8/2/2019 What Are Your Kids Doing Online
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Secur i ty ALer tW h a t A reYour KidsDoing Onl ine?
BY TONY BRADLEY iREMEMBER THOSE PUBLIC se rv ice ann oun ce -m e
n t s o n T V t h a t p o i n te d l y o b s e r v e d , " I t ' s
1 0p .m .; d o y o u k n o w w h e r e y o u r c h i l d r e n a r
e ? " I n2011 y o u r c h i l d r e n m i g h t b e s a fe l y a t
h o m e , s i t t i n gqu ie t l y in the i r r oomsbut thanks to
PCs, smar t -p h o n e s , a n d t a b l e t s , t h e y c a n s t
i l l b e a t r i s k r o v in g i nc y b e r s p a c e . T h e t h
r e a t s t h e y f a c e w h i l e o n l i n e a r e t w o f o l d
.
1. W h e r e a s m o v ie s a n d v id e o g a m e s h a v e r a
t in g s y s t e m s t oh e l p pa r e n t s d e t e r m i n e w h
a t i s a p p ro p r i a t e , t h e I n t e r n e t h a s n os u c
h r a t i n g s y s t e m . Co n s e q u e n t l y i t is u p t
oparents to be aware of what the i r k ids ared o i n g , b o t h o
n l in e a n d o n t h e i r p h o n e s .
2 . C y b e r b u l ly i n g i s a r e a l a n d g r o w i n g c
o n -c e r n . P a r e n t s n e e d t o m a ke s u r e t h a t t h
e i rc h i l d r e n a r e n e i t h e r v i c t i m s o f c y b e
r b u l ly i n gn o r t h e o n e s e n g a g e d i n d i g i t a l
a s s a u l t s . "~
P a r e n t s c a n a l s o u s e t e c h n o l o g y t o t r a
c k w h e r e t h e i r c h i l d r e ngo , a n d t o ke e p a n e
y e o n s m a r t ph o n e a n d I n t e r n e t a c t i v i t y t
og u a r d a g a i n s t i n a p p r o p ri a t e b e h a v i o r a
n d o t h e r w i s e p r o t e c t k i d s .L e t ' s l o o k a t
s o m e t h i n g s p a r e n t s c a n d o t o p r o p e r ly k e
e p t a b s .K e e p Trac k o f W he re The y A reSe rv ices suc h
as A T&T Fami lyMap, Ver izon Fami ly Lo cator , andS p r i n t
F a m il y L o c a t o r l e t p a r e n t s k e e p t r a c k o f
t h e p h y s i c a lw h e r e a b o u t s o f t h e i r c h i ld r
e n by t ra c k i n g t h e l o c a t i o n o f th ek ids ' m o b i
le p h o n e (y o u c a n f i n d l i n k s t o a l l t h r e e o f
th e s e s e r -vices at f ind.pcwor ld.com/71755). The service s d
o provide somep e a c e o f m i n d , b u t t h e y a l s o h a v e
s o m e l i m it a t i o n s .
T h e s e s e r v i c e s d o e s s e n t i a l l y t h e s a m
e t h i n g : s u pp ly r e a l -t i m el o c a t i o n i n f o r m
a t i o n t h a t c a n b e v ie w e d f r o m a PC o r a s m a r t
-p h o n e , a n d d i s p l a y d e t a i l e d i n f o r m a t i
o n a b o u t t h e c u r r e n t l o c a -t i o n o f th e p h o n
e . T h e s e r v ic e s e n a b l e p a r e n t s t o s e t a u t
o m a t e d
H e re 's ho w t o k e e p y ou rc h i l d r e n f r o m g e t t
i n g i n t ot r o u b l e o n l i n e , w i t h o u tu n d u ly e
n c r o a c h i n g o nt he i r i nd iv idu a l p r iv ac y .
a l e r t s t o n o t i fy t h e m a s t o w h e r e a c h i
ldis a t a spec i f i c t ime of day, o r whe n th ec h i l d a r r
i v e s s a f e l y a t s c h o o l , o r h o m e .P a r e n t s c
a n a ls o v ie w s h o r t - t e r m h i s t o r i -c a l d a t a
o f t h e c h i l d 's l o c a t i o n s .
W h e n i t w o r k s , a t ra c k i n g s e r vi c e c a np in
p o i n t t h e l o c a t i o n o f t h e c h i l d ( o r a t
l e a s t t h e c h i l d 's m o b i le p ho n e ) d o w n t o a
s p e c i fi c a d d r e s s . H o w -e v e r, d e pe n d i n g o n
t h e s e r v ic e u s e d a n d t h e m o b i le p h o n e b e i n
gt r a c k e d , t h e i n f o r m a t i o n m a y n o t b e s u f
f i c i e n t l y a c c u r a t e .M o b il e p h o n e s n o t e q
u i p pe d w i t h GPS a r e t r a c k e d b a s e d o nt h e i r p
r o x i m i t y t o t h e n e a r e s t c e l l t o w e r . Th e d
e v i c e c a n s t i l l bet r a c k e d , b u t b e in g a b le t
o d e t e r m i n e t h a t y o u r c h i l d is s o m e -w h e r e
w i t h i n a 2 - m i le r a d i u s i s n ' t a l l t h a t h e l
p f u l . H o m e , s c h o o l ,th e m a l l , a n d m a n y o t h
e r t h i n g s m i g h t b e w i t h i n t h a t r a d i u s .M o
n i to r S m a r tp h o n e A c t i vi tyF or i n a p pr o p r ia t
e a c t i v i ty a n d c y b e r b u l ly i n g , y o u m u s t m o
n i t o rt h e a c t i vi t y o n t h e s m a r t p h o n e , ra t
h e r t h a n i t s lo c a t i o n . T e e n sengage in a l l t
ypes of inappropr ia te behav iori t def ines be ing at e e n t o s
o m e e x t e n t . Bu t s e x t in g s e n d i n g i n a p pr o p
r ia t e p h o t o so r c o m m e n t s v ia S M S m e s s a g e s
c a n h a ve s e r i o u s r e p e r c u s -s i o n s . A n d m o b
i le p h o n e s c a n be u s e d f o r i n t e r a c t i o n s f r
o m
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Security A lert
e-mail to instant messaging to social net-work updatespossible
bullying outlets.
Parents should also be aware of whattheir children are doing
with their sm art-phones. WebWatcher and SpectorSoftoffer products
for monitoring and loggingsmartphone activity. Available for
Black-Berry and Android (with an iPhone ver-sion planned for late
2011), WebWatcherMobile (find.pcworld.com/71773) logs alltext
messaging activity and e-mail mes-sages. Parents can also set up ke
ywordalerts to be instantly notified if specificinappropriate
behavior is detected.
Likewise, SpectorSoft's eBlaster Mobile(find.pcworld.com/71774)
is available forBlackBerry and Android smartphones. I tprovides
more-comprehensive s mart-phone monitoring, including logs of
everyWebsite visited, every voice call m ade orreceived, and
detailed GPS mapping info.Be Their Inte rne t GuardiansThe PC is
another area where parentsneed to monitor activity, to ensure
thatthe ch ild is not engaging in undesirableactivities and is not
a victim of onlineharassment or cybercrime. Both Web-Watcher and
Spe ctorSoft have PC ver-sions of their monitoring products.
The PC versions are more robust thantheir smartphone
counterparts. Web-Watcher for the PC monitors other ac tivi-ty s
uch as Websites visited, applicationsused, and instant messaging.
It also logsall keystrokes and can perform periodicscreen captures
for a visual log of exactlywhat was on the PC at a given time.
SpectorSoft's eBlaster, like WebWatch-er, gathers details such
as applicationsused and keystrokes typed, but it sendsme reports
directly via e-mail.
My intent is not to shield my childrenfrom the realities of the
world or of theIntern et. But just as movie and videogame ratings
help determine what typesof content are age-appropriate, I
consid-er it one of my o bligations as a parent tohave an idea of
what my ch ildren aredoing with their PCs and smartphones.
BUGS & F IXE SMicrosoft's Recent Security UpdatesPlus;
Mozilla adds stolen HTTPScertificates to blacklist.MICROSOFT
RELEASED ONLY three security bulle-tins in March . And Mozilla
updated its certificateblacklist (which it uses to help block
malicious sites)to include nine stolen HTTPS certificates.
IJAMES MULROYicroso ft's Patch Tuesday Update
Microsoft security advisories M Sl l-0 15 , MS ll-0 16 ,and M S
ll- 01 7 address vulnerabilities in DirectShow, Windows Media
Player andMedia Center, Microsoft Groove, and Windows Remote
Desktop C lient.
The first bulletin, M Sl l-0 15 , fixes a flaw in DirectShow (a
multimedia frame-work for prog ramm ers), Windows Media Player, and
Media Center. Left unpatched,the vulnerability could allow remote
code execution if you open a maliciousMicrosoft D igital Video
Recording (.dvr-ms) file. This bulletin is rated critical.
The other two b ulletins are rated im portant: Attacks could be
triggered if youopened a legitimate Groove-related file in the same
network directory as a m ali-cious library file; or ifyou opened a
legitimate Remote Desktop configuration (.rdp)file in the same
network folder as a malicious library file. E ither situation
couldgive an attacker remote access to your PC, if the attacker
previously had access to
the network directory that you use, or if youvisit a directory
co ntaining these files.
To prevent your system from being ex ploit-ed, you should
install the updates as soon aspossible using Windows Update. To
learnmore about each updateand to downloadthem manuallyvisit
find.pcwortd.com/71717.Mozilla Security UpdatesMozilla recently
released ten security adviso-ries, as well as an update to the
iHTTPS certifi-cate blac klist. Of the vulne rabilities, eight
arerated critical, two are rated high, and the last one is rated
mode rate.
The advisories address vulnerabilities in plug-ins, redirects,
memory corrup-tion, buffer overflows in JavaScript, and mo re for
the Mozilla F oundation's Firefox3.6.14 and 3.5.17, Seamonkey
2.0.12, and Thunderbird 3.1.8.
On March 15, attackers stole nine SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
certificates fromCmodo, a certificate reseller. These certificates
are documents that help p ro-vide security and privacy over the
Internet and in certain applications (such asfor accessing your
bank account o nline); by checking a W ebsite's "certificate,"your
Web browser can verify that the site you're visiting is the re al
site. Advisory2011-11 updated the certificate blacklist to prevent
misuse of the nine certificates.
To protect yourself, keep your browser up-to-date, using your
browser's auto-matic update feature. For more information on the
Mozilla updates, visit: find.pcworld.com/71718;
find.pcworld.com/71719; and find.pcworld.com/71720.
