Kaspersky Lab has welcomed latest moves by Facebook and CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Service) to provide users of the social networking site a panic button app.
The app, which is designed to protect children who use the Facebook social networking site, is a good move says the IT security vendor, but there needs to be more education and vigilance in order to keep young people safe online.

Ram Herkanaidu, a member of Kaspersky's global research and analysis team, says that having a panic button is an important step, but it needs to be part of a wider education for both adults and children on how to keep them safe online. "It can be difficult for anyone, child or teenager, to know who online strangers really are, so it is important to understand the techniques used to attract young people and how to combat them", he said.

Against this backdrop, Kaspersky suggests all online users have a good internet security suite installed on their computer, with parental controls that can monitor youngsters' social networking interactions. And, says the IT security vendor, if need be, users should block messaging to certain users, as well as confidential information like the home address, phone numbers and other sensitive private data.

Parents, says Kaspersky, should always be attentive of how much your children use the internet and to whom they are speaking to and when. And parents, the IT security firm adds, should always investigate any new contacts, if they approach your child first.
Finally, says Herkanaidu, if your internet security has parental controls, you should make full use of them to examine your children's online activity and stop them from being groomed into giving personal information that could potentially put them in danger. Social networking websites, he says, are a modern cultural phenomenon. Facebook alone, for example, currently has over 300 million active users, 150 million of which log-on at least once a day.

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