Internet users suffer cyberbullying

About 60 % of Internet users have been exposed to cyberbullying in some way. These attacks cause damage that affects both mental and physical health, in addition to conditioning the victim’s way of acting. The data was published by the Cybersmile foundation.

There are various types of violence that can occur through the Internet, but the most frequent are harassment, stalking, dissemination of intimate images without authorization,  fraping, false profiles, exclusion and cancellation, information leakage and grooming.

Security measures

The general manager of ESET Peru, Jorge Zeballos, offers some recommendations mainly for  parents to detect and prevent cases of cyberbullying:

• Pay attention to changes in your child’s behavior: Such as visible physical and mood changes or loss of interest in usual activities, pretending to be unwell or ill so as not to attend classes. Also, social isolation, sudden deletion of their social media accounts, and loss or misplacement of objects in strange situations.
• Take care of the privacy of social networks: Avoid accepting little-known people in order to avoid the sneaking of photos or other elements that may be shared by the cyberbully.
• Use security filters or limit the use of applications: Some social networks have filters to separate aggressive or inappropriate messages, as well as options to control the time of use of the application by the child or adolescent.
• Use strong passwords. It is important that the accounts have a secure and strong password that includes numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters and special characters, which limit or make it difficult for anyone to enter. In addition to the constant supervision of the different contents, children and adolescents have access to the cales.
• Report everything that is harmful or negative on or off the Internet.

M. Rodríguez

With information from agencies and other media