Online Safety

Download: Online Safety Policy 2023-2024 [PDF]

What Parents Need to Know About Hacking

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About Hacking‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About Hacking [PDF]

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What is Hacking?

Hacking is the unauthorised attempt to exploit a computer system or network. There are different types of hackers who are usually categorised under ‘hats’. White hat hackers are known as ethical hackers and have no intent to cause harm, but rather will penetrate a system to identify weaknesses. Black hat hackers or Crackers are those who intentionally hack to gain unauthorised access to harm or steal sensitive information. Grey hat hackers act more for fun and exploit security weaknesses in computer systems to raise awareness of issues for recognition, political awareness, or financial reward.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as theft of personal data, inappropriate content and breaking the law.

What Parents Need to Know About Friends & Followers

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About Friends & Followers‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About Friends & Followers [PDF]

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More Information

What makes social media actually ‘social’ are the connections users make with other users on the platforms. Every social networking site handles these connections differently, calling them ‘connections’, ‘friends’ and ‘followers’, amongst others. Having friends and followers is how we find out what other people say and do. Your friends and followers are much more likely to see your online content than those outside of your network, which is why it’s important to be mindful of who you connect with and what you share. On some platforms, if two accounts follow each other, this may allow additional communication channels such as private messaging.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as online bullying, catfishing and access to private information.

What Parents Need to Know About Age Ratings

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About Age Ratings‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About Age Ratings [PDF]

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What are Age Ratings?

A game’s age rating can be used by adults to make an informed choice as to whether or not a game is suitable for their child. The PEGI (Pan European Game Information) system rates games and, instead of indicating the level of ability required to physically play a game, it indicates the suitability of content for that age group. 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18 are the labels that can be awarded to games and a variety of content descriptions such as violence, bad language and fear are used to further clarify why the label was assigned.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as inappropriate content, peer pressure and online spending.

What Parents Need to Know About WhatsApp

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About WhatsApp‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About WhatsApp [PDF]

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What is WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging service, with around two billion users exchanging texts, photos, videos and documents, as well as making voice and video calls. Its end-to-end encryption means messages can only be viewed by the sender and any recipients: not even WhatsApp can read them. Updates to its privacy policy in 2021 (involving sharing data with parent company Facebook) caused millions to leave the app, but the new policy was widely misinterpreted – it only related to WhatsApp’s business features, not to personal messages. In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as scams, strangers and location sharing.

What Parents Need to Know About Yubo

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About Yubo‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About Yubo [PDF]

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What is Yubo?

Yubo is a social networking platform where users can chat and livestream with up to 10 friends at once. People can connect with others based on location, with a Tinder-style ‘swiping’ mechanism to accept or reject someone based on their profile pictures. The app has approximately 50 million users worldwide – but despite its popularity, Yubo has not been free from controversy. While the app claims to monitor inappropriate content, a newspaper investigation in early 2022 found young users being exposed to sexual harassment, racism, bullying and conversations with adult themes.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as cyberbullying, inappropriate content and flimsy age gates.

What Parents Need to Know About NFTs

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About NFTs‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About NFTs [PDF]

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What are NFTs?

A non-fungible token, or NFT, is a unique digital record of a particular file – such as an image, audio track or video (non-fungible meaning it can’t be replaced by an identical item). NFTs let digital content producers like artists and designers control how their work is distributed and monetised. The offline equivalent would be owning a limited-edition art print, signed by the artist, with a certificate of authentication. The value of NFTs is incredibly volatile, unregulated and very much based on hype, publicity and marketing. These digital assets – typically collectibles, avatars for social media profiles or character add-ons for online games – are traded in specialised marketplaces using cryptocurrency.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as IP theft, scams and financial loss.

What Parents Need to Know About Wink

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About Wink‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About Wink [PDF]

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What is Wink?

Wink is a messaging app which allows children to connect and communicate with other users. In a similar style to Tinder, Wink uses the swipe method for browsing profiles and accepting or declining them. Once two users have accepted each other by swiping on each other’s profile, they can then communicate and play games online together. The fact that Wink allows children to share photos, personal information and their location with other users has caused significant concern.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as grooming, cyberbullying and inappropriate content.

Checking in with Your Friends

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘Checking in with Your Friends‘ below.

Download: Check in with Your Friends [PDF]

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More Information

Young people need to learn to take care of their minds as well as their bodies. Lots of things can damage the way they feel and think, and it’s more common than people realise – one in every five children, for example, struggles with their mental health. Sending memes, jokes and messages online is easy – but finding the right words to talk to a friend who’s having a hard time can be tricky. Designed to be printed out and displayed in schools, our poster could help your child find the right time – and the right way – to check in with a friend.

In the guide, you’ll find tips such as sending nice messages, asking how you can help someone and being a good listener.

What Parents Need to Know About Online Respect

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About Online Respect‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About Online Respect [PDF]

Download: Inspiring Children to Build a Better Digital World [PDF]

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What is Online Respect?

Our ability to communicate with anyone in the world, at any time, via the internet has grown at breakneck speed. For teachers and parents, it can feel impossible to keep up. Worrying about our young people is understandable, and not unjustified: in 2020, for example, one in five 10- to 15-year-olds experienced bullying online. Our tips highlight ways that adults can support young people’s positive online behaviours: by adopting and following ‘netiquette’, we can show them how to avoid getting into difficulty as they learn to negotiate the continually evolving digital landscape.

In the guide, you’ll find a number of tips such as protecting yourself, replying wisely and being forgiving.

What Parents Need to Know About YouTube (2022)

Please find the National Online Safety guide for ‘What Parents Need to Know About YouTube‘ below.

Download: What Parents Need to Know About YouTube (2022) [PDF]

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What is YouTube?

YouTube is a video-sharing social media platform that allows billions of people around the world to watch, share and upload their own videos with a vast range of content – including sport, entertainment, education and lots more. It’s a superb space for people to consume content that they’re interested in. As a result, this astronomically popular platform has had a huge social impact: influencing online culture on a global scale and creating new celebrities.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as connecting with strangers, inappropriate content and high visibility.