some security flaws in their devices that could pose a threat to children. For example, due to insufficient protection of the manufacturer's servers, one of the smartwatch models allowed access to the location, phone number, photos and conversations of more than 5,000 children.
Smart doorbells
Today, the functionality of a smart doorbell and smart lock allows you to open the door or see who is near them without getting up from the couch using your smartphone. Most people are willing to pay for safety and convenience at any cost. However, the price does not always correspond to the quality of smart devices.
For example, researchers have found that some doorbells have unexpected functionality. One particular model uploaded snapshots every time someone moved in front of the device. This is a typical feature for such devices, but the owner was not able to access these pictures. To reduce the risks of possible espionage by cybercriminals recommends that you carefully study all smart devices before purchasing and installing them.
Cheap Smart Security Cameras
Another popular type of smart device is the security camera. People tend to install them to track activity inside and outside their homes or small businesses. Since cameras are IoT devices, they are connected to the Internet, and their security depends solely on the reliability of the connection and the protection of your data. If the cameras are hacked, cybercriminals will be able to enter the victim's home system.
Unfortunately, cheap IP cameras often have serious vulnerabilities that are often exploited by hackers. These can be not only targeted attacks by cybercriminals but also errors in the functionality of the system. An example is Xiaomi devices that accidentally distributed images from other people's houses to other camera owners.
Control centres for smart home systems
The central devices of the smart home system monitor and control all connected devices, for example, security cameras, smart doorbells, lighting systems. It is worth noting that such centres are used not only for monitoring smart home systems but also for managing environments in enterprises.
If a vulnerability is discovered, attackers can gain full access to the devices in these systems and to the confidential data they store. Recently, researchers discovered serious security vulnerabilities in three central devices that could be exploited by attackers to carry out attacks.
If you are already using or intending to purchase smart devices for convenience and ease of daily life, follow these guidelines:
Find out as much as possible about the product before buying. Check out the device you are planning to purchase, read user reviews. Also, read about the brand and model of the smart device along with a known "security vulnerability" or a similar combination of words. If there were any security issues with your device, check to see if they have been fixed.
Don't buy cheap devices from manufacturers if you can't check how they protect data and where it is uploaded. In the future, such savings on the device may result in the loss of your confidential data.
After purchasing your device, always update the firmware to the latest version. If additional updates are released, install them immediately to fix possible system flaws. Otherwise, cybercriminals can exploit vulnerabilities to access your devices and steal data.
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