Kaspersky Safe Kids says parents and guardians need not panic about cyber security for their children since minors are not surfing harmful sites
by MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SOUTH African children’s activity on the internet has increased by 200 percent during the lockdown but parents and guardians need not panic as the minors are not surfing harmful sites.
The figures are from the first week of January and the last week of
March.
These are the findings of the Kaspersky Safe Kids parental control
module of Q1 (first quarter) 2020.
The share of children that actively use the internet to look for audio,
video and software increased by 15 percent by the end of Q1.
This trend was accompanied by an increase in children’s interest in news resources.
Throughout Q1 it accounted for around 3 percent of all website hits.
March has also shown a decrease of children’s interest to the e-commerce websites and online shops and video games – the traffic for the former decreased by 4 percent and the latter by 10 percent by the end of March.
“Our statistics show that South Africa is not an exception, as all over
the world children became more active online since the beginning of the pandemic,” Andrey Sidenko, Head of Child Safety at Kaspersky Network,
said.
He urged parents not to panic as according to Kaspersky data, the vast majority of children were most interested in socialising online and watching videos and listening to music, rather than in potentially
unwanted content or disturbing news.
“What’s more, their activity online correlates with the adults’
interests during the lockdown: news and video content. If anything, this might be an opportunity to do these things together and bond, rather than worry,” Sidenko added.
South Africa is under lockdown to curb the spread of the virus that has claimed the lives of 153 people from over 7 800 cases.
– CAJ News