E-Safety for Schools & Business

Why are we getting these emails?

 This is the main issue facing on/offline safety & progress for children. The same issues now affect all businesses across the world. If a person types in English and sits at a computer provided by your enterprise or authority, you have a duty of care to ensure they are not using the facility to harm others or even become a victim of cyberbullying. In the worst case scenario: conduct illegal activity. The danger zones are well known and reasonably well understood but you have to ask yourself these questions:

How do you know what you don't know?

Would you like to know what you don't know?

Why you should know what you don't know?

 

Safe Surfers!

With the ever increasing pressure for young people to participate in social networking, how do they find time to live a normal life? In the modern world, phones, email, SMS, and gaming are played, and indeed lived, in a persistent environment in real time, demanding an almost 24hr response. Is this digital saturation? Maybe this is normal life now? Do users need a Digital Detox? These issues are frequently debated in society today as it is clear that the E-xperiences of young people are shaping and influencing futures. This presents as many challenges as it does opportunities.

Weybridge Security is working with schools, businesses and families to help increase levels of understanding and initiate actions that are inclusive, safe and meaningful. There are many risks to just allowing children to venture into the unknown by themselves, especially when the opportunities for them to discover both friend and foe is almost instant.

We highlight the main issues pertinent to each individual client and then direct and engage agencies or systems that provide workable proven solutions. In addition we currently offer a 'Best of Breed' monitoring system for use in State or Independent schools. info@weybridgesecurity.com

Securus NG (Next Generation). This now enhances the capability to capture and gain visibility of issues as soon as they enter the network or appear on an individual machine. This helps deter misuse of digital resources and also helps detect serious issues developing. The inbuilt libraries and image analysis are categorised under:

  • Pornography
  • Racism
  • Grooming
  • Bullying
  • Gambling
  • Hacking
  • Swearing
  • Drugs Weapons
  • Terrorism
  • SMS(texting)
  • Misc (Bespoke issues that you may want to investigate)

Using firewalls and filtering is the first line of defence but these are very much ‘Black & White’ ‘Yes or No’ systems. Working in unison with these defensive systems, the Securus NG solution enables both the monitor and reviewer to gain a full ‘3D Techno Colour’ view of the issue, Who, What, When  and maybe even Why . Whether the user is on or off line, in or out of the office or education establishment, inappropriate captures are uploaded for review as soon as they communicate with the dedicated Securus server.

If you would like more information or even a webinar presentation regarding the Securus product solution, please contact us via info@weybridgesecuriy.com  

 We can arrange an evaluation and supply a service cost that suites your business needs or school budgets.

Comments

Facebook Safety for Kids

Facebook is here to stay. Technological advances will continue to emerge. Online access is becoming more and more a way of life, especially for youth who conduct their social lives online as much as (or even more than) offline. What can we, as concerned parents, do? Lock our kids in a bubble? No, that can’t be the solution.
We all want the well being of our kids, and our parenting styles are obviously not all the same. In the case of the internet and the online world, online parenting can take many forms: on one extreme there are parents who say ‘no’ to any form of online interaction, no internet at all. I know of many communities raising their kids with no access to the internet. On the other end of the spectrum, are the parents who trust their kids completely, giving them the full range of freedom to do whatever they like. At this end of the parenting spectrum are also the parents who say “my kid is safe - the bad stuff of the internet does not happen in our home”. The vast majority of parents are somewhere between these two ends of the spectrum.
To these parents – the pragmatic online parents in the middle, I would like to suggest the following:
1. Learn - If you are not familiar with the new online applications, get some orientation and training. If you want to be involved as a parent, you must also be involved online and understand the types of technologies and applications your children are using. Taking classes about the online world is as necessary as taking classes about parenting in the physical world.
2. Educate - Teach the right ways to behave online. If you do not feel comfortable doing it yourself, make sure your kids take some training about the do’s and don’ts of the online world.
3. Dialog - Talk to your kids about the dangers, have an ongoing and open dialog. Make sure your kids understand that you respect their privacy, but that you will be involved when needed.
4. Install Software - Education, training and dialog may be sufficient, depending on the age of the children, and their character . In some cases in may be appropriate, together with the kids, to install software that will raise red flags for you, at times when you need to be involved selectively. Do what is called “managed online parenting”: be involved & monitor by exception, do not spy, do not monitor everything, get involved only when needed. Look for software that is smart enough to alert you on a need basis. In the real world we are involved and intervene when needed, why should we not do that in the online world?
5. Be Flexible - Kids of different ages have different needs. Apply different parenting styles and rules for different ages. Be flexible and tolerant in your reactions and approach. Do not use harsh punishment when something goes wrong, have a dialog, and start over. We are all learning how to adjust our parenting styles in this new technically heavy world.

Good luck and welcome to the world of “modern online parenting”,

Ouri.

Posted by Ouri Azoulay

BETT 2011 - No Money! Think again?

Smart schools have realised that having less waste from centralised services can be an advantage.

Re negotiate directly with service providers desperate for your £. Join forces with like minded schools to share resources or technical know how. Use things like MVT (MyVideoTalk) to provide virtual learning online and straight to the home.

These are challenging times but equally necessity can lead to new and improved ways of doing the same for less.

Securus software for Business

We have a need to manage our more highly charged workers. Unfortunately despite repeated warnings about receiving inappropriate emails on the 'company network' or pc's and opening rude or sexist material on the desk top machines, it’s still happening. Can your system take a record or snap shot of this stuff so we can see who, what, when etc and regain control of this? We have over 200 males aged between 20 and 60years working across the company in various locations world wide. Cheers Bryn - contact details sent via your contact page.

E-security

A very well thought out way of protecting your children. Certainly a service I will be looking to seek further info on. Thank you.

At what age do children start to understand the dangers of the internet?

The next generation are fast on the heels of the last so digital access is probably now more available to infants than it was to me in my mid 20's.
So how early do we need to educate our kids about the dangers?
Is it really young children that need to be educated about e-safety or the parents and guardians?

Social Networking Risks

The Following Risks Exist:
1. Cyberbullying
2. Personal Information Disclosure
3. ID Theft
4. Racial Abuse
5. Swearing
6. Off Tasking from Homework