Cyber-duped parents
Malay Mail (12 Oct 2011)

KUALA LUMPUR: Only four out of 10 parents know what their children are accessing on the Internet.

Parents are also being duped into thinking their children spend an average of 11 hours a week online, whereas many are actually online for 19 hours.

These were the startling figures disclosed by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry at the Child Online Protection Seminar at a hotel here yesterday.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, said the figures were derived from the Norton Online Family Report (2010), which also showed nine out of 10 children had been, at some point, exposed to negative experiences while online.

"Nowadays, children as early as four years old have the ability to do a double-click and drag movement like experts and parents should play an important role in preventing them from being exposed to dangerous elements in the cyberworld," she said.

"We will cooperate with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector to identify the main online threats and on how to protect children from them.

"From the outcome of today's seminar, a new policy and law will be drafted to protect children in the cyberworld while accessing the Internet."

Shahrizat, who also launched a Child Online Protection book to guide families on Internet-friendly experiences, said the ministry planned to conduct programmes with parents and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) to give them enough information to handle such situations.

"We know parents are eager to learn more about this menace and we are ready to guide them because they must have full awareness to understand their role in monitoring their children," she said.

The seminar yesterday comprised 13 sessions with speakers from the government, NGOs and private sector, including Interpol Malaysia's National Central Bureau assistant director Supt Gan Tack Guan, CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Lt Col (Rtd) Prof Datuk Husin Jazri and Childline Malaysia representative, Au Yong Wai Leem.

The topics discussed included international cooperation to combat crimes against children, how children use
technology, and managing Internet-savvy children.

130 per cent increase in Internet crimes

IN the first nine months of this year, 11,930 cases of cyber crimes have been reported to CyberSecurity Malaysia, marking a whopping 130 per cent increase from the same period last year.

"The sharp rise in the number of reports on cyber crimes is due to the increasing number of Internet users here and greater public awareness of our hotline," said CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Lt Col (Rtd) Prof Datuk Husin Jazri, one of the speakers at the Child Online Protection Seminar held yesterday.

"The top cyber crimes here are fraud, spam, intrusion, malicious code, cyber harassment, vulnerabilities report, denial-of-service attacks and contentrelated attacks."

Husin said according to the latest data up to the first quarter of this year, 61.18 per cent of Malaysia's population of 28.6 million are Internet users.

"Nowadays, out of four emails received by an Internet user on a daily average, one email is likely to be fraudulent," he said.

"Of the 11,930 cases up to September this year, fraud makes up the biggest number at 4,175 cases."

Next two highest are spam (3,452 cases) and intrusion (2,345 cases).

"Last year, there were 354 cases involving cyber harassment, and happily none were perpetuated by children," said Husin.

"Still, we are glad to be working together with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry to educate parents and children to stop children being victimised by cyber criminals while surfing the Internet."

Husin urged those victimised by cyber crimes to email cyber999@cybersecurity.

Threats kids face on the net

• Cyber-bullying: When children are threatened, harassed, or targeted by other children using the Internet, mobile phone or other digital technology.
• Cyber-grooming: A process employed by child abusers to prepare a potential target for abuse by befriending and gaining the trust of a child.
• Identity theft: When someone uses your personal information accidentally disclosed or deliberately stolen, such as phone number or birth date, without your knowledge.
• Pornography: Children can be easily persuaded to pose in sexual positions with the right incentive and unknowingly become victims of child pornography.