Parental Monitoring Software

Phishing - The act of tricking someone into giving them confidential information or tricking them into doing something that they normally wouldn’t do or shouldn’t do. For example: sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.

Learn how to protect yourself from any phishing attack on your private accounts. Once you understand what phishing is and after taking Phishing - Take The Quiz!, be sure to explain to all of your kids about the dangers of phishers, phishing attacks, phishing requests, and more.

Remember, under any circumstances, you should never provide any login details including username or password to anyone, even if it looks official. When in doubt, call the company in question directly to check legitimacy.

Every day, millions of computer users share files online. Whether it is music, games, or software, file-sharing can give people access to a wealth of information. You simply download special software that connects your computer to an informal network of other computers running the same software. Millions of users could be connected to each other through this software at one time. The software often is free and easily accessible.

Sounds promising, right? Maybe, but make sure that you consider the trade-offs. We caution you that file-sharing can have a number of risks. For example, when you are connected to file-sharing programs, you may unknowingly allow others to copy private files you never intended to share. You may download material that is protected by the copyright laws and find yourself mired in legal issues. You may download a virus or facilitate a security breach. Or you may unwittingly download pornography labeled as something else.

To secure the personal information stored on your computer, we suggests that you:

• Set up the file-sharing software very carefully. If you don’t check the proper settings when you install the software, you could open access not just to the files you intend to share, but also to other information on your hard drive, like your tax returns, email messages, medical records, photos, or other personal documents.
• Be aware of spyware. Some file-sharing programs install other software known as spyware. Spyware monitors a user’s browsing habits and then sends that data to third parties. Sometimes the user gets ads based on the information that the spyware has collected and disseminated. Spyware can be difficult to detect and remove. Before you use any file-sharing program, get an anti-spyware program from a vendor you know and trust. Set it to scan on a regular basis — at least once a week — and every time you start your computer, if possible. And delete any software programs the anti-spyware program detects that you don’t want on your computer.
• Close your connection. In some instances, closing the file-sharing program window does not actually close your connection to the network. That allows file-sharing to continue and could increase your security risk. If you have a high-speed or “broadband” connection to the Internet, you stay connected to the Internet unless you turn off the computer or disconnect your Internet service. These “always on” connections may allow others to copy your shared files at any time. What’s more, some file-sharing programs automatically open every time you turn on your computer. As a preventive measure, you may want to adjust the file-sharing program’s controls to prevent the file-sharing program from automatically opening.
• Use an effective anti-virus program and update it regularly. Files you download could be mislabeled, hiding a virus or other unwanted content. Use anti-virus software to protect your computer from viruses you might pick up from other users through the file-sharing program. Not all anti-virus programs block files downloaded through file-sharing, so check your program’s capabilities and settings. In addition, avoid downloading files with extensions like .exe, .scr, .lnk, .bat, .vbs, .dll, .bin, and .cmd.
• Talk with your family about file-sharing. Parents may not be aware that their children have downloaded file-sharing software on the family computer and that they may have exchanged games, videos, music, pornography, or other material that may be inappropriate for them. Also, because other peoples’ files sometimes are mislabeled, kids unintentionally may download these files. In addition, kids may not understand the security and other risks involved with file-sharing and may install the software incorrectly, giving anyone on the Internet access to the family’s private computer files.

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“It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?”

Remember that phrase from your own childhood? It’s still a valid question, but now, it comes with a twist: “Do you know where your kids are — and who they’re talking to online?”

Social networking sites are the hippest “meet market” around, especially among tweens, teens, and 20-somethings. These sites encourage and allow people to exchange information about themselves, and use blogs, chat rooms, email, or instant messaging to communicate with the world-at-large. But while they can increase a person’s circle of friends, they also can increase exposure to people who have less-than-friendly intentions, including sexual predators.

Help Your Kids Socialize Safely Online

We urges parents to talk to their tweens and teens about social networking sites, and offers these tips for using these sites safely:

• In some circumstances, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and Rule require social networking sites to get parental consent before they collect, maintain, or use personal information from children under age 13.
• Keep the computer in an open area, like the kitchen or family room, so you can keep an eye on where your kids are online and what they’re doing.
• Use the Internet with your kids. Be open to learning about the technology so you can keep up with them.
• Talk to your kids about their online habits. If they use social networking sites, tell them why it’s important to keep information like their name, Social Security number, address, phone number, and family financial information — like bank or credit card account numbers — to themselves. Remind them that they should not share that information about other people in the family or about their friends, either.Your children should be cautious about sharing other information too, like the name of their school, sports teams, clubs, where they work or hang out, or any other information that could be used to identify them or locate them offline.
• Make sure your kids’ screen names don’t say too much about them. Explain why it’s inappropriate — even dangerous — to use their full name, age, or hometown. Even if your kids think their screen name makes them anonymous, it doesn’t take a genius to combine clues to figure out who your kids are and where they can be found.
• Use privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on your child’s website. You may approve of their friends from school, clubs, teams, community groups, or your family being able to view your kids’ website, but not strangers from a neighboring town or school.
• Your kids should post only information that you — and they — are comfortable with others seeing — and knowing. Many people can see their page, including their teachers, the police, a college admissions officer, or a potential employer.
• Remind your kids that once they post information online, they can’t take it back. Even if they delete the information from a site, older versions exist on other people’s computers.
• Warn your kids about the dangers of flirting with strangers online. Because some people lie online about who they really are, no one ever really knows who they’re dealing with.
• Tell your children to trust their gut if they have suspicions. If they feel threatened by someone or uncomfortable because of something online, they need to tell you and then report it to the police and the social networking site. You could end up preventing someone else from becoming a victim.
• If you’re concerned that your child is engaging in risky online behavior, you can search the blog sites they visit to see what information they’re posting. Try searching by their name, nickname, school, hobbies, grade, or area where you live.
• Check site privacy policies. Some sites may share information like your child’s email address with other companies, which could generate spam and even spyware on the family computer. Sites’ privacy policies or other posted links for parents also may contain contact information for you to ask about your child’s personal information.

Someone raised an interesting point to me the other day.

They asked “What do I tell them when I install SpyAgent when they demand privacy?”

First, here’s a post regarding SpyAgent and here’s the SpyAgent Monitoring Software product page to catch up.

When someone asks me about this, I usually respond “It’s your house. It should be YOUR rules.”

You may run into a heated debate with your older teenagers if you’ve waited this long to crack down on their internet behavior. Personally, if they want to lash out at you for trying to control their internet experience, I’d simply take away the internet and leave them with just a computer they can do word processing on.

Once they get over the fact you are taking control, you will be able to set proper ground rules. A decent parent to teenager discussion one evening can make the difference between your teen thinking its alright to physically hook up with anonymous people online or your teen declining such meeting requests due to the possibility they could be physically hurt or even killed.

Using a product like SpyAgent can really help you see your teen’s problem areas with their internet use. Like I’ve said in other posts, a monitoring software product can make a huge difference in just a week (even 24 hours!).

If you have any tips or advice you’d like to share, please email me at support -at- parentalmonitoringsoftware -dot- com.

I just read an interesting article by CBS News that was posted back in 2006. Here’s some interesting quotes from the article:

“The Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported more than 2,600 incidents last year of adults using the Internet to entice children. With numbers like that, you’d think all parents would be hovering over their kids, wanting to know what they’re doing online. But authorities say many parents are clueless about their kids’ MySpace profiles. ”

“In talking to some teens who regularly use MySpace, it’s easy to see that a lot of kids aren’t very careful about the information they put on their pages.

“So many people don’t even use common sense,” says Katie Pirtle, a high school student. “Some people even put their phone number on there.”

And while they information kids put on MySpace may be intended for their friends, do they think, “Hey there’s 35-year-old or 45-year-old guys out there looking at my site?”

“Definitely not,” says April Ehrlich, another high school student. “When they think MySpace, they think other teenagers. They don’t think there are adults pretending to be teenagers on there.”

Many MySpace users post “the survey,” which asks for responses about issues like drinking, drug use and skinny dipping. Users can also put up pictures. ”

Source: CBS News

I love when I see the news focusing on serious situations like this, instead of showing Britney Spears’ bald head.

Be sure to talk to your kids about the proper use of websites like MySpace, Facebook, and others. They should only use their first name with no other personal information about their location, last name, email address, etc.

There are predators on the internet and they do visit websites flooded with teens and kids. Make sure your kids know right from wrong before they step foot on the internet!

The Internet provides access to a wealth of information and entertainment but can also harbor predators and scam artists. Here are tips to help keep children safe online.

1. Keep the computer in a public area, such as the living room
2. Set and enforce rules for Internet access
3. Don’t let your child share personal information without permission
4. Explain what information is considered personal
5. Learn about the capabilities and limitations of parental control tools
6. Learn about other computers your child may use, such as ones at school or a friend’s house
7. Have your child show you what he does online
8. Visit your child’s favorite sites, and randomly check her e-mail
9. Report suspected stalking or child sexual exploitation to local police

We just compiled a list of acronyms you should know about. If you see these acronyms in your child’s Instant Message Logs, it might be time to have a discussion with him/her!

Here’s some of the more common sex related acronyms used by teenagers.

8 - May refer to oral sex
ASL - Age/Sex/Location
A/S/L - Age/Sex/Location
BBSD - Be Back Soon Darling
BOHICA - Bend Over Here It Comes Again
CTC - Choking The Chicken
DURS - Damn You Are Sexy
DUS - Damn You Sexy
FYEO For Your Eyes Only
GNOC - Get Naked On Cam
GYPO - Get Your Pants Off
ITS - Intense Text Sex
IWSN - I Want Sex Now
LAGNAF - Lets All Get Naked and Fool Around
LHOS - Lets Have Online Sex
NIFOC - Nude In Front Of The Computer
NIFOC - Naked In Front Of The Computer
OLL - On-Line Love
RUMORF - Are You Male Or Female
SBCN - Sitting Behind the Computer, Naked
SSC - Super Sexy Cute
TDTM - Talk Dirty To Me

Another very common term for marijuana (pot smoking) use is 420. If you see your child mention this term frequently in IMs, you may have a much more serious problem on your hands.

What in the world is he or she typing?

Why is it that when I walk into the room, my child types PAW, POS, PIR, etc to the AOL Instant Messenger chat window?

Your child is probably hiding information from you! Here are some important acronyms that you really should know about as they can be cause for concern:

P911 - Parent emergency
PAW - Parents are watching
PIR - Parent in room
POS - Parent over shoulder
PRW - Parents are watching

There are many acronyms like this that should alert you that something bad might be going on. Especially if they close windows as you walk behind the computer they are on.

In future posts, we’ll talk about many other acronyms, their meanings, and what you should do to make sure your children’s online activities are safe.