New Delhi: Children in India have the best ability to cope with online risks in the world, according to a study by UK-based cybersecurity firm Surfshark.
India is followed by Malaysia and Japan, while Saudi Arabia, Uruguay and Thailand rank on the lower end for having children with poor online risk-management skills.
The study stated that the number of cybercrimes against children have steadily grown every year by 5-9% but sharply spiked by 144% in 2020, after roughly one billion school children worldwide were relocated online for remote learning.
In 2020 alone, yearly financial losses from cybercrimes against children reached over Rs 5.02 crore (US$ 660,000). India, however, was ranked 5th lowest globally in terms of children’s exposure to online risks.
Managing exposure to online risks and developing abilities to cope with them have become increasingly important nowadays, say experts. Surfshark study showed that 6 out of 10 children aged 8-12 years were exposed to cyber risks online. In addition, 1 in 2 children encountered cyberbullying and close to one-third experienced other cyber threats such as phishing or hacking.
According to the study, low and lower-middle-income countries were found to have better online safety education than the rich ones. For instance, while India has 30% stronger online safety education programs than the global average, high-income countries like Saudi Arabia and Uruguay have basically non-existent online safety education.
Asia-Pacific countries (India, Malaysia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) overall performed better and were found to have the strongest online risk management skills, which played a critical role in helping children cope with cyberbullying, phishing and other cyberthreats.
“Through this study, we can see that educating children about cyberthreats plays a massive role in them knowing how to deal with any problems that may arise online. Every child is an individual. They all seek different things from their online experience, handling danger differently. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to discussing online safety with your children. Instead, you must discover ways to converse with them and assist them in understanding what to do,” said Aleksandr Valentij, Chief Information Security Officer of Surfshark.
Valentij also shared important tips on ways parents could talk about cybersecurity to their kids. Educating children to avoid sharing personal information, adjusting privacy settings or using parental controls for online apps and creating a trusting environment that allowed the child to tell their parents about a cyberthreat were among many ways shared by Valentij to encourage privacy protection for children.