Protecting kids from hackers, scammers and fake friends

Your personal information is valuable to criminals and so should be protected to keep you safe online. Optus Digital Thumbprint has launched a new guide to help kids and parents better deal with the threat posed by those who may want to steal personal information.

The Protecting your identity - Hackers, scammers and fake friends guide for kids provides tips for dealing with the three main types of cyber criminals namely hackers, scammers and fake friends.

They live among us online, trying to catch us off-guard to get our personal information. There are many different ways they try to steal your identity.

Hackers may break into your account or devices to get your personal information.

Scammers may trick you into giving them your personal information.

Fake friends may have bad intentions with using your personal information, even if they are already close with you in real life.

The good news is that there are several protective steps kids and their parents can take to help protect their personal information:

• Understand how your personal information is used by cyber criminals
• Identify different types of cybercrimes
• Recognise ways to improve your digital defence skills
• Find more help when you need it

Personal information is information about who you are or how to find you. It is precious and valuable, and cyber criminals online want it for their own gain.

Scammers may also look through G.A.P.S to get your personal information. This acronym is a handy way to remember how your personal details can be breached:

Gain trust - Scammers might say they are from a well-known company or impersonate someone you know

Appeal to your emotions - Scammers know that you are more likely to help them if you feel bad for them or really like them, so they might lie to you about sick pets or family members, or give you loads of compliments

Procedure change - Scammers will try to send you to websites they have created or phone numbers they have provided you that pretend to be from a bank, gaming platform or other reliable service. It might even feel or look identical to what that site would normally ask you to do.

Speed - Scammers create a sense of urgency to get you to make decisions without thinking them through and might say they need money immediately or that you need to act now to get a special deal

Once these cyber criminals access your personal information, they can use it in many ways with the help of malware and phishing links/messages including, catfish, dox, stalk, malware, phishing, spamming, identity theft and cyberbullying.

The guide explores ways that you can build your digital defence skills including tips to:

• Speak up
• Get Multi Factor Authentication and use strong passphrases/ passwords
• Install antivirus software
• Block randoms
• Browse securely
• Be scam-aware
• Update apps and devices

To find out more about protecting yourself and your family from hackers, scammers and fake friends see the full guide.

Optus Digital Thumbprint supports digital safety and wellbeing for young people and families. Find out more at www.digitalthumbprint.com.au