Children are increasingly at risk of becoming victims of spam and phishing attacks, as cyber criminals lure them into clicking on malicious links.
The security vendor explains that the most common scams are pop-up ads that target children and promise prizes, fake anti-virus software, and fake apps claiming to increase a computer's speed.
Norton warns that these scams may result in infected computers, stolen private information, and identity theft. The vendor says it is increasingly seeing more mobile device phishing and spam that appeal to children.
These 'smishing', or SMS phishing scams, sign up child users for expensive mobile services, or request private financial information to get enrolled in a 'contest'.
According to the recent Norton Cybercrime Report, 10% of adults worldwide have already been victims of mobile cyber crime. And children can easily fall for any of these tricks, sharing their parent's credit card details, or sharing their own information.
Just as parents give rules to their children when they go trick-or-treating, says Norton, they should also be educating them on what to do in the online world.
The security expert advises online users to stick to familiar Web sites and use search-rating tools, like Norton Safe Web, to avoid accessing dangerous sites. In addition, security software should be installed on all computers, including mobile devices like cellphones and tablets.
Norton says passwords need to be complex, and parents must make sure their children don't share these passwords. It also advises parents to educate their children about Internet scams, misleading advertising and other malicious online activity.
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