How to ensure teenagers stay alert and secure online

For many young people, parents and teachers exist primarily to stop them doing what they want to do.

According to this view, parents and teachers are out of touch with modern reality, full of “don’t” messages because they don’t actually understand what is going on.

So unless we can demonstrate knowledge of the facts and show young people that we understand the issues they face, little progress can be made.

One issue that is rarely out of the news is that of cyberspace and the dangers that exist online. Sadly, much of what goes on in cyberspace is unregulated. While regulations may control what happens in the US and EU, there is often little control over what is done in many other parts of the world.

And quite often it is hard to tell whether messages are legitimate or not.

So we need to remind young people that, as in all walks of life, there are malicious people dwelling in cyberspace, whose aim is to cause damage and destruction just for the hell of it, procuring young people for sex, and conning the unwary out of money.

The resource Personal Safety in Cyberspace examines these issues and answers all the questions students and pupils might have.

It highlights the dangers that lurk within a computer, tablet, PDA, laptop or mobile phone.

It also identifies ways to protect users from destructive cyber-villains and it includes sections on malware (such as viruses, Trojans and worms), spam email, cyber-bullying (bullying by email and text), phishing, spyware, email hoaxes, website hacking and financial scams.

This resource is available as a hard copy or an ebook and free sample pages are available on our website.

You can order Personal Safety in Cyberspace in any of these ways: