Parents enthralled at a cyber security workshop in Mount Olympus School
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Parents enthralled at a cyber security workshop in Mount Olympus School

In addition to learning about various cyber threats, parents also got to know about the ways through which they could protect their children from these threats.

Parents enthralled at a cyber security workshop in Mount Olympus School

Today morning, a workshop titled ‘Cyber Safety for Parents’ was organised in Sector 50, Gurgaon by Mount Olympus School. The workshop kept parents glued to their seats with its interesting and topical content on cybersecurity.

In an age where social media has seeped into our lives in practically all spheres, the importance of knowledge related to cyber threats and securities becomes critical. The workshop covered threats and securities related to social media, email, mobile services, online shopping and most importantly, gaming and communication.

The workshop was conducted by Rakshit Tandon, Chief Resource Advisor and Speaker for IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India), who is presently executing the “SAFE SURFING” campaign and conducting seminars on ‘Cyber Threats to Children in Digital World’.

The occasion was graced by the Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Khirwar, who was the chief guest for the day. Also present at the occasion were chairperson of Mount Olympus School, D.S. Saini, ACP of SO 1, Manish Sehgal and ACP, Sadar, Inderjeet. The event started with the principal of the school, Neeti Kaushik, greeting the esteemed guests.

In his address to the parents, the Commissioner of Police stressed on the importance of learning about cybersecurity and highlighted the increasing cases of cyber crime.

“As parents, we need to develop an understanding with our children so that they share their confidential information with us too. Cybersecurity today needs awareness from people, better skilled authorities to address the complaints and sharing of information on how we must keep our passwords secure and safe,” said Sandeep Khirwar.

During the workshop, Rakshit Tandon interacted with the parents and educated them on how WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat can be misused and hacked. He also told them how the information thus obtained is used to blackmail youngsters and how frequent cases of such nature have surfaced in the recent past.

He further went on to highlight many important facts. Like, for instance, not many know that the legal age for WhatsApp and Facebook is at least 13 years. He further stated that violent internet games are affecting young brains when the focus should instead be on learning and absorbing.

He emphasized that the time on the internet for children should be limited to 45 minutes per day and they should be encouraged to play logical games rather than violent ones. In fact, encouraging children to learn to programme from a young age develops their brain positively.

He shared some very critical information regarding cyber laws. He explained IT Acts 66 and 67 that pertain to cyber safety and security. While the IT Act 66 pertains to data theft, Pin and card related issues in addition to cyber terrorism, IT Act 67 prohibits sharing, publishing and transmission of any derogatory and obscene information and can result in 3 years of jail and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.  Further, 67(A) specifies that sharing any material of a sexual  nature is a non-bailable offence and would result in 5 years of jail.

“Nothing gets deleted but is stored on the cloud,” said Tandon. He explained how all information gets stored on the cloud and deletion of information from a local device does not erase the data.

He finally cleared many doubts that parents had in a question-answer session and explained how to best protect one’s Facebook, Instagram and Whattsapp account by using mechanisms such as a two-step authentication process.