It’s time you protected your children from cyber-bullying

Research shows 40% of the UAE parents reported being worried about cyber-bullying, with 21% having been forced to intervene to protect their children.

Dubai - Cyber-bullying, Internet threats and malicious online harassment are a growing concern for parents in the ever-increasingly connected UAE, according to research from cyber security giant Kaspersky Lab.

Research conducted in 2014 by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International shows that the average household in the UAE now has over five devices connected to the Internet, many of them used by children.

Over 90 per cent of users in the UAE reported trusting smart phones and computers to store corporate, personal and financial data, providing ample opportunity for identity theft and online blackmail.

“Over 60 per cent of children above three to four years sometimes have smart phones,” Kaspersky senior security researcher Mohammad Amin Hasbini said. “It is portable and easily accessible anytime, anywhere, and that’s very important to take into consideration when dealing with children and teenagers.”

Data collected by Kaspersky found that 40 per cent of the UAE parents reported being worried about cyber-bullying, with 48 per cent having been forced to intervene to protect their children. The overwhelming majority of cyber-bullying incidents – 98 per cent – go unreported. 

Hasbini noted that cyber-bullying and harassment is not merely confined to the Internet, with 29 per cent of parents reporting that abuse continued in real life. Despite the concerns, 21 per cent of the parents admitted to not taking any measures whatsoever to protect their children.

“More action from parents is needed to protect their own children,” he said. “The consequences could extend from the cyber world to the actual world.”

Figure out the danger > 40% UAE parents concerned about cyber-bullying >  48% have had to intervene to protect their children > 29% report abuse spilling into real life > 92% UAE users store sensitive information on their phones > 23% UAE children visit unwanted game sites > 60% children use smart phones

As an example, Hasbini noted the 2012 case of Amanda Todd, 15-year-old Canadian who committed suicide following a long experience with cyber-bullying, Internet blackmail and physical assaults.

“She couldn’t stand it,” he said. “Most children are afraid of their parents, afraid just to tell them what is going on.”

Additionally, the data collected by Kaspersky found that over half of the young Internet users in the UAE encountered adult content despite government restrictions, with 22 per cent finding gambling websites, and every sixth user finding websites related to weapons.

Other online threats include malicious software which can take control of webcams and watch the users, record sounds or steal personal information, or “ransomware” which encrypts and keeps personal files from a user until money is paid.

Dr Samineh Shaheem, child psychologist and anti-bullying advocate, said that parents should educate themselves about the Internet to better understand the threat their children face online.

“Nowadays we’re raising digital citizens,” she said. “These digital citizens are natives in this country (the Internet)…we are living in a new reality, and the language of technology needs to be learned, not only by the natives, the kids….we all have to learn what it’s like to live in this world.”

Dr Shaheem added that children who are the victims of bullies are more likely to have psychological problems later in life.

“Damage from these kinds of experiences carries on throughout a lifetime,” she said. “If you don’t deal with bullies and the victims in the schools, they come into our workplaces. They marry us, and we have to deal with them in relationships.

“It’s really important to look at it in childhood and deal with it in childhood rather than wait for it to escalate into a bigger issue.” -bernd@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE