Cybersecurity, viruses: why children are in danger ?

© Unsplash/Ludovic Toinel

This is one of the blind spots in cybersecurity. We talk very little about children and the risks they face on the Internet in terms of viruses. If we could think that digital natives are better equipped to resist this malware, we are quite wrong if we are to believe this study by the company Home Security Heroes.

These Internet searches that put them in danger

To see more clearly, analysts have compiled a list of the most popular search terms among children. They then entered these terms into Google with qualifiers such as streaming, download and collected the first 50 results. By screening them, the authors were able to determine their level of risk.

And it turns out that the youngest are targeted as much as adults. Thus, two thirds of the most popular pop culture terms among toddlers are likely to infect their devices with viruses. This is the case with Baby Boss, Beetlejuice, Pokémon, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemwsworth are also at-risk actors during research, just like Taylor Swift for music.

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What to conclude from these results ? We must first be aware of these threats which directly target our children. We can already explain to them the many risks present online, but this also falls within the framework of digital education which is taught at school.

The researchers add:

By understanding the most common search terms that can lead to malware, we can take proactive steps to protect the digital well-being of the youngest members of our families.

The risks also weigh heavily on the oldest among us. Thus, in a report released in 2021, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the FBI branch in charge of cybercrime, estimated that the probability of being hacked increases enormously depending on the age of the Internet user. In detail, the losses of those over fifty are much greater: + $9,000 on average for the latter, compared to just over $3,000 for those under 20.

How to explain this result ? Young people could be a little more aware than seniors on these subjects. But older Internet users are also prime targets, because their wealth is often higher than that of the new generations.

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