Father-Daughter Duo Pen New Guide on Internet Safety

EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y., September 16, 2024 – In an age where the internet is a vast ocean of information and opportunity, children are increasingly drawn to explore its depths. But just as the sea holds both treasures and dangers, so too, does the digital world. To help children and their parents navigate these waters safely, the Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS®) Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Sean Atkinson and his 15-year-old daughter, Emma, have co-authored a new guide, From Both Sides: A Parental Guide to Protecting Your Child's Online Activity.

Using real-life scenarios, from cyberbullying to predators, privacy concerns, and scams targeting kids and teens, each scenario is broken down into how these situations arise, their impact, and ways to prevent them. Each situation is shown from both the parent and child's perspectives and offers tips for open dialogue that will ultimately help children navigate the internet safely.

"Throughout this journey, I've learned that my role isn't just to monitor and mentor," said Atkinson. "We've built more trust and understanding by engaging actively with my child's online activities, discussing scenarios, and setting boundaries. I hope other parents find this guide as invaluable as I have in fostering an environment where our children can safely learn, create, and connect."

"This guide helped me see that my parents aren't just being strict or nosy when they ask about what I'm doing online," said Emma Atkinson, a freshman at Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. "They're trying to keep me safe from stuff that I didn't even know could be dangerous. Now I feel more confident about using the internet, and talking to my parents about it doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore."

The guide is available to download from the Center for Internet Security.

For information, or to speak with Sean and Emma about the guide, please contact Kelly Wyland, Sr Media Relations Manager, at [email protected] or call/text 518-256-6978.

 

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About CIS

The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS^®) makes the connected world a safer place for people, businesses, and governments through our core competencies of collaboration and innovation. We are a community-driven nonprofit, responsible for the CIS Controls^® and CIS Benchmarks^™, globally recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data. We lead a global community of IT professionals to continuously refine these standards to proactively safeguard against emerging threats. Our CIS Hardened Images^® provide secure, on-demand, scalable computing environments in the cloud. CIS is home to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center^® (MS-ISAC^®), the trusted resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) government entities, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center^® (EI-ISAC^®), which supports the cybersecurity needs of U.S. elections offices.  To learn more, visit cisecurity.org or follow us on X: @CISecurity.