FBI Offers Parents Cell Phone Security Tips for Students

The FBI recently shared tips on how to build a "digital defense" to protect children when they are in school with cell phones.

Here are some basic tips to keep students safe:

• The phone should default to a locked setting. The only people who should have that access code are the child and the parent.
• Beyond that, parents should know every password to every device and every password to every app on that device. Parents wand kids to have some privacy as they grow up, but they are still kids. Parents pay the bill, and as long as that child is a child, the child is the parents' responsibility.
• Check the privacy and security settings on the phone and the apps. Check regularly to make sure they are up-to-date.
• Learn about how photos are geo-tagged. Even those who are discreet about what they post, could face photo could be tagging in the meta-data with a child’s exact location. Parents should be able to turn the feature off in settings.
• Teach kids to never respond to calls, texts, or e-mails from unknown numbers or people. Scam artists and predators are more than happy to victimize them, regardless of age.

If a parents thinking their child has been victimized by an online crime can make a report to the FBI. An online report can be filed at the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or call your FBI local office.

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