Your little one’s first knowledge breach could occur earlier than they’ve even opened a checking account. Right here’s find out how to maintain their digital life secure.
03 Jun 2026
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6 min. learn
After we speak about cybersecurity and digital security within the context of our youngsters, it’s typically framed in one among two methods. Both it’s about inappropriate or unsafe content material – of the kind that COPPA is supposed to manage within the US. Or it’s about managing the psychological and social impacts of extreme display screen time. However there’s an elephant within the room.
Our youngsters are uncovered to most of the identical identification, privateness, and knowledge safety dangers as their mother and father. In reality they might be much more in danger. Serving to them perceive find out how to defend their knowledge and on-line accounts at an early age is an more and more vital parental accountability.
Why do folks need my youngsters’ knowledge?
Our kids are digital natives. From an early age they could have logins to highschool accounts, gaming profiles, cloud photographs, well being information, and accounts with quite a lot of different apps. All of those include doubtlessly profitable knowledge for identification thieves.
Why is that this data a preferred goal? As a result of from a fraud perspective it has a comparatively lengthy shelf life. Which means, if it’s stolen and utilized by a scammer to open a brand new line of credit score, it’s unlikely the sufferer would discover out, till maybe they apply for his or her first mortgage a few years later. What’s extra, it can have a pristine credit score rating, that means the fraudulent utility will seemingly sail by means of unchecked. Fraudsters may use it as is, or mix it with made-up data to create artificial identities.
The emergence of AI instruments has made it far simpler to spin up these pretend identities. They could be tougher for firms to identify. However after they do lastly flag fraud, the impression in your little one’s credit score historical past will be extreme.
These usually are not theoretical dangers. One report reveals the story of threat and compliance skilled Renata Galvão, whose identification was stolen on the age of six and used to run up debt in extra of $400,000. It reportedly took her over twenty years to clear her identify and restore her credit standing. In one other case, Axton Betz-Hamilton was 11 when her identification was stolen and used to rack up hundreds of {dollars} in unpaid bank card payments. She solely discovered when making use of to arrange her first utility invoice at school.
Present knowledge is tough to come back by, however the FTC claims that little one identification theft elevated by 40% between 2021 and 2024.
What might go improper?
Youngsters’s knowledge is in danger in different methods. Children could be digitally savvy sufficient to arrange on-line accounts, however they’re not at all times security-smart. They could be extra liable to fall for a phishing message; particularly if it seems to be despatched from a trusted authority or pal. Too-good-to-be-true gives, innocuous-looking quizzes and FOMO-type advertisements are all extra more likely to hit residence if the goal is a credulous 13-year-old relatively than a skeptical grownup. Children are additionally extra more likely to unwittingly obtain malware onto their gadgets or share their passwords and private information with their friends, compounding safety threat.
Nevertheless it’s not simply our youngsters who signify a possible weak hyperlink within the safety chain. Analysis from the College of Southampton final yr discovered that almost half (45%) of oldsters often share details about their youngsters on-line. Sharenting like this will increase the danger of it falling into the arms of fraudsters. Round one-in-six youngsters have already skilled no less than one type of digital hurt, together with cyberbullying, privateness breaches, or identification misuse, the examine claimed.
There’s additionally a rising threat that the edtech distributors, college platforms, gaming suppliers, sensible toy makers, social media firms and different corporations entrusted along with your little one’s knowledge are themselves breached. The non-profit Id Theft Useful resource Middle (ITRC) tracked 3322 knowledge breaches within the US final yr – an all-time excessive and a 79% enhance from 5 years in the past. Practically 279 million victims had their knowledge uncovered, with the healthcare and schooling sectors among the many prime 5 for breaches.
The proliferation of AI apps can be a privateness threat. Children could use AI instruments with no understanding that they’re truly sharing delicate data which might find yourself within the improper arms if the supplier is breached.
Gaming accounts are one other enticing goal for fraudsters. They include extremely prized property similar to:
- Your bank card/monetary data, for use in fraud
- Social graphs that can be utilized to spam/phish different youngsters in the identical community
- Skins, which will be stolen and cashed out
- Non-public chats which can include monetizable data
All of which creates a big potential floor to your little one’s private data to be uncovered.
How you can test if one thing’s gone improper
There are a number of methods to test in case your little one has had their identification or private data (together with credentials) stolen. The next ought to all be pink flags:
- Passwords that all of the sudden don’t work, indicating somebody has accessed their account and adjusted the logins
- Lacking skins, cash or different gadgets in your little one’s gaming account
- Notifications about account adjustments, logins or resets
- Purchases that you just didn’t authorize
- Mates and contacts reporting unusual exercise or messages out of your little one’s account
- Your little one is denied welfare advantages (as a result of another person is utilizing their Social Safety particulars)
- They’re denied a pupil mortgage or checking account because of a poor credit standing
- Your little one receives a authorities discover claiming unpaid taxes (as a result of somebody is utilizing their particulars to register for brand new jobs)
- You obtain telephone calls or correspondence claiming overdue payments run up by your little one
It’s a shared accountability
In reality, there are a number of stakeholders concerned in defending your youngsters’s identification knowledge. Dad and mom are the obvious. But additionally your college, and the app builders and gadget makers they’re typically pressured to share data with. No single celebration can handle and safe your entire knowledge lifecycle.
So what are you able to do as a mother or father? Restrict knowledge sharing, securely configure account settings, and train your little one finest practices.
Begin with the info. Take a step again and think about whether or not it actually is critical to arrange that new account, grant permissions to that college app, or “sharent” on-line. Information minimization is among the core rules of the GDPR. The much less private data is on the market, the decrease the danger of it ending up within the improper arms.
Subsequent, for the accounts they do have, modify the settings to attenuate threat. Which means lengthy, sturdy and distinctive passwords for each account, saved in a household password supervisor. That can cut back the danger of brute-force assaults. Change on multifactor authentication (MFA) the place attainable to mitigate phishing dangers.
Evaluate all of the privateness settings on all their apps and social platforms to lock them all the way down to probably the most safe model. That ought to imply location sharing/monitoring is restricted or turned off. Prohibit any in-app purchases so that they require your approval. Maintain all gadgets and apps up to date so that they’re much less uncovered to hacking makes an attempt. And use in-app parental controls the place obtainable to watch utilization and decrease delicate knowledge sharing.
Apply for a credit score freeze to your little one’s identification with all three main credit score bureaus. It will require some paperwork, however is price it for the peace of thoughts meaning no third celebration can apply for credit score of their identify.
Lastly, it’s time to sit down down along with your youngsters and clarify the significance of identification safety, what’s at stake, and the way unhealthy folks can steal and use their knowledge – together with widespread phishing techniques. Train them the fundamentals of excellent password administration, and find out how to spot suspicious exercise on-line. Above all, they need to really feel secure telling you something.
Protecting your little one’s identification secure shouldn’t be about proscribing their digital world. It’s about giving them the arrogance to traverse it safely – now and sooner or later.
