your kid also becomes a digital nomad during the summer

“On average, children spend seven and a half hours in the online space every day, so they are steady targets of various online fraud and phishing attempts. Without the required education and attention, a wrong decision could even make a major dent in the family budget”, warns Ferenc Kardos, executive director of the Media Union Foundation, and leader of the cybersecurity education campaign titled “You are the key”.

“In the summer, children who are used to being online all the time do not alternate between school and home wi-fi; instead, they seek access options in grandma’s house, while roaming the streets with friends, or during summer camp. This inevitable digital nomadship attracts digital criminals who are hungry for personal data”, explains the banking expert of CyberShield who helps us identify the most frequent threats and the ways to manage them.

public wi-fi: dubious intermediaries and evil twins

Ubiquitous public wi-fi access points and networks constitute the primary threat, because children and youngsters willingly connect to them in order to minimise their mobile data volume. They are free and practical, so what could go wrong? But such connections may provide an opportunity to steal data. Most public wi-fi networks are not encrypted, so a hacker can appear between the user and the network or may even pose as such a network, gaining easy access to confidential login and other data. This method is called a “man-in-the-middle” attack. Another frequent attack is called the “evil twin”, when a legitimate, possibly password-protected network is copied by an attacker. If you connect to such an “evil twin”, you may lose your data just as in the case of an unprotected public network.

100 percent charged, zero percent secure

Your phone’s battery will be rapidly exhausted if you are always available in the online space. Fortunately, there are more and more smart benches and public kiosks where all you need is a charging cable to juice up your device. But these practical opportunities are not always entirely innocent. So-called “juice jacking” is a frequent cybercrime, when an inviting USB jack is actually connected to a computer that steals all the data on your phone in a few seconds. Or vice versa, you may accidentally download unwanted data, such as a virus. Personal computers are not the only devices threatened by viruses - your mobile phone may be infected as well, resulting in the loss of your data or money.

devices displayed in shops = your data on display

Teenagers like to spend time checking out devices displayed in electronics shops. This is understandable as they can put new gadgets on their bucket list, test interesting gadgets, and spend hours in a nice, air-conditioned environment. All that is okay, unless a child logs into his/her personal account or takes a selfie of himself or herself while testing a phone or tablet. In that case, the next customer gets an opportunity to abuse the still logged-in child’s personal data.

what to do as a parent

“The best strategy is to minimise the possibility of an attack”, says a banking expert of CyberShield. We asked the expert of the National Bank of Hungary to explain how each threat can be avoided.

• Consider increasing the mobile data quota in your children’s subscription for the summer, so that they do not have to use public wi-fi networks. You may even buy them an unlimited data package. That is an additional burden on the family budget, but you can lose several times more than one month’s mobile internet charge if a child’s bank card data is stolen through an open wi-fi connection.
• USB fraud can be prevented by using an USB data blocker. Turning off the phone unfortunately does not provide full protection, and neither does blocking access in the pop-up window. For absolute security, put a fully loaded power bank into the child’s summer package, so that they do not have to use a public charger.
• Talk to your children about phones, tablets and laptops displayed in shops. They should know that using these devices to log into their personal accounts is like trying out a toothbrush in a shop. If they forget to log out, anyone can freely act in their name, e.g. insult friends, borrow money, or access further data and passwords. This is not only dangerous to the child but also to their friends and relatives.
• Online guides against online threats: security consciousness is crucial. A plethora of free advice, videos and learning materials intended for children and teenagers are available online. Encourage your children to read or watch such guides and learn about the security aspects of their digital environments.

Security requires just a bit of attention

It is indeed alarming and annoying to hear about cybersecurity threats everywhere, but experts say that being too anxious and overprotective is not the solution. “Attacks can be effectively fended off if you consistently take a few basic security measures and patiently explain to your children what they must be mindful of”, says Ferenc Kardos, executive director of the Media Union. “Also, let them know that they can count on you to help them if they indicate any unusual sign”, the CyberShield expert adds.

Protect yourself from online fraud. Be security-conscious.

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