A place to talk about information security, Internet safety and, of course... coffee! Thoughtful, sometimes controversial, but not following the crowd unless I'm in line at the coffee shop.
It's US Cyber Security Month and the key themes I've been discussing here for years are very bit as relevant today. In honor of Cyber Security Month I'm re-running a post from 2016. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Happy Cyber Security Month!
I've written about Internet safety for families, kids, teens and I've even spoken on safety for pre-schoolers. But it's important to think about online safety for parents as well.
That's true both for parents of young children was well seniors with grown children. The safety challenges for seniors are similar but there are some differences. They may not be as familiar with technology and, according to the FBI:
they are often financially secure and/or have good credit
they may be more trusting and they don't think they'd be a target
What got me thinking about this topic was a great article entitled "10 Ways to Help Our Parents With Online Security". The article touches on a number of themes we've discussed in the past. I'll list the 10 items with links back to some past editions of this blog - typically they:
According to Cyberbullying Research Center, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is a large-scale data collection effort led by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This study has been going on since 1973. In 1989 they added supplemental questions focused on school-related incidents, and stepped this up to a more in-depth biennial survey in 2005.
Cyberbullying is still a major issue. It's been over 4 years since I've written on thissubject. While there is perhaps more visibility, the basic problems haven't changed.
Based on the above benchmark, at first glance, bullying appears to be trending down over the past decade.
While there have been some high-profile cases over the years, this is a real, current and ongoing issue.
I've written about Internet safety for families, kids, teens and I've even spoken on safety for pre-schoolers. But it's important to think about online safety for parents as well.
That's true both for parents of young children was well seniors with grown children. The safety challenges for seniors are similar but there are some differences. They may not be as familiar with technology and, according to the FBI:
they are often financially secure and/or have good credit
they may be more trusting and they don't think they'd be a target
What got me thinking about this topic was a great article entitled "10 Ways to Help Our Parents With Online Security". The article touches on a number of themes we've discussed in the past. I'll list the 10 items with links back to some past editions of this blog - typically they:
We continue our celebration of US Cyber Security Awareness month! This partnership between Homeland Security, NCSA (National Cyber Security Alliance) and the MS-ISAC (Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center) is an opportunity to recognize the importance of information security. It started in 2003 as a way to build awareness for online security and privacy and to encourage individuals, business and government.
This is another of my weekly posts connected with the weekly themes put together by DHS. This week the theme is Your Evolving Digital Life.
You practically need to be online to survive and thrive in today's world. Whether we're talking about digital natives or newbies, we all need to handle some aspects of our lives online. And all ages are involved! Senior Citizens are the fastestgrowing online demographic group. Not to be outdone, over 33% of babies born in the US already have some kind of online presence! And people aren't the only online residents... our refrigerators, cars, scales, lightbulbs, powergrids and medical devices have joined us.
As seems to often be the case in the fall, I'm doing a number of Internet Safety talks lately. Maybe it's the tie-in with October US Cybersecurity month, and I did somepostscelebratingthat. Maybe it's that fall makes us think about back to school (though maybe safety should be a "hotter" topic in the summer when kids have more free time!).
I've been presenting to groups about Internet Safety and related topics for over 12 years. I've got a few events coming up at work, so I'm updating my material. I've got a number of talks on these "consumer" issues. You can see my slides on my slideshare page. I regularly update my material. But what's really amazing to me is that the core, key messages have substantially remained the same.
For example, I recently did a presentation and blog post on bullying. The biggest change in online bullying in the past few years has been the news media attention. But what happens, how it happens and options for victims, unfortunately, hasn't changed much.
As I talk with people about these issues, and research and update my presentation material, I think there are 3 main areas in which things have substantially changed.
The rise and expansion of social media. In the early 2000's, we were talking about things like email, Chat like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and web surfing. Xanga.com was around, but MySpace and Facebook weren't even invented until around 2003! And, needless to say, there's been an explosion of social media sites with the latest trends favoring pictures and video. While kids had the ability to share too much information since the beginning, social media sites really drove the norms.
Technology. In particular... mobile technology. I used to recommend that families keep their computer (singular) in a common place like the family room or kitchen so kids' use could be seen. While that is still good advice, most families have more than one computer. And most teens, and many younger kids, carry a powerful computer with them wherever they go... their smartphone. While we still have options available for monitoring, and good communication is key, portable devices are really a game-changer.
Kids get it. During my Internet Safety talks of the mid-2000's, we used to play a little game. It was a live demo in which I would bring up a social media site, typically MySpace. The game was to see how few clicks it would take us to get to some inappropriate content (like kids/teens sharing too much personal information or posting pictures parents would wish they didn't). When I first started doing this demo it would only take a few clicks. Then, by around 2008, it took more. Then I would just save a few URLs of TMI pages. Then I gave up the game altogether! It's not that we can't still find inappropriate content, or examples of kids sharing far more than parents might want. But kids are doing a much better job of protecting their information online. Of course, kids, teens and young adults - actually digital natives in general - do have different ideas, definition and expectations of privacy compared to their parents!
One final thought... another thing that has changed is that the oldest digital natives - people who do not know of a time without pervasive digital media and technology - are now having their own kids and showing up at Internet Safety talks! But some things don't change and their kids still know more about technology!
What surprises you about changes in our online world over the past decade? What do you think has changed, or has not changed?
As can happen in a month whose name contains an "a", "e" or "u" :-), Facebook has once again made
changes to its privacy policy and practices. And, as always we all have two choices: accept the changes (and adjust our settings and practices appropriately), or; leave Facebook.
Of course most people won't leave Facebook, and if anything they will add more users than those that leave.
As I look through the changes (see Facebook's notice here with links to the details), I think there are three things to know...
This past weekend I had the opportunity to do something fun and different!
I've been lecturing on Internet Safety and Awareness to all kinds of groups for about 15 years. I've met with parents and professionals at conferences, businesses, churches, school district parent fairs and have even provided training to law enforcement personnel. I enjoy doing this and always learn something new.
After presenting at a school district parent fair last fall, I was invited to present at a local Young Children and Technology conference, specifically covering technology for the preschool and younger set! Since most of my material is targeted for parents of preteens, teens and older, I knew I had some work to do!
As I dove into the research, I found that there are similar categories of issues, but clearly preschoolers and toddlers use technology different than teens.
That's true both for parents of young children was well seniors with grown children. The safety challenges for seniors are similar but there are some differences. They may not be as familiar with technology and, according to the FBI:
