Five Tips to Protect Your Child's Personal Information Online

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In today’s digital age, your child’s online personal information can be easily misused by criminals, leading to serious harm. Guide your child on how to respond to a data breach and understand the importance of sharing their personal information with care to safeguard their digital identity.

What is personal information?

Personal information is any data that can identify an individual in real life. Examples include full name, address, phone number, photos, date of birth, NRIC number, school, and email address.

If Your Child’s Personal Information is Breached

In the unfortunate event of a data breach, organisations are required to inform their users as it may result in risk or harm to their users. However, always verify the authenticity of such notifications and do not click on any provided link immediately. Instead, check the organisation's official website or contact them via their hotline. Once verified, follow the instructions advised by the organisation to protect your child’s personal information, such as changing passwords or contacting your banks.

Five Tips to Keep Your Child's Personal Information Secure

1. Choose Trusted Websites

Guide your child to check if the website is legitimate before entering any personal information. Look for “https” and a padlock icon in the URL bar as signs of a secure website, though these are not completely foolproof. Look out for businesses that have the Data Protection Trustmark (DPTM) logo as this shows that they have accountable data protection practices to manage your child’s data.

2. Take Responsibility For Their Personal Information

Does your child frequently click “I agree” without reading cookie consent pop-ups? Many websites collect the information for marketing and research purposes. Teach your child to review the privacy policies and understand how their information will be used before agreeing. They can also control their browsing settings and decide how they want to be tracked, if at all.

3. Protect Your Child’s Device

Ensure your child’s device is updated regularly and has anti-virus software installed to schedule regular scans. Review the device’s privacy settings by turning off unnecessary location sharing, contact sharing, and Bluetooth connectivity. Encourage your child to avoid connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi networks to perform online transactions.

4. Review Your Child’s Digital Presence

Conduct an online search of your child to understand their digital presence. Use this as a teaching moment to discuss the importance of data protection and the need to be cautious about where they share their personal information online. Remind your child not to post personal information and review their social media privacy settings together. Encourage your child to go through their friends list carefully, and limit access to their personal information where necessary.

5. Stay Alert

Scammers often impersonate government officials or reputation businesses to gain your child’s trust. Remind your child to stay alert and cautious of unsolicited requests for personal information, suspicious links or attachments from unknown or unofficial sources. Legitimate organisations will never ask them to transfer money or verify their identity over emails, mobile messages or calls.

By adopting these practical steps, you can help to instil safe digital habits in your child and protect their personal information online. Get more tips on protecting your child’s personal information here.