Patching our children

Today the UK Council on Child Internet Safety [UKCCIS] is launching its Child Internet Safety Strategy. The strategy is designed to encourage children not to disclose personal information, to block unwanted messages on social networks and to report inappropriate behaviour.

As part of the strategy, Internet safety will be made a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for children aged five upwards. There will also be a new digital code for Internet safety.

UKCCIS is also launching its ‘Click Clever, Click Safe’ public awareness campaign.

It’s good to see government lending some weight to education of young people. Cybercriminals so often try to exploit human weaknesses. And I believe that finding ways to ‘patch’ our human resources is every bit as important as securing our computing devices. Education isn’t a quick fix. It’s a bit like housework – we know it’s essential if we want to live comfortably, and we know that it has to be done regularly. And exactly the same goes for education throughout our lives.