Six out of 10 Philippine children are at risk of cybercrime
According to Surfshark, the Philippines ranks second for child exposure to online risks after Thailand but before Turkey. Sexual exploitation, cyberbullying and hacking are the most common dangers. In the last two years, child pornography has also grown in parallel with remote learning.
Manila (AsiaNews) – Philippine children are the second most vulnerable to cybercrimes in the world just behind their cohorts in Thailand, this according to a study by cybersecurity company Surfshark. Turkey comes in third place.
The study is based on data from various sources, including Internet crime reports from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for the 2015-2020 period, as well as the Child Online Safety Index (COSI) by the DQ Institute, an international think-tank dedicated to setting global safety and digital intelligence standards.
In the Philippines, six out of 10 children aged 8 to 12 were exposed to cyber risks, ranging from sexual exploitation and phishing to cyberbullying and hacking.
Easy access to smartphones, tablets and computers, often without adult supervision, but also the lack of basic knowledge about cyber dangers place children in vulnerable situations online.
Online risk exposure is measured on a 0 to 100 score, from very low to very high risk level. The average global online safety education score is 52/100, but the three aforementioned countries are the only ones in the top level (80/100).
The Philippines’s case is peculiar since it tops the world in terms of smartphone use, 74.1 per cent; at the same time, Philippine children are not very knowledgeable about how to safely use this device.
As the second most exposed country to cybercrime (after Thailand), the Philippines has become a hot spot for online child pornography and abuse, the more so after remote education expanded in the past couple of years.
A year ago, Save The Children Philippines spoke out against the problem, describing it as a "silent pandemic".
For its part, the Surfshark study highlights how educating children can help prevention.
What is more, low and lower-middle-income countries have better online safety education than rich ones; for instance, high-income countries like Saudi Arabia and Uruguay have “non-existent” online safety education.
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12/03/2024 17:51
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