Things you can Teach Your Children

Children need to be educated about the issues with Identity Theft just as they do with any other Internet safety issue. To help them stay out of danger you should teach them:

• What Identity Theft is and why it is such a potential problem.
• Ways they should be careful with privacy and personal details when they are on the Internet.
• Practical things they can do online to avoid trouble (use some pointers from the list above).
• How to keep accurate financial records and to protect passwords and pin numbers.
• Keep them informed about new security risks and scams.

Talking about Identity Theft issues on regular basis will help - especially when they become more financially literate and independent.

As an aid in your teaching, take your children through the security case study "What The" in the NetAlert resource Wise up to IT (www.wiseuptoit.com.au). It helps explain some of the security dangers facing children online and what they can do to stay safe. CyberNetrix (www.cybernetrix.com.au) will also help in teaching children about security issues.