89% Indians Believe Schools Should Educate Children On Online Safety | Study

As per McAfee’sCloud Adoption and Risk Report 81 per cent of the people in India said that since last year, at least one member in their household started either full time or part-time online learning via virtual platforms. In 34 per cent of households, these learners fall between the age group of 18-24 years, followed by 29 per cent between 13-18 years, 24 per cent between 5-12 years, 21 per cent between 25-35 years, 16 per cent over 35 years, and 9 per cent even under the age of 5. Given that a large young audience has adapted to virtual learning, there’s a greater need to ensure their online safety and it’s encouraging to know that 36 per cent of the respondents who participate in distant learning, purchased new security/protection technology in India. 

Highlights:

• 62 per cent believe that digital wellness and protection should have its own separate curriculum while 27 per cent feel it should be integrated into technology subjects like IT
• 81 per cent of Indians state that at least one member in their household started learning online or via virtual platforms during the pandemic 
• 36 per cent of members in the household who took up distance learning purchased new security/protection technology to protect their family/home

Here are some tips and to-dos to stay safe:

• Don’t click all that you see: Despite knowing the sender, never click any kind of unsolicited links included in emails, text messages, or screen pop-ups. Ensure to scrutinize the email/text before you reply. 
• Don’t go overboard with sharing: Maximise privacy settings on all social profiles and engage in safe social networking. Steer clear of giving out too much personal information by deleting any post that involuntarily divulges personal data. Take into consideration removing the names of family members, school, hometown, and birthdays.
• Access from home securely: Use a VPN when children are accessing online learning services from home to protect the privacy of the internet connection with bank-level encryption to stop hackers stealing personal information like passwords or data.
• Teach personal responsibility: With misinformation a major concern for many parents, it’s important for parents to educate their children about fake news and how to spot it. Ask children to question the content they read or watch online to determine if it is credible before making up their minds.
• Discuss digital wellness around the dinner table: While it can sound like a boring topic, it’s important for families to regularly discuss online safety at home. Parents should talk to their children about how to spot a phishing scam, what to do if there’s been a data breach and how to have good digital wellness.
• Strong, complex passwords: Strong passwords are critical, and hence, one must use complex catchphrases and combinations of letters, characters, and numbers. Prefer two-factor authentication to add an additional layer of protection between you and a potential attacker. As members of the family often share devices, it is critical that security software is present on all endpoints, minimising the risk of attack vectors.
• Cautious information sharing: While learning online, there could be instances where children are required to exchange information with their peers. Ensure that any information shared online is not sensitive in nature. Using security tools with parental controls like McAfee® Safe Family on all internet-enabled devices helps to monitor children online in addition to having endpoint malware and data protection across all your devices.  

Research methodology

McAfee commissioned MSI International to conduct a survey of over 1,000 adults in each country in April 2021, ages 18–75. This press release only includes data from the India survey. Additional surveys were conducted in U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and. Data for these regions can be requested via media contact below.