CyberPatrol Offers FREE e-book on How to Defend Kids from Cyber Sharks

Surfing Among the Cyber Sharks – Parent’s Guide to Protecting Children and Teens from Online Risk: Internet Magnifies Social Risks and Problems

CyberPatrol LLC, a leading provider of tools to protect people online, announced today the release of Surfing Among the Cyber Sharks, a guidebook on Internet safety for parents, written by security veterans Vince Schiavone and Bob Kessinger with contributions from John Sancin and Barb Rose. The book uses real life examples, illustrations, and statistics that show the very real risks and consequences for kids posed by their online activity.

The book compares online threats with sharks, ever present in what appears to be safe waters. “The shark analogy is perfect because parents immediately get it,” said Bob Kessinger. “Like sharks in the water the apparent safety of the Internet is full of Cyber Sharks, and if kids aren’t careful they can easily become victims.”

Most parents believe they have good kids that stay out of the bad places on the Internet. While that may be true, kids don’t have to go looking for trouble on line. The Cyber Sharks will come to them. “Unless parents know what to look for and do, their kids are at risk, and left on their own to defend themselves,” said Kessinger.

The book also addresses the difference between being cyber savvy and cyber smart, and why parents should and can play a vital role in making sure their kids safely navigate the Web.

“Even though there’s plenty of Cyber safety material out there, parents continually ask us about the Internet, their kids, and what can be done to protect them,” said Vince Schiavone. “We decided to write a book that clearly and simply explains and illustrates the dangers and the steps parents can take to assure online safety.”

Surfing Among the Cyber Sharks features Jason, a 15 year old boy who shares his real life online experience with readers. He talks about his online life from early days of cyber bullying to a near miss with a Craigslist advertiser. Jason offers a candid insight to the cyber world from a kid’s viewpoint, one not often shared with parents.

“Parents need to know about the risks their children are facing online, everyday. Not to scare them, but to prepare them to educate and take basic steps to protect their children, and themselves. In the book we identify and categorize for parents the full range of Cyber Sharks that exist online. Prevention is always better than a cure, and sometimes regrettably when it comes to predators online, there is no cure,” said Schiavone.

“We identify three types of Cyber Sharks; Attracter Sharks, Attacker Sharks and Enabler Sharks. All can lead to serious harm. And apart from these dangers, we also talk about good kids who do stupid things such as the recent spate of sexting, and the potential for long term consequences when these incidents happen,” he added.

In addition to bringing parents up to speed on the risks posed by the Internet, the book also outlines both steps to take and technology to use to provide a safer online environment, and what to do and who to contact in the event a child or teen encounters a problem.

CyberPatrol is offering a free online version of Surfing Among the Cyber Sharks from its web site. “The information is too important for parent’s not to have so we decided to make it available for FREE on the CyberPatrol website at http://www.cyberpatrol.com/bookdownload.asp,” said Schiavone. Hard copy versions of the book will be available later this month.

About the Authors

Bob Kessinger has dedicated a great deal of his business life to making the Internet a safer place for kids. After working as product manager at Dell computer, Bob joined SurfControl, one of the pioneers in web and content filtering. There he became instrumental in developing updated versions of the CyberPatrol parental controls product. Today he serves as a Vice President for CyberPatrol. Bob is a noted resource on child Internet safety issues and speaks frequently to parent groups and educational audiences on how to optimize safe and educational Internet experiences for children while minimizing risks.

Vincent J. Schiavone has over 20 years of experience in technology, Internet commerce, privacy, security, and healthcare. A recognized industry expert, Vince has been instrumental in changing the way we deal with all aspects of computer security. He has worked with companies like ePrivacy Group, TurnTide, InfoSec Labs and currently serves on the board of CyberPatrol, a leader in parental controls software. Vince has written and lectured extensively on technology, the Internet, e-commerce, security and privacy

About CyberPatrol, LLC

CyberPatrol is a pioneer and leader in the web filtering market. Launched in 1995, CyberPatrol is specifically developed for ease of use to help protect people online.

In 2008, a group of private investors acquired CyberPatrol. Under the direction of a successful, seasoned executive management team, CyberPatrol then acquired Emerald Technology, Inc. in June of 2008. As part of this acquisition, CyberPatrol acquired SiteCAT, the core technology behind all of CyberPatrol’s world class filtering products. These products include CyberPatrol Parental Controls, SiteSURV and SiteSURVplus. These cost-effective products are easy to use and are easily implemented.

CyberPatrol is recommended regularly as the product of choice for online safety by many parent and computer magazines. Its award-winning software is relied upon and trusted by parents, schools, libraries and businesses around the world to monitor and manage their users’ Internet access. http://www.cyberpatrol.com

Contacts

CyberPatrol LLC
Barb Rose
646-789-4433×806
Barb.r {at} cyberpatrol(.)com
or
Lime Street Studios
Fran Lowe
415-935-5766
fran {at} limestreetstudios(.)com
or
Principor Communications
John Jordan
202-595-9008 x63
jjordan {at} principor(.)com