Digital Security for Children
Thinkuknow produces online resources for children of different age ranges (5-7; 8-10; 11-13; 14+) as well as parents/carers. It not only offers information on keeping children safe but also links members of the public to the reporting function of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command which is part of UK's National Crime Agency.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) gives guidance about online safety aimed towards children. It indicates how to set up parental controls, offers a helpline, and provides resources for parents/carers as well as schools and teachers.
The UK Safer Internet Centre provides advice for young people as well as specific advice concerning different social media platforms. The Centre offers a hotline for reporting and removing sexual images of children and offers training for a range of different audiences.
Childnet offers resources for staying safe online, including guidance on cyberbullying, how to restrict in-app purchases, and how to set up family agreements to set clear expectations for a positive and safe internet use.
Spyware Online monitoring software such as Spyzie and FlexiSPY are frequently advertised as tracking software for parents/carers to monitor children’s online behaviour. However, these programmes have been previously misused by perpetrators. These monitoring software packages have a wide range of capabilities including setting a schedule to restrict phone usage, tracking a person using GPS or WiFi hotspots, or accessing one’s messages and browsing history
Cyber Aware is a UK-wide cross-government awareness and behaviour change campaign. It aims to drive behaviour change in individuals as well as small businesses, so that they adopt simple secure online behaviours to help protect themselves from cyber criminals and other malicious parties.
The Security Planner by Citizen Lab is an easy-to-use guide with expert-reviewed advice for staying safer online. Users answer a few simple questions to get personalised online safety recommendations. An updated version of the Security Planner in languages other than English is expected to be released soon.