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🔒 The Cyber Security measures you should be taking to protect your kids online... · KIIS Breakfast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is Kiss Breakfast.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Hey, there's new research going around. This stuff's really scary,
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: especially for you and parents listening. Two-thirds of kids aged
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: 10 to 17, they've got messages online that could be
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: classified as grooming.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Grooming, yeah.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: And they reckon a lot's coming through like online games,
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: social media. On to talk about and explain is Susan McLean.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: cyber safety expert. Hello, Susan.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Hey, Susan.
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: Thanks for having me.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: So good to have you on. I'm a mum of three.
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  Speaker 3: I've got, you know, girl, boy, boy, 10, 8 and 7.
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  Speaker 3: And I just, I have so many concerns around this
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  Speaker 3: kind of stuff. What platforms is this happening on most? Like, obviously,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I remember back in the day, my boys, all the
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: kids in the street, they all played on Roblox.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Is that one of the platforms where this is happening?
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  Speaker 3: It is.
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  Speaker 4: So what parents must understand is that any platform that
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: allows two people to communicate will have predators on it.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: So that's the first thing. And then you go by volume.
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: If a platform is very, very, very popular with kids,
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  Speaker 4: it will be very, very, very popular with predators. And
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: of course, Roblox is one of those.
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  Speaker 3: What would you be looking out for if you were
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  Speaker 3: a parent who was with kids on Roblox? What kind
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  Speaker 3: of messages can you look out for?
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  Speaker 4: So what we want parents to do is be an
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: active participant in their child's life online and offline. Don't really,
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: for younger children, give them unsupervised access to the internet.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: And make sure that they are only talking to people
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  Speaker 4: they know. Now that's not a guarantee, of course. Yeah.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: But we know most online child sex offenders are not
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: known to their victim in real life. Yeah. So make
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: sure it's someone that is known to them, not, you know,
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: the friend of the friend of the friend of the friend.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: Then regularly check the messages because what we know is
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: that an adult will often pick up something that's a
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  Speaker 4: bit weird, a bit over-familiar, a bit slimy way before
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  Speaker 4: a child will.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course.
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  Speaker 2: Right, so go through the messages, make sure you're checking.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, what about the social media ban? Do you
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  Speaker 2: think that's been a good thing? Is it working and
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  Speaker 2: is that going to keep kids safer?
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  Speaker 4: No, the short answer is no. It was flawed. start,
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  Speaker 4: it's like a sieve with holes that the government is
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: trying to retrospectively fix. The internet needs to be made safer.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: The kids are still there. I think there's only a 3%
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  Speaker 4: decrease in children using technology since the ban came in
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  Speaker 4: on December. We've seen, I think, a 50% uptick in
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: teens using Reddit, which is another very concerning platform. We're
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: just shifting the problem elsewhere. And the kids are clever.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: And it's not even consciously trying to get around the bans.
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  Speaker 4: plenty of them are passing the age assurance technology because
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: they're passing it. And plenty of kids, their parents are
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: putting their face on or an older sibling. So to me,
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: it often gives parents a false sense of security.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Oh, there's a ban.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: My kid will be safe. No, no, no. That's not
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: how it's working at all. It's pushing kids into less
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  Speaker 4: safe spaces. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And as a parent myself, I remember like you give
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: your kid the iPad and it's a reprieve from parenting, right?
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  Speaker 3: And it's, It's easy to fall into that trap of, oh,
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: I need a break or I need to reply to
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: these emails.
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  Speaker 1: So I'll just give my kid the iPad.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: And it actually does require the parents to step up
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: more in order to be able to protect our kids
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  Speaker 3: a lot more. I've got friends who would prefer their
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: kids to be inside on iPads as opposed to being
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: out playing, riding their bikes in the street.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I'm the opposite. Yeah, go the bikes. I would rather
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: my kids be out, you know, falling off.
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  Speaker 3: Their bikes, getting their scraped knees because I feel like
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  Speaker 3: the internet is far more terrifying.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so is your main message for parents to be
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: aware of all of the apps, be aware of everything
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: and just monitor and watch?
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Is that the best thing? You've got to be on
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  Speaker 1: top of it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, the best protective factor for a child is an
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: involved parent. Now, you can have technical solutions. I want
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: rules and boundaries. I want a parent involved. You may
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: need to go down the path of third-party products to
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: help you do this. It's not one, it's not right
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  Speaker 4: or wrong because what is right for your family might
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: be very wrong for another family. So it's not specific,
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  Speaker 4: it's very individual, but you have to do something and
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: you have to understand that bad people exist in the
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  Speaker 4: world even if you've never come across them. Because that's
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  Speaker 4: the other thing I see is a parent might use
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  Speaker 4: a particular platform and not have any negative experiences themselves
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: as an adult. But what that young person is going
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  Speaker 4: to experience. is vastly different. So educate yourself and be
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: there with your children. Keep the lines of communication open.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Be involved. Go through their messages.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Charlie's not allowed her iPad in her room.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: Never, never, never. Devices are never in bedrooms and bathrooms.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: That is rule number one. And reading their messages and
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: checking up on them is not invading their privacy.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: That is Wouldn't it be easier to move to a
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: tropical island with no technology and raise your kids there?
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: It would, it would.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: Fiji's looking good.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Fiji's looking good.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: All right, Susan McLean, our cyber safety expert.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 2: Really interesting stuff.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks so much, Susan.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Thanks for the chat, guys.