LONDON - Many countries around the world are preparing to celebrate International Children’s Day Wednesday June 1st. It is time of fun and play - in many regards not far from what goes on when browsing the Internet. Keeping this in mind, it is always good practice to make online safety of children a priority. To help, ESET, the leader in proactive protection against cyber-threats, has compiled seven golden rules on how to keep children safe in cyberspace.

“Many parents are rightfully concerned about their kid’s participation in social networks. There are a number of areas to be concerned with. Who are the kids talking to? Parents might worry about the friends their kids are making online and what kind of people, even their kid's own age, they are associating with. Some parents will be concerned about how much time their kids are spending online,” says Randy Abrams, Director of Technical Education at ESET.

ESET’s seven golden rules for parents and children for online security

    Updated Antivirus and Security software is a necessity. ESET Smart Security BETA 5, which is available for free download at ESET.com as part of the public testing process, packs helpful features such as Parental Control offering various filters based on the age of the user. In addition, it blocks sites that may contain potentially offensive material. Also, parents can prohibit access to up to 20 pre-defined website categories.

    Be vigilant and monitor your child’s internet connection: set a password and allow children to surf the web only during the times when you can periodically check on their online activities. Set clear rules about the use of computers.

    Instruct kids on internet privacy: they should never supply personal data and details to strangers on the web and social networks.

    Control the web camera as it can be easily misused by criminals and strangers. Turn off or unplug your webcam when you don’t use it. There is malware that can access your webcam without you knowing about it. Check that the web camera is off when it should be. Have children use camera only for approved communication: with known friends and family.

    Monitor browser history; deleted history might be a reason to sit up and have a talk.

    On Facebook, if you or your child shares the wall with “Everyone” or “Friends of friends” then you have lost control of who has access to all data. If one uses apps on Facebook, and is not careful, then one may end up sharing also all private data with the world.

    The information posted on the internet does not go away. Do not assume that when you delete a photo or even the whole social network account that you have automatically deleted all the data forever. Pictures and information might be already saved on someone else’s computer. Children and parents should think twice about which pictures and details to put on the Internet.