Mums should don role of CyberMums to avoid kids being bullied online

Washington, May 10 (ANI): In today's day and age, an additional role that every mother should play is that of being a cyber-mother. That is because instead of being nurtured through their formative years, today's teens are meandering their way through an unrestricted virtual world with disturbing experiences like cyber bullying, befriending unknown strangers, getting into relationships and accessing provocative content. Arming our kids with the information they need and talking even more openly about the risks involved and how to deal with them, is a key agenda of being a new age mother. Moreover, taking up this new role has become more critical and urgent for Indian mothers than ever before. According to McAfee's Secret Lives of Teens survey of over 1500 Indian parents and teens, there is an evident discrepancy between parental perception and actual reality regarding the online activities of Indian teens. The survey shows that while parental concerns prevail, teens do end up sharing more dangerous information online, contrary to their parents' belief. This divide is attributed to the fact that Indian teens are growing up as "digital natives", with increasingly active online lives but lack of parental assistance; substantiated through some of the following statistics: 70 percent of the surveyed teens believe that they shouldn't share their home address online but 40 percent of them still do. Correspondingly, only 21 percent of the polled parents believe teens would have actually done so. Although 31 percent of the surveyed teens have met their online acquaintances in real life, only 17 percent parents are aware of this. 20 percent of the surveyed teens access porn / nudity online willingly several times a day but 32 percent parents think teens willingly access it only a few times a year. 38 percent of the surveyed teens have witnessed cruel / mean behaviour online whereas only 16 percent parents are aware of this. Interestingly, 70 percent of polled parents completely trust their teens to tell them everything they do online whereas 58 percent polled teens strongly believe that they know how to hide their online activities from their parents. This suggests that there are some real threats for children online and responsible cyber parenting is the need of the hour. (ANI), Source: newstrackindia.com, Image: flickr.com

Read More........→May 11, 2013

US to complete elaboration of cyber war doctrine

A Pentagon document on the US cyber war doctrine will be put on President Barack Obama’s table in the next few weeks. Part of the US military doctrine, the cyber warfare doctrine stipulates launching pre-emptive cyber-attacks against potential enemies.

The doctrine will help the US respond to global cyber security threats and challenges. In fact, Washington reserves the right to carry out cover cyber operations all across the world. It took Pentagon experts two years to map out the doctrine, according to which the US President is authorized to give orders on launching pre-emptive cyber-attacks on any objects on the Internet, which pose a danger to the US’ national security. A cyber-attack means the implantation of multiple pieces of malicious software on the Internet, explains Moscow-based computer expert Ilya Sachkov. This creates a dangerous precedent for international law, he warns. "Such things should be regulated by the UN, Sachkov says, referring to a possible cyber war. A decision on punishing the aggressor should be made by the international community rather than a separate country, something that will comply with a spate of relevant international treaties adopted after World War II." A top-secret document, the cyber warfare doctrine was specifically hammered out by Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John O. Brennan, who will soon become the new CIA director. Earlier, it was Brennan who mapped out rules on using US drones to destroy terrorists. According to The New York Times, the cyber warfare doctrine contains plenty of norms related to using US drones. US experts say that a possible enemy’s financial sector, infrastructure and economy may be hard hit by a US cyber-attack, which can be likened to a nuclear strike in terms of consequences. This is why it is the US President who is authorized to issue an order on staging a cyber-attack. Such an order was reportedly issued by Obama during a secret operation against Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilities in 2010. According to US media, the facilities’ software was seriously damaged by a US cyber-attack at the time. The US Cyber Command led by former National Security Agency chief General Keith B. Alexander was formed in the Pentagon in February 2011. According to the new doctrine, the US Cyber Command is responsible for defining the US’ cyber foes and objects of cyber-attacks. Source: Voice of Russia

Read More........→April 15, 2013