Online Classes Are a New Normal: How to Keep Children Safe From Cyber Risks?

Accepted or not, distance learning has become a "new normal". Just under a year ago, it would have been unthinkable to even imagine that millions of children around the world would suddenly find themselves taking online classes from home instead of physically going to school. 

This is not an easy situation, especially for children. Carefree days, the happiness of going to school and meeting friends or playing outdoors now seem like a distant dream. However, children's education cannot in any way be slowed down, their life must continue as normal as possible. Organizing online teaching was the most suitable thing that could be done in order not to interrupt the training cycle of students without exposing them to health risks. 

The other side of the coin is cyber risks: every time we are connected to the Internet we take risks and even taking part in online lessons exposes us to risks. It seems useful to us therefore to make a small overview of the solutions to the risks that our children can run during online lessons, to help us as parents to know how to make the most suitable countermeasures. 

Most of the online classes are held via third-party video conferencing platforms some of which have shown vulnerabilities and security issues in the past. Keeping these applications updated to the latest version is already a first security measure: with each update the software producers solve vulnerabilities and problems, making the platform more stable and secure. 

Apart from this:

1. Security of wi-fi networks:

first of all, it is important to check that the connection to the Internet is always made via secure wifi networks. For this reason, public wifi connections should be avoided, as they could have compromised security parameters. Using private wifi networks protected by strong passwords is certainly the preferable way to go. Find out how to make your wifi network secure.

2. Parental Control:

during the online lesson, the children may need to surf the Internet. Parental Control can be set to block access to suspicious or malicious websites and to prevent browsing of unsuitable content. These measures are easily implemented using the Total Security Parental Control feature

3. Let's get involved!

As parents we must get involved in the first person, guiding our children in becoming familiar and aware of the world of the web. Pointing out to them what good habits are to be respected, explaining what risks can be taken online are excellent ways to make them ready to react. 

4. Webcam protection:

online lessons are based on the use of webcams. The first security measure to take is to prevent any unauthorized website from using the webcam of the devices used by our children. Protegent360 Total Security has a specific webcam protection function, to protect the privacy and prevent extortion attempts: in fact, it prevents spyware and malicious from turning on the webcam and spying on users. 

5. Cybersecurity education:

devices connected to the web are now an integral part of life, since childhood. From an early age, it is important to inform kids about the risks involved online and how to stay away from them. It will be useful, slowly, to talk about viruses, malicious websites, data theft, and the consequences of all these dangers. If the teacher communicates with the students via email it is useful, for example, to explain that (and why) attachments contained in suspicious emails should never be opened. Just as it is important to reiterate that passwords must never be shared with anyone. 

None of these 5 points is enough in itself, all together and with the help of a solid antivirus, however, they are sufficient to guarantee a good level of computer security for our children.