What are the risks?

Over the last year, reports to Cybertip.ca of offenders hijacking children's instant messaging accounts have doubled. Once the account is hijacked, the child is coerced into sending sexually explicit pictures of themselves with the promise of regaining control of their account. An offender can take control of a child's account by guessing a weak password (one that is easy to guess), or by using a more elaborate scheme involving setting up a fake website and tricking the child into giving up their credentials.

One of the most disturbing trends Cybertip.ca is seeing is the use of remote access Trojans to invade both a person's computer and privacy without leaving a trace. Trojans are viruses usually attached to an email, file, or embedded on a website that are used to gain control of a person's computer without their knowledge. If a webcam is attached to the infected computer, the offender can easily capture everything that goes on within the camera's view. Ensure that you have up-to-date anti-virus software installed on your computer (more).

While mobile phones are incredibly popular with youth, the ability to communicate on the move, as well as the ability to view content instantaneously, raises some very real issues about child safety. Cybertip.ca and TELUS have joined forces to create the Mobile Safety microsite, a resource for parents/guardians. The site details current and potential safety issues to children/adolescents using mobile phones, as well as steps parents/guardians can take to ensure their child/adolescent’s mobile phone use is safe. (http://mobility.protectchildren.ca/app/en/)

Social networking sites have created an unprecedented ease of communication - children and youth can produce and distribute their own content, link to their peers, and establish a powerful network for sharing information with very little effort. Adolescents are particularly drawn to this environment to voice their opinions and express their independence.

These sites are rife with cyber-bullying, cases of users impersonating other children or teachers, and the posting of embarrassing pictures and defamatory content. Far more disturbing, however, is the fact that such forums are frequented by sexual offenders. Given the growing popularity of these sites and the overall lack of monitoring, it is expected that social networking sites will continue to figure prominently in future Internet-related child sexual abuse cases.