Kaspersky Lab's Children Online survey reveals that over two-thirds (68%) of users of the company's Parental Control technologies encountered inappropriate or harmful online content in 2014. Specifically, Kaspersky Lab's protection technologies detected several categories of harmful material, such as content unsuitable for minors, gambling and websites with information about weapons.
The main findings of the company's report are as follows:
- Over half (59.5%) of users in Greece encountered pornographic content. 38.7% encountered gambling sites, and almost one in four users faced sites with weapons. Similarly, 20% of users encountered sites that contained abusive content and hate speech.
- The websites that host such inappropriate content (pornography, gambling, weapons, abusive content) and others concerning drugs, tobacco products and alcohol were the ones most frequently blocked by Kaspersky Lab solutions.
The Internet has long ceased to be «privilege» of adults. Children are often much more active users compared to their parents. But is it safe enough for children to use it, without the fear that they will encounter inappropriate content? With this reasoning, Kaspersky Lab decided to investigate the possible online threats for children, analyzing data from the users of the company's products that have a Parental Control module.
Websites that host such inappropriate content (pornography, chat, gambling and weapons) together with others that «host» drugs, tobacco and alcohol, were the ones that were blocked most often by Kaspersky Lab's protection solutions. The frequency of detections shows how easy it is for users to encounter such content on the Internet.
Globally, the countries where Kaspersky Lab's Parental Control solutions detected inappropriate content most frequently were China, the USA, Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia. France, Vietnam, Brazil and Algeria also ranked in the top ten of the relevant ranking, but were relatively safer due to a lower detection frequency.
The dominant threat to children in Greece
Each country or region has its own unique characteristics regarding the dominant online threats to children. For example, adult content was the biggest threat to users in most Eastern European countries. In Greece, 185 such content detections were observed per user.
Similarly high numbers were observed in countries such as the Czech Republic (66 detections per user), Romania (127 detections per user) and Hungary (263 detections per user).
Content related to alcohol, tobacco products and drugs was a significant threat to users in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, the US and France, with detection rates being particularly high in these countries. Gambling and gambling sites emerged as the biggest online threat to children in the Baltic countries (118 detections per user).
For the protection of children and youth, we recommend that adults choose security solutions with integrated Parental Control technologies and make full use of child protection features in search engines, as well as in applications that allow access to multimedia content and that children use.
What your child is not protected from with parental control
Although Parental Control technologies can block access to websites with content that is inappropriate or dangerous for children, they cannot offer reliable protection in situations where services such as social networks or chats, which are considered safe in advance, are misused by malicious people or by those who launch cyber-bullying attacks.
The issue of security on the Internet deserves to be addressed as seriously as security in the real world. For this reason, we call on parents to take an active role in the real and digital lives of their children.
Only then can they feel confident that they will not miss the moment when their children may need their support», said Konstantin Ignatev, Manager at the Web Content Analysts Group of Kaspersky Lab.
The Parental Control module for computers with OS X and Windows operating systems is integrated into the company's consumer security products (Kaspersky Internet Security – Multi-Device 2015 and Kaspersky Total Security – Multi-Device).
Kaspersky Lab also recently introduced a new standalone solution, Kaspersky Safe Kids Beta (for devices running OSX, Windows, Android and iOS), which protects children from inappropriate online content.
Source: In.gr Technology
