BullGuard, a consumer security company, carried out a survey among 10,000 UK consumers to establish their views about online protection.
There is a wide range of unhealthy material that children can inadvertently be exposed to online such as adult or sexual content, controversial content such as criminal activity, cults, hate and intolerance and illegal drugs websites. This also includes exposure to inappropriate pop-up ads, and alcohol, tobacco and gambling sites.
The security company found that 92% of respondents who are parents said blocking children’s access to inappropriate content was their overriding priority. A further 62% said monitoring children’s activity online was their main reason for using parental control software, while 49% said setting limits around internet usage was their prime concern.
Paul Lipman, CEO at BullGuard, said “The internet opens up endless opportunities for children and it’s positive to see from our research that parents are becoming even more savvy when it comes to doing all they can to protect children from the negative aspects of the online world.”
The survey also revealed that 66% of people have used a free antivirus solution in the past – and of those who decided to switch from free AV to a paid-for cybersecurity solution, 65% said it was because they wanted better protection and 61% said they felt safer using paid-for cybersecurity protection.
BullGuard has responded to parent’s prevailing security concerns by releasing a valuable Guide to Protecting Children Online, which can be found here.