Kaspersky Lab Africa, a multinational cyber security and anti-virus provider, says parents’ knowledge of what their children do online can promote better family relationships.

Mr Riaan Badenhorst, the General Manager of Kaspersky Lab Africa made this known in statement made available in the company’s website on Tuesday in Abuja.

The assertion was made based on research of online activities of children across in Africa, including Nigeria and the statistics derived from the company’s Parental Control modules.

Badenhorst said that the knowledge of what children were doing online would also help to encourage open dialogue and prevent more serious threats to children in the region.

He said that the statistics were taken from Kaspersky Lab’s flagship products with Parental Control module and from Kaspersky Safe Kids, a standalone service installed for kids’ online protection.

According to him, globally, children are more likely to watch video content and listen to music, than spend time on social media.

“However, this is not true for children in Nigeria, who are most active across internet communication media referred to as social media or networks in the region as up to 35 per cent of them are active on social media platforms,’’ he said.

He said that the most popular platforms are Facebook, Google Mail, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram.

He said that only 29 per cent of Nigerian children watch video content and music.

The Kaspersky research also revealed that children in the region were also beginning to visit news sites more frequently, including sports.ndtv.com, accounting for 20 per cent of activities.

Badenhorst said that seven per cent of children showed their interest in exploring online stores for clothes and mobile devices “and with regards to online stores, children in Nigeria visited Amazon the most.’’

“It should be noted that alongside computer games put at just under one per cent, similar statistics where noted for children in Nigeria who also searched for adult-content web-sites.

“However, if their parents had blocked such sites for example with a Kaspersky Lab product, then the children’s attempts to visit these sites would be unsuccessful.

“The statistics we have obtained indicate the interests of children and teens in the region today.

”This is why we recommend using parental control products not only to block potentially dangerous content, but also to help parents stay informed about their children’s interests and passions.

”Many software programme, including those from Kaspersky Lab, allow parents to see reports about their children’s online activities.

”Naturally, reports like this do not disclose any private information.

”In our opinion, the parents’ knowledge of what their children do online should promote better family relationships, helping to encourage open dialogue and preventing more serious threats to children in the region,” he said.

Kaspersky Lab is a multinational cyber security and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia and operated by a holding company in the UK. (NAN)

– Sept. 18, 2018 @ 11:35 GMT |