Cyberbullying is wake-up call for parents

“Children today face threats beyond physical violence or face-to-face encounters,” said Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager, Norton by Symantec.

“Cyberbullying is a growing issue and parents are struggling to identify and respond to this threat. A concern for many parents is that it doesn’t stop when their child leaves school- as long as your child is connected to a device, a bully can connect to them.”

Chopra was speaking in reference to the findings of the ‘2016 Norton Cyber Security Insights Report: Family Edition’, which released on Tuesday.

The report sheds light on parents’ perceptions of cyber bullying and the preventative measures they are putting in place to protect their children.

It reveals that while 40 per cent of Indian parents allowed their children to access the Internet before age 11, many had a wide range of concerns.

For example, more than half (54 per cent) believe their children are more likely to be bullied online than on a playground.

Parents’ chief concerns were that their children might:
• Download malicious programs or a virus (71 per cent)
• Disclose too much personal information to strangers (69 per cent)
• Be lured into meeting a stranger in the physical world (65 per cent)
• Do something online that makes the whole family vulnerable (62 per cent) or embarrassed (60 per cent)
• Be lured into illegal activities like hacking (61 per cent)