McAfee recently released the findings from its ‘Secret Life of Teens’ survey which gave a real insight into Aussie teens’ online behaviour. And the results … well, let’s just say they provided us parents with a real wake up call.

While 80% of parents interviewed in the survey trust their teens not to access age-inappropriate content online, 66.5% of teens said their parents don’t know everything they do online! Over 30% of teens admitted to the illegal practice of pirating music or movies, 68% said they had posted personal information online and, most alarmingly, 6% admitted to meeting up with a stranger after meeting online! More than 25% of the teens had been victims of cyber-bullying with over 50% of teens witnessing it as well.

And while the research showed that 80% of parents are having conversations with their teens about online safety, teens are clearly still engaging in risky behaviour. I firmly believe that these results highlight the need for real cyber education – ideally before kids hit the teenage years.

In recognition of this growing need for Cyber Education, McAfee has partnered with Life Education to develop a national cyber education program for Australian school children that will kick off in 2013.

The national cyber education program will take the form of a new Life Education Social Skills and Cybersafety module for middle primary students. Life Education will utilise McAfee’s expertise and experience in the security industry in creating Cybersafety content for upper primary students which will include strategies to deal with unsafe online situations. So, Life Education’s famous giraffe mascot, Healthy Harold, will be championing cyber safety in 2013.

As Steve Redman from McAfee said regarding the launch of the initiative, “Children’s online behaviour becomes entrenched very early on and if they are not properly educated about cyber safety, they will not be prepared to handle the situations they will certainly face online as teenagers. This is why we [McAfee] are joining with Life Education Australia to educate children about cyber safety starting in the middle primary years.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself Steve. We look forward to hearing about Healthy Harold’s adventures in Cyber Space!

Take Care,

Alex

But would you be shocked if I told you that there are three year olds with lines of credit and seven year olds with million dollar mortgages?

I was horrified. And no, it isn’t tiger parenting! It is identity theft at its worst – cybercriminals who intentionally target children and steal their social security numbers (like Australians’ Medicare numbers), birth dates and other unique identifying information.

A US study conducted by Carnegie Mellon CyLab found that 10 per cent of the 43,000 children they studied through background checks had their identity details stolen. The stolen identity details were most commonly used to get a job, avoid bad credit ratings or commit financial fraud.

And the worst part of this unhappy story is that it is sometimes not until these children reach adulthood that they realise they have been a victim. To reach 18 and discover you “own” a Ferrari (that you can’t drive!) and have a bad credit rating plus a history of defaulted loans is definitely not an ideal way to start your adult life. Not only could this affect their ability to find a place to live, but also become employed or even get a mobile phone.

So, what can we do to make sure our kids are safe from identity theft?

• Parents should protect their children’s unique identifying information including Medicare numbers and birth dates as they do their own.

• Tweens and teens need to be educated about cyber security and the need to protect their unique identifying information – particularly when using Facebook. Remind them not to share their personal information such as their birthday, address or the school they attend and to have their privacy settings turned on. And, most importantly, make sure they genuinely know all their friends – cybercriminals are renowned for creating fake Facebook profiles.

• Parents should regularly go on the Internet and check their children’s online presence.

So, before we meet again – do a little detective work and assess whether your kids might be at risk.

Take care,

Alex Merton-McCann

Most concerns revolve around online reputation management, identity theft, or physical security issues. Social networking creates a risk of posting content that will be damaging to yourself, your profile being hacked or your credentials being compromised, or inviting burglars to your home by publicizing your whereabouts.

Facebook faces a security challenge that few companies, or even governments, have ever faced: protecting more than 500 million users of a service that is under constant attack. I’m a huge proponent of “personal responsibility,” and that means that you are ultimately responsible for protecting yourself.

Keep your guard up. Cybercriminals target Facebook frequently. Every time you click on a link, you should be aware of the risks.

Be careful about making personal information public. Sharing your mother’s name, your pet’s name, or your boyfriend’s name, for example, provides criminals with clues to guess your passwords.

Technology can help make social networking more secure. The most common threats to Facebook users are links to spam and malware sent from compromised accounts. Consumers must be sure to have an active security software subscription, and not to let it lapse.

Get a complimentary antivirus software subscription from McAfee. Simply “like” McAfee’s Facebook page, go to “McAfee 4 Free,” and choose your country from the dropdown menu to download a six-month subscription to McAfee’s AntiVirus Plus software. The software protects users’ PCs from online threats, viruses, spyware, other malware, and includes the award-winning SiteAdvisor website rating technology. After the six-month McAfee AntiVirus Plus subscription period, Facebook users may be eligible for special discount subscription pricing.

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss hackers hacking social media on Fox Boston. (Disclosures)

In the U.S., a Puerto Rican’s identity is worth as much as $6,000, since it can be used to hide illegal immigrants. Like most personally identifying documents, Marrero’s were probably stolen from schools or church rectories.

Puerto Rican stolen identities have surfaced in immigration raids all over the country. “Birth certificates have become legal tender,” said Puerto Rico’s secretary of state. Here in the U.S. there are over 14,000 variations of the birth certificate. I personally have five versions of my own. That’s a stupid system.

Puerto Rico’s current solution is to void all existing birth certificates and have everyone reapply for new ones with better security, a plan that will make it harder to get fake documents in the future. But with millions of legal existing passports and driver’s licenses still valid, how is the real person identified?

The AP article states that the problem stems from the Puerto Rican tradition of requiring birth certificates to enroll in schools or to join churches, sports teams, or other groups. But the fact is, all Americans of every descent do the exact same thing. I remember having to bring my birth certificate with me to the YMCA summer camp. That’s why I have five, because we always needed duplicates for school, camp, even field trips!

Organized crime is likely involved in selling “tripletas,” consisting of a birth certificate, a Social Security card, and a driver’s license. Similarly, in criminal hacking communities, full sets of identifying information that can be used to steal an identity are packaged as “fullz” and sold for less than $100.

Victims face damaged credit, criminal records, and years of credit restoration. The time spent restoring one’s identity can potentially result in thousands of dollars in lost wages.

One victim, a 32-year-old married father of two whose credit has been ruined, told the AP that local authorities were dismissive: “They told me, ‘There are cases more important than that little case.’”

Not all identity theft can be prevented. However McAfee Identity Protection continually monitors your information and works to proactively protect you and will be there to assist you in the even your identity is compromised. Protect your most important asset, your identity.

Robert Siciliano
McAfee Consultant and Identity Theft Expert
Robert_Siciliano@McAfee.com
www.CounterIdentityTheft.com