Parents need help too!

Most parents are lacking confidence and feel they are not well informed when it comes to cyber safety, and talking with their children about online security risks. This was the key finding of a major Australian Government survey of parents and carers on children’s cyber safety and e-security issues, conducted in June 2010.

In particular, the survey found that:
• Almost 70% of parents are concerned about the safety risks of their children accessing the internet
• the majority of parents had implemented some form of preventative measures to reduce the risks to their children when online or had spoken to their children about the risks involved, however almost 20% of parents had not even spoken to their children about the risks
• just under half the parents surveyed felt they were well informed about cyber safety issues.

Full survey results were recently reported as Australian Children’s Cyber-safety and E-Security Project: Report on the results of a parents’survey, by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE).