As more children are using the Internet while under lockdown, cybersecurity multinational Kaspersky is offering free use of its Safe Kids parental control feature for three months.

Kaspersky Network Child Safety head Andrey Sidenko says it is crucial to help a child to navigate through the information that surrounds them on the Web and ensure that the experience is positive.

During the worldwide lockdown, children are prone to look for entertainment online more than ever, so this period has shown some important changes in their behaviour that correlated with the increase of activity, an analysis of the Kaspersky Safe Kids parental control module for the first quarter of this year shows.

"The most definite trend was an increase in the role of music in video content consumption, with the share of children that actively use the Internet to look for audio, video and software, having increased by 15% by the end of the first quarter.

"This trend was accompanied by an increase in children’s interest in news resources. Throughout the first quarter, this accounted for around 3% of all website hits. March has also shown a decrease of children’s interest to the e-commerce websites and online shops and video games – the traffic for the former decreased by 4% and the latter by 10% by the end of March."

The statistics show that South Africa is not an exception, as all over the world, children became more active online since the beginning of the pandemic.

"According to our data, the vast majority of children are most interested in socialising online and watching videos and listening to music, rather than in potentially unwanted content or disturbing news.

"What’s more, their activity online correlates with the adults’ interests during the lockdown: news and video content. If anything, this might be an opportunity to do these things together and bond, rather than for parents to worry,” comments Sidenko.

To help parents protect children from various Internet threats and unfavourable content, Kaspersky recommends parents offer help and support if they know what the child is looking for online, but that parents must use the information carefully.

"Discuss with your child how much time they can spend on social media. Try to persuade your child not to use social media during school lessons or at night. Try not to limit your child’s social circle, but tell them to take care when choosing friends and acquaintances.

"We also recommend that parents use a reliable security software solution, like Kaspersky Total Security. It incorporates Kaspersky Safe Kids and helps parents to protect their family and private data, as well as protect children online from cyberthreats and explicit content. Kaspersky is offering its best multi-device security free for three months," concludes Sidenko.