Why are we writing this post? The answer is simple. School kids are more vulnerable than ever to hackers, and for millions, their data is now on the dark web.
The failure to protect a child's data has astounding effects on their future lives. NBC News collected and analyzed school files from dark web pages, packed with personal information of children.
While ransomware attacks have serious consequences for big corporations, hospitals and government institutions, parents can do a couple of things to protect their children from the flood of ransomware attacks on school districts, and the leaking of their private information.
There is currently little direction from federal and state laws but parents can freeze a child's credit while they are still underage.
They can speak to their school supervisors about using shorter names or "nick-names" for children under the age of 18. They can ask more questions when child's cell phone numbers are asked for. Parents can try to limit the data anyone can collect on their child, in one place. Bundling a child's data when ransomware attacks are rising exponentially, is not a great idea.
Much more work needs to be done in this area, where we realize that identity theft of a young child can ruin their life before they become adults.
We thank NBC for their report which can be read in full here.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/hackers-are-leaking-childrens-data-s-little-parents-can-rcna1926