KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A cyber expert is warning parents to be vigilant about online threats children could be exposed to as schools shift to online learning.
According to the FBI, children who are home and online are at increased risk of exploitation. The agency said anyone can be targeted by hackers and scammers.
Tech expert Burton Kelso said parents and guardians need to take several steps to protect their children from online threats.
“If you're homeschooling your kids or your kids are using a computer, all windows devices and Apple devices have parental controls built-in. So you need to just go to settings in each device and enable parental controls, which will allow you to at least block some of those harmful sites that kids will try to visit rather than trying to do their school work," he explained.
Kelso added that another online threat to children that parents need to be aware of doesn’t come from strangers, but often classmates.
“Cyberbullying has really increased in COVID-19, so parents need to be aware and watch their kids' devices to make sure they’re not being bullied," he said.
