Cyber Security for Black Children, Its Time for the Talk

Parents, cyber security for black children, its time for the talk. We take child raising seriously. We have to. The world is a more dangerous place for our children than others. And having a black child online means you have even more things to worry about. Cyber security for black children is vital. You teach them about everything else that can harm them and safety and security online is just as important.

Does your child have a Facebook page?  Probably so. But did you know there are at least five social media sites that teens like  more than Facebook? They are Tumblr, Kik, Snapchat, Vine and Pheed. There are probably a lot more but those are the ones getting the most publicity right now.

Does your child have a cell or smartphone? Again, the answer is probably yes. Now for the bad news. You probably don’t know half the things a smartphone can do and your teenager is walking around with it. Cyber  security for children and teens is more vital now than ever. Its time to have the talk.

The first thing you need to do before your teen gets a smartphone is teach them what it is capable of. This includes broadcasting location data and tracking who they call and how long they talk. A smartphone can record text messages and send them to someone else. Tell them that smartphones can steal any picture they take, take pictures and even record their conversations without them knowing it. The apps on their smartphone is capable of stealing their contact lists and user names and passwords if they go on the Internet with it. You need to know and your teen needs to know that a smartphone is a spy and snitch. Don’t believe me? Check this video out.

A good tool to use on your iPad and iPhone is called the Disconnect Kids app. This app captures all traffic leaving your iPad and blocks any contact with a list of known mobile tracking companies. It works just as well on iPhones. For teens its a good idea to have an app that does this. As parent you need to understand the setting and apps on your child’s phone and make sure they are properly configured for their safety. And institute a policy of no apps unless you approve. Then enforce it. Nuff said!

What do you know about sexting? Much like when your were young teens nowadays keep secrets from their parents. Sexting is when teens engage in sexually explicit chat, texts or image sharing online. They think its all fun but when those pictures get  out “in the wild” as they say online, you got big trouble. Recently two teenage boys in McLean, Va. were operating a online file sharing operation that exchanged nude images of girls at their high school. The images were of teenage girls who willingly, yes willingly, allowed themselves to be photographed naked. Now those images are all over the Internet. Children are committing suicide or killing each other as a result of things that happen online. Are you awake yet?

Did you know that gangs have a strong presence on the Internet? Yes, street gangs have Facebook pages, post violent videos to YouTube, use Twitter, threaten other gangs, brag about crimes including murder and even recruit members all through the Internet. Is your child seeing these things? Do you know? As a parent, a black parent, you better get into your child’s online life before its too late.

You have to have the  talk with your child or teenager about what they do online. There is no software that can do that for you, sorry. You have to tell them that once it goes online it stays online. So a nude picture, a ugly profane post, name calling, bullying, whatever it is, never goes away. And let them know that colleges and employers do social media background checks to see what they have been doing. So that picture of them smoking weed and drinking Hennessy at a party might show up. Don’t laugh, it happens.

As a black parent you need to take the time to educate your children from the first time they sit in front of a computer. The first thing you need to teach them is privacy online and how to protect themselves.

Your child should never, ever use their real name or age online. Make it game and create a fake name, address and birthday for them. And test them on it. Does your child need a password for a website? The first thing you need to do is thoroughly research the website they are visiting. Know the answer to these questions; why does my child need a password? Is the website age appropriate for my child? Is the website product oriented? What information is the website asking from my child? Does the website use cookies? Is your child “friending” others online? Who are they? And finally, does the website have an endorsement from some organization. Research them too.  Listen, pedophiles love children’s and teen websites. You can find a pedophile on every social media website on the web.They are there in the chatrooms and they chat with children all the time. Don’t let your child be the next victim. And not all predators are sexual. Some are luring teens into revealing personal information, applying for credit cards, or who knows what else.

Once you decide that your child can use a password you need to teach them how to create a password. I have in the past recommended the use of pass phrases. For adults and children a pass phrase is a small task to create and remember. But you can also use Diceware. This is a simple way to create pass phrases using small dice. This too can be made into a game to teach your child how to create secure passwords. Remember what I said before, if they can use a computer then they are ready to learn these things. But if you are really a diligent parent you can create a password and not tell them. That way they can’t access the website without you being there.

Of course you need to use software that will help to keep the data hounds from tracking them online.  I suggest using Ghostery. This software works with your browser to keep your child from being tracked online. That means that marketers or even pedophiles can’t locate them in cyberspace. Another good tool to make use of is DuckDuckgo. This is a web search engine similar to Google or Bing that allows your child to search online without the search being recorded on a server for use later, like shooting ads at them. This is not fun and games online. There is a are lot of things happening and you need to be aware and alert to them.

So, black parents, its time to have the talk with your teens and children; the cyber security talk.