February 5th marks Safer Internet Day, celebrated the world over by thousands of organisations and all with one aim - to make the internet a safer and danger-free place for youngsters. As a strong advocate for internet safety, BullGuard offers top tips for parents, carers and children

London, 5th February 2019: Celebrated globally each year by thousands of organisations in over one hundred countries, February 5th is Safer Internet Day. The aim is to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. Event organisers call upon young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers and more to come together and create a safe and healthy internet environment.

Consumer security expert BullGuard is a firm advocate and supporter of Safer Internet Day. Paul Lipman, CEO, says: “Young people today are the true digital natives and society’s future tech enthusiasts. Safety on the internet has never been so important with bullying, predatory and abusive behaviour ever present dangers.”

“If today’s children learn how to behave well online and how to identify and safeguard against dangers, they will be tomorrow’s safety advocates, it will be in their digital DNA. This is why we believe Safer Internet Day today is such an important and landmark calendar day. With this in mind we’d like to offer some tips for parents, carers, teachers and youngsters on how to stay safe online,” Lipman added.

Advice for adults
Talk regularly with children about how they use technology to find out which sites and services they most frequently use, and also how being online makes them feel. Ask a child to share with you their favourite things to do online, as well as discuss the risks they might come across.

There are lots of tools to help manage the devices used by your family. Parental controls help parents and carers block access to suspicious websites, put search filters in place to prevent harmful content, discretely monitor children’s online activities, limit the time they spend online and even block certain applications.

You can help to keep a child safe online by using features such as privacy settings on social media and understanding how to make a report on a range of apps, games and services. It also makes sense to approach the internet as a family. You could come together as a family to talk and map out how you’re going to use the internet safely and positively.

Tips to pass on to younger children
Never agree to meet up with someone you only know online. It’s important to tell a trusted adult if someone online asks to meet with you. Always keep personal information safe, it’s best to check with an adult before you share details online. For example; your address, email address, phone number and passwords.

Be kind and positive to people online even if you only know them through live chat. If you upset someone online or make them feel uncomfortable, even accidently, saying sorry is a powerful way of putting things right. If being online is making you feel worried, upset or confused, take a break, and don’t be afraid to discuss your concerns with an adult you trust, especially if you see anything online that worries you.

Advice for older children
When online, treat your relationships as you would offline; create, develop and maintain positive and valuable connections. You can build positive relationships by showing empathy to others online and not making harmful judgements. Remember that what you share online could be there forever. Even future employers could potentially use your online actions as a judge of character, so post positively and respectfully about yourself and others.

Update your privacy settings and keep personal things personal. Not everything or everyone online can be trusted. Before you believe what you read online, think carefully about where it comes from and who’s written it. Never agree to meet up with someone you only know online, no matter how friendly they might seem or how well you think you know them.

Finally, when gaming online, many choose to turn their security protection off to avoid lagging. This however creates vulnerabilities enabling a range of malware to effortlessly penetrate computers. A good Game Booster function enables lightning fast gaming while running essential security protection at the same time.

-ENDS-

About BullGuard
BullGuard is a multi-award winning, smart home cybersecurity company. We make it simple to protect everything in your digital life – from your data, to your identity and privacy, and to your Smart Home.

The BullGuard product portfolio extends to PCs, tablets and smartphone protection, and includes internet security, comprehensive mobile security, 24/7 identity protection and VPN which provides the highest levels of privacy and protection. BullGuard released the world’s first IOT vulnerability scanner and leads the consumer cybersecurity industry in providing continuous innovation. Dojo by BullGuard is an award-winning intelligent defense system and service that provides the highest level of protection to consumers across all of their connected devices and smart homes. Dojo by BullGuard is the cornerstone of a Smart Home, ensuring a connected world where every consumer in every home, is smart, safe and protected.

Follow us on Twitter @BullGuard and @DojoSafe, like us on Facebook at BullGuard and Dojo, or learn more at https://www.bullguard.com or https://dojo.bullguard.com.

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Michelle Cross
The PR Room
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Sarah Chard
The PR Room
Sarah.chard@theprroom.co.uk
+44 (0)333 9398 296