Abingdon, UK, 11 June 2013 - Kaspersky Lab has today revealed that children in the UK are attempting to access pornographic sites more than any other Parent Control restricted site. The company’s recent research reveals that in the first five months of 2013, over 23 per cent of UK children attempted to access a pornographic website. In second place, 19 per cent attempted to visit online stores with social networking sites rating third place with 16 per cent. The research also revealed that children in the UK attempted to access online gaming sites (5.94 per cent) and virtual chats and forums (4.84 per cent).
Due to these risks and with the long summer holidays looming, Kaspersky Lab would like to remind parents that at this time of year children will not only be spending more time outside – they’ll be using the Internet more as well. The web is a source of useful information and knowledge during the school year, but when used without restrictions can be a dangerous environment for young web-surfers. Threats, varying from viruses to serious fraud, let alone content not intended for children’s eyes, can place your children – and even the whole family – in real danger.
Families now tend to have more and more devices which can access the Internet, which means it’s easier than ever for kids to get online – and harder than ever to control what they do there. According to research by B2B International conducted in April 2013 for Kaspersky Lab, the average family owns two or three PCs or laptops (2.5 devices is the worldwide average), one or two smartphones (1.4 on average) and one tablet (0.7 on average). Children use all of these devices to some extent or other, while Parental Control options are far from widely used.
“As always, prevention is better than cure. This is the principle that our Parental Control technology follows. In the modern world, access to any type of information has become easier than ever before. At the same time, children are especially vulnerable, and their outlooks are by nature naïve. Therefore, tools to protect children from inappropriate web content should become obligatory,” said David Emm, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab. “In Kaspersky Lab’s products, Parental Control features are integrated into the newest protection technologies, so users receive a comprehensive solution which ensures a secure online experience for children and at the same time prevents possible infections, attacks and other online threats.”
Parental Control enables parents to shield their children from unwanted content in a tactful and intelligent manner without blocking web access altogether. Using simple tools, parents can configure protection features to meet their needs and the needs of their children. Parental Control allows parents to restrict access to specific sites and programs, or to the entire Internet. Similarly, parents can set timetables for their children’s computer use: at an inappropriate time, the computer simply won’t switch on, so children won’t be distracted from their homework or other important things.
The Parental Control module includes a complete feature list to protect children while they use a computer and are online. These features are available in the following Kaspersky Lab products:
Kaspersky Lab has also released dedicated applications for smartphones and Tablet PCs in response to their huge popularity with youngsters: Parental Control (Safe Browser) for iOS and Parental Control for Android. These applications can be downloaded from official app stores for the appropriate mobile platforms.
Survey results were acquired by Kaspersky using its improved mechanism of collecting statistical data which can now identify the categories of sites which are most popular with youngsters, regardless of whether Parental Control allows them to visit or not.
