From Thames Valley Police
Today marks the beginning of Cyber Resilience week. Organisations across Buckinghamshire are raising awareness of how members of the community can become resilient when surfing the net.
Each day will have a different topic of focus. Today the topic is exploitation of children and young people – ensuring the public, including young people, are staying safe online.
The internet is an amazing resource which enables children and young people to connect, communicate and be creative in a number of different ways, on a range of devices. However, the internet is always changing, and being able to keep up to date with your children’s use of technology can be a challenge.
You may sometimes feel that your child has better technical skills than you do, however children and young people still need advice and protection when it comes to managing their lives online. Issues that your child may encounter on the internet will vary depending on their age and online activities.
Follow the SMART rules below for primary aged children:
Safe: Keep your personal information safe. When chatting or posting online don’t give away things like your full name, password or home address. Remember personal information can be seen in images and videos you share too.
Meet: Do not meet up with someone you only know online, even a friend of a friend, as they are still a stranger. If someone you only know online ever asks you to meet up, for personal information or for photos/ videos of you then tell an adult straight away and report them together on www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Accepting: Think carefully before you click on or open something online (e.g. links, adverts, friend requests, photos) and do not accept something if you are unsure who the person is or what they’ve sent you.
Reliable: You cannot trust everything you see online as some things can be out of date, inaccurate or not entirely true. Always compare 3 websites, check in books and talk to someone about what you find online.
Tell: Tell a trusted adult if something or someone ever makes you feel upset, worried or confused. You could talk to a teacher, parent, carer or a helpline like Childline 0800 11 11.
Heart: Remember to always be smart with a heart by being kind and respectful to others online. Make the internet a better place by helping your friends if they are worried or upset by anything that happens online.
Top tips for secondary children:
1. Protect your online reputation: use the services provided to manage your digital footprints and ‘think before you post.’ Content posted online can last forever and could be shared publicly by anyone.
2. Know where to find help: understand how to report to service providers and use blocking and deleting tools. If something happens that upsets you online, it’s never too late to tell someone.
3. Don’t give in to pressure: if you lose your inhibitions you’ve lost control; once you’ve pressed send you can’t take it back.
4. Respect the law: use reliable services and know how to legally access the music, film and TV you want.
5. Acknowledge your sources: use trustworthy content and remember to give credit when using others’ work/ideas.
If you have concerns around a child’s welfare there are also a number of organisations that can help such as Safer Internet Centre and Childnet.
There is also advice on the Thames Valley Police website.
Don’t forget to join our online Cyber Crime forum on Thursday 8th November between 7-9pm: http://thamesvp.coverpage.coveritlive.com/
