McAfee Recruits Mother of Three as Industry’s
First Chief Cyber Security Mom
Key Findings:
58% of moms think the government is not doing enough to keep kids
safe online
32% of teens clear the browser history to hide what they do online
from their parents
34% of teen girls have given out photos or physical descriptions of
themselves to strangers
About two-thirds of mothers of teens in the United States are just as,
or more, concerned about their teenagers’
online safety, such as from threatening emails or solicitation by online
sexual predators, as they are about drunk driving (62 per cent) and
experimenting with drugs (65 per cent), according to new research
released today by Internet security company McAfee, Inc.
This fear is supported by the McAfee study, which revealed that 52 per
cent of teens have given out personal information to someone online they
don’t know offline, with 34 per cent of online
teen girls having given out a photograph or a physical description of
themselves to someone they don’t know. The
biggest hurdle mothers face is keeping track of what their kids do
online, as 32 per cent of teens said they have cleared the browser
history when they have finished using the computer, and 16 per cent have
created private e-mail addresses or social networking profiles to hide
what they do online from their parents.
“As a father of three I certainly worry about
what my kids may do and encounter online,”
said Dave DeWalt, McAfee president and chief executive officer. “While
progress has been made over the past decade to combat online dangers,
they remain very real for our kids. Education is a key part of the
McAfee Initiative to Fight Cybercrime, which we announced yesterday,
because we know that informed parents will mean safer kids online.”
The research conducted by Harris Interactive®
for McAfee among more than 1,000 U.S. moms of online teens aged 13-17
and online teens aged 13-17, offers numerous insights into moms’
fears and teenagers’ behaviors on the
Internet. Fifty-eight per cent of mothers do not believe the government
is doing enough to keep children safe online. And moms no longer view
their children’s bedrooms as a safe place
either – 44 per cent said they worry about
their teens’ safety when they are online in
their bedroom unsupervised, and about one in four (24 per cent) are more
concerned about what their children do online than what they do when
they are out of the house. When it comes to their teens’
online behavior, sharing too much personal information is a primary
worry of 58 per cent of mothers.
Are Mothers Deluding Themselves About What Their Kids Do Online?
According to the study, the answer is a resounding “yes.”
McAfee’s research found that 72 per cent of
mothers have a verbal agreement with their teen –
that is, a discussion of what is and is not allowed online –
and 48 per cent admitted they don’t always
know what their kids do online.
