12 Cyber Security Tips for Students at Home & in School

Posted on: Aug 2, 2022 | 3 mins | Written by: HDFC ERGO Team

12 Cyber Security Tips for Students at Home & in School

Today's kids are always online on their smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and computers. They face numerous dangers because they are among the most frequent internetusers. Child cyber security concerns are a rising issue. Knowing what dangers your childfaces online will help you respond to them appropriately if they spend a lot of time browsing the internet.

There are several risks on the internet that put children's onlinestability and safety in jeopardy. Children are exposed to a variety of online hazards totheir cyber security. Malware, phishers, pornographic websites, data theft or hackingattempts, identity theft or hacking attempts, fraudulent schemes, and scams are a fewexamples of these. You can do the most crucial thing to protect your child by opting cyber insurance.

What are the Types of Threats?

The first thing that students should realize about cyber security is the reality of thethreat. Cybercriminals exist that wish to steal from everyone, including children. Thefollowing three categories are generally crucial for maintaining online safety:

1. Identity threats:

It might be challenging for you and your children to protect yourpersonal information if they post personal information online.

2. Information threats:

Cybercriminals are experts at stealing sensitive information,such as account passwords, using a number of methods.

3. Financial threats:

There are several methods by that cybercriminals might rob your money. Students are vulnerable as their understanding of money matters might not be strong, and they could easily fall prey to such crimes.

Top 4 Types of Cyber Crimes:

Students should be well informed about these online cyber threats, which they can also becomea victim of one day:

1. Phishing:

Online threats, swindles, and trickery based on current events arerather widespread. Like adults, youngsters will also be exposed to them throughphishing scams. Users are tricked into providing personal information byphishers. If they don't verify their identities, they can be threatened with havingtheir accounts deleted or urged to log into an account in order to receive quickcash.

Children's favourite trustworthy, well-known brands are frequently used byscammers. Kids should consider if the questions posed make sensefrom their preferred social networking site or online game retailer.

2. Social engineering:

Your children could share photos of their pals, pets, or recentactivities. But do they divulge too much information? Based on what yourchildren have shared online, cybercriminals can use that information to create ascam that sounds amazing, urgent, or highly personalized (e.g., "click here to seethe pictures of my new puppy," "you've won a gift card to your favourite store, click here," or "see what you missed by opening this link"). Kids need to learn how to recognize con artists who prey on their emotions since social engineering is allabout emotions.

3. Malware:

When a user clicks on a bad link or attachment, harmful software, suchas viruses, worms, and spyware, installs itself on the computer. Malware is when aperson contracts a virus that may be used to track them down and steal theirinformation.

The employment of computer malware, which may transform agadget into spyware that records everything the kid does on their devices or in their home network, is an additional sort of child monitoring.

This puts your youngster at risk of sexual exploitation or, worse still, identity theft. The finalcybersecurity risk for kids is when they get internet links to phoney websites that can take their information without them realizing it.

4. Cyber Bullying:

Cyberbullying is a major issue around the globe today due to thegrowth of social media. Children are the most susceptible users online, makingthem the most frequent targets of bullying. A type of bullying that involves theuse of technology is called cyberbullying. It is characterized by persistent displaysof aggressive conduct, such as making hurtful remarks online or speaking in athreatening manner.

12 Best Cybersecurity Tips for Students:

The internet is often unknown to students, who find it really interesting to explore othertopics. In order to guarantee that they may browse safely, it is crucial for adults toact responsibly. To help them stay safe online, students should be taught severalcybersecurity best practices.

1. Always opt for Two-Factor Authentication:

Through the use of two levels of protection, even if ahacker is successful in guessing your password, your account will still beprotected by the third tier of security.

2. Double check while clicking on any website or pop-up:

Never click on dubiouslinks given by strangersand stay away from messages coming from someone youdon't know. Before clicking on a URL, be sure it is secure and encrypted.

3. Use strong passwords:

Use only secure, one-of-a-kind passwords that are difficult todecipher after several tries. Avoid using your name, phone number, or date of birth as your password; use numbers, symbols, and other characters instead.

4. Check the relevance of the software updates:

Not all software patches and updates add new functionality. Additionally, they address flaws or security holes. Remind your children to runupdates frequently because they could disregard update messages.

5. Only access secured websites:

Check to see if the website is secured and safe beforeproceeding. The most significant breeding grounds for data thieves and potential hackersare a number of insecure websites. To avoid data leaks, only visit websites withURLs that start with "https". Similarly, before using any applications, reviewtheir privacy policies.

6. Social media should be secured:

Make sure the passwords on your social mediaaccounts are strong. Don't quickly click on sources given on social media sites oradd unfamiliar persons to your lists. Maintain regular account monitoring so youcan look out for and report any unusual activity.

7. Securely connect:

Connect only to private networks whenever feasible, especially while working with sensitive data. If a network isn't given by a reliable source,like the government, never connect to it.

8. Always back up the data:

Always maintain a copy of your data on hand. Thesedays, finding economical storage options is simple. Remember that dangerousthreats and hackers may just wish to encrypt or delete your data rather thansteal it. Back it up, so you have the best recovery tool possible.

9. Be aware of phishing scams:

Avoiding emails from unknown senders,checking for grammatical mistakes or other suspicious-looking discrepancies,and hovering over any links you get to confirm their destination are the best waysto guard against phishing schemes.

10. Parental controls:

Use parental controls to modify privacy settings for socialnetworking platforms, online games, applications, and other websites. Considerplacing time restrictions on all of your gadgets and keeping your PC in a well-litspace.

11. Educate your children:

This point is for the parents. Please use kid-friendly instructionalresources, such as animated games. Children should be taught not to sharetheir private information, pictures, and videos online.

12. Get cyber insurance for students:

By compensating the expenses associated withdamages and recovery following a cyber-related security breach or similarcatastrophe, cyber insurance for students can reduce risk exposure.

Online student safety can be challenging to maintain. Cyber risks are a concern forchildren, but teaching them responsible internet usage is also critical. Withoutcompromising their individuality or creativity, you can educate youngsters on how to besafe online with the right advice. It's equally crucial for you to educate yourself on themost recent types of cybercrimes that your kids could encounter. You must learn aboutcyber risks and how they operate, whether through a course or just by online study, if you want to assist your child in staying secure. But, even after this, you get scammed bycyber attackers then; the best way to recover is cyber insurance for students; the coverage will help you in the best possible ways.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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