An Exploratory Study Into the Negotiation of Cyber-Security Within the Family Home

Abstract

Given the increasingly young age that children are using technology and accessing the internet and its associated risks, it is important we understand how families manage and negotiate cyber-security within the home. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study with thirteen families (14 parents and 19 children) in the southwest of the United Kingdom about their main cyber-security concerns and management strategies. Thematic analysis of the results revealed that families were concerned about cyberbullying, online stranger danger, privacy, content, financial scams, and technical threats. Both parents and children drew on family, friends and trusted others as resources, and used a variety of strategies to manage these threats including rules and boundaries around technology, using protective functions of technology, communication and education around safety. There were tensions between parents and children over boundaries, potentially putting families at risk if children break household rules around cyber-security. Finally, parents expressed the feeling they were in a 'whole new world' of cyber-security threats, and that positive and negative aspects of technology must be constantly balanced. However, parents also felt that the challenges in managing family security are the same ones that have always faced parents-it is just that the context is now digital as well as physical.

Understanding parents' perceptions of children's cybersecurity awareness in Norway

“…Another interesting finding is some specific concerns about online content. While in the literature we have seen researchers mostly focusing on issues like pornography [Ahmad et al 2019;Maoneke et al 2018;Wisniewski et al 2017b], age-inappropriate contents [Kritzinger 2015;Muir and Joinson 2020;Zhao et al 2019], and spam [Giannakas et al 2016;Martin et al 2018], here some parents (7/25 parents) mentioned that children also need awareness about reliability and credibility of online contents; fake or real, intellectual property rights, what is legal and what is illegal with the online contents. Some parents have expressed their concerns about how online contents can affect children with a bad and negative influence.…”

“…Research studies have been carried out exploring the role and involvement of parents in ensuring children's security online [Shin and Kang 2016;Wisniewski et al 2015Wisniewski et al , 2017b. Studies have investigated how families manage and negotiate cybersecurity within the home [Muir and Joinson 2020]; family preferences concerning children's online privacy and data mining [Clemons and Wilson 2015]. Some researchers have also investigated the mediation strategies parents use to mediate their children's online risk exposure [Kumar et al 2017;Muir and Joinson 2020;Rode 2009].…”

“…Studies have investigated how families manage and negotiate cybersecurity within the home [Muir and Joinson 2020]; family preferences concerning children's online privacy and data mining [Clemons and Wilson 2015]. Some researchers have also investigated the mediation strategies parents use to mediate their children's online risk exposure [Kumar et al 2017;Muir and Joinson 2020;Rode 2009]. Overall, it is evident that parents can play a significant role in children's online behavior and awareness.…”

Approaches and Technologies to Support Home Users’ Engagement with Cyber Security

“…Research has started to consider the role of multiple users of IoT devices within the home: in particular, the design implications arising from the expectation of any household member being able to access the Internet upon devices designed for one individual (Geeng & Roesner, 2019;Matthews et al, 2016;Tabassum et al, 2020;Watson et al, 2020). In parallel, there has been consideration of how families negotiate digital technology use (Cranor et al, 2014;Moser et al, 2016;Ur et al, 2014;Wisniewski et al, 2017), including how cyber security is controlled (Garitaonandia et al, 2019;Muir & Joinson, 2020). Parents often manage digital technology use within the household through restricting access or facilitating discussion about how the technology works or what it is doing (Livingstone et al, 2017).…”

Parenting style in a rapidly developing country

“…[ 2 ] Caregivers who mainly exhibit control behaviors and less care are characterized as authoritarian, parents who exhibit both control and affection are described as authoritative or democratic, and parents who use behavioral approaches determined on affection and less parental control are characterized as permissive. [ 3 ]…”