AUSSIE PARENTS RATE ONLINE VIRUSES A BIGGER CONCERN THAN CYBER SAFETY

New research from Optus uncovers the need for parents to emphasise cyber safety with their children

As the 2013 school year kicks off, new research* from Optus has today revealed that one in five parents have never
discussed cyber safety with their children.
When it comes to online security, parents of school aged children have a range of concerns. Parents’ apprehension relates
to a variety of potential threats with seven in ten citing computer viruses as their biggest concern, ahead of security of
personal details, stranger danger and peer-to-peer bullying:

• Downloading computer viruses (68%)
• Security of personal details (67%)
• Stranger danger (66%)
• Peer-to-peer bullying (61%)

Despite this broad range of concerns, the average Aussie parent admits to supervising less than half (49%) their child’s
internet activity. Supervision is highest amongst primary school aged kids with parents keeping an eye on their kids 63% of
the time. By the stage young people reach high school, parental supervision of online activity drops off with parents
overseeing their teen’s online activity only 34% of the time.

Most parents believe they have a good understanding of what their child does when they’re online. According to 69% of
parents, children predominantly spend their time playing online games followed by researching school projects, well ahead
of social networking and online shopping.

Brett Lee, an internet safety and cyber bullying expert from Internet Education and Safety Services (INESS) said “The Optus
research uncovers that children are spending an average of 95 minutes a day using the internet. As kids head back to
school, their online engagement will heighten and therefore it’s important that parents consider creating a safe
technological home environment. This can be achieved by keeping the lines of communication open, installing monitoring
and filtering software and taking an active involvement with their child’s internet use.”

“Taking control of the internet and mobile phones is the first step. Parents then need to put in place firm guidelines for
internet usage. As a final measure, parents should consider keeping laptops and computers with internet access in a public
area of the home to ensure internet activity is consistently supervised.”

While parents are embracing a range of tools to protect their child’s online engagement, parents are also looking to schools
to address the gaps in their own cyber safety knowledge with one in four (25%) parents wanting cyber safety taught in
schools from the age of five.

Helen Maisano, Associate Director, Corporate & Social Responsibility, Optus said, “Optus understands that parents struggle
with how to tackle cyber bullying with their kids. That’s why we have worked closely with Kids Helpline to develop the
Erasing Cyberbullying packs, which are currently in 10,000 schools nation-wide. Having worked with Kids Helpline for 12
years, Optus is committed to providing young people, parents, schools and communities with the tools and information to
ensure our kids are educated about the potential dangers and stay cyber-safe as they head back to school.”
Wendy Protheroe, General Manager, Kids Helpline said education about cyber safety is not the sole responsibility of one person, it should be a collective community responsibility to keep our kids safe. “We need our families, schools,
telecommunication providers and governments to consistently reinforce the importance of cyber safety and being good
digital citizens,” Ms Protheroe said.

As kids and parents transition back in to the school year Optus and Kids Helpline have collated some top tips to help ease
into the first few weeks of the new school year:

1. Talk to your child about their school life and any issues that emerge. Encourage them to talk about any bullying they may be experiencing, including cyber bullying.
2. Monitor your child’s internet activity: As school goes back, kids will change their online behaviour. Keep an eye on who your child contacts and how much time they spend online.
3. Ensure you have appropriate security software on your home computers – the Optus Internet Security Suite allows you to block black-listed sites, define safe sites and monitor your kid’s internet usage.
4.  Help your child to develop good study habits. Try to provide them with somewhere private and quiet to study and set aside discreet times for homework and for social networking.
5. Make sure travel arrangements such as purchasing travel passes are organised and teach your kids good mobile etiquette while traveling on public transport.

Media contacts
For further information, please contact Bang PR on (02) 9018 2222
Kelly Evans – kelly@bangpr.com.au

*The study was conducted among 1,026 Australians aged 18 years and over who are a parent/s of children aged 4-17 years.
Surveys were distributed throughout Australia including both capital city and non-capital city areas.

Fieldwork commenced on Monday, January 14 and was completed on Monday, January 21, 2013. This study was conducted online amongst members of a permission-based panel.

After interviewing, data was weighted to the latest population estimates sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.