Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, the FBI reminds parents that sexual predators and other criminals frequently use social media to exploit children.

Chief of the Major Cyber Crimes Unit Jeffrey Coburn recommends talking with your children about the risks and responsibilities involved with using social media sites.

Jeffrey Coburn: You’ve got to start at an early age, and having those open and frank conversations with your children about the predators that could potentially be lurking out there on the Internet that want to have access to your children.

Halpern: To easily monitor children’s social media activity, keep the family computer in a common area of the home. Parents can also use apps to review what their children post and what websites they visit on their phones and other electronic devices.

Coburn: As a parent, you should have access to every device’s passwords, and conducting random checks of those electronic devices can help save and protect your children.

Halpern: Remind your children that despite high security settings, the words and pictures they post are no longer private and are on the Internet indefinitely.

For more cyber tips, visit www.fbi.gov. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.

Related information:

-Story: National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2015
-Blog: Social Media and the Use of Personal Information