Viral TikTok Reminds Parents to Keep Back-to-School Photos Safe

Back-to-school season means tons of adorable social media posts with smiling kids and chalkboard backgrounds. And though we all jump to “like” and “love” them, we should be giving a bit more thought to what’s being shown. A viral TikTok has recently resurfaced that cautions parents against putting too much personal information online in their back-to-school photos.

“If it just says ‘first day‘, that’s not terrible,” TikToker Cathy Pedrayes, a cybersecurity professional, said in her video. But when you’re putting all of the other personal information out there for the world to see, it creates security risks for you, your child, and your family, Pedrayes told TODAY. “Some of them have the child’s name, teacher’s name, school, favorite sports or activities, and maybe you don’t want a bunch of strangers knowing that,” she said.

@cathypedrayes

For parents #backtoschool #safety #cyber #advice #psa #momlife #tips

♬ The Hustle – Van McCoy

 

“People in general don’t realize how much they overshare on social media,” she continued. “When kids are younger, if you’re posting their school uniform or sports uniform, you’re revealing where your kids are most days of the year. It’s just extra vulnerable information.”

If you want to share pictures safely, there are apps you can use, like Tinybeans (which you can download here), that give you a sense of security as a parent that you’re not sharing with the wrong people.

It’s also a good idea to check your account security settings and customize your controls for any social media accounts you use and on any devices you use them on, Brittnay Clay from cybersecurity company, Lookout, tells Tinybeans. “Almost 1 in 4 people have their Facebook profile settings open to the ‘Public’ – meaning anyone can view and collect personal details from the account,” she said. “Attackers can easily scrape this information from social media posts and attempt to use this information to log accounts or attempt identity theft.”

Law enforcement and other cybersecurity experts agree. “[I]t is not your child’s precious face that’s the problem, it’s what is behind them,” Joe Miller, chief of police at the Palos Park Police Department, told NBC Chicago. “Things like your house number, what your house looks like, your street name, your car, license plate number, or even where your child catches the school bus could be clues those unsavory characters use against you.”

Not only could these posts potentially give child predators (an estimated half a million of which are online every day) information about exactly where your child goes to school and their teacher’s name, but some also include things like their favorite color or animal, which can be used to lure kids into unsafe situations.

While we all want to see little ones and their back-to-school adventures, limiting the information we share feels like good advice—especially if it involves just leaving more of the specific information off these adorable chalkboards.

One comment

  1. WOW just what I was looking for. Came here by searching for sss
    casino en ligne
    It’s remarkable in favor of me to have a web page, which is good
    designed for my know-how. thanks admin
    casino en ligne fiable
    Howdy! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog.

    Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast.
    I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to start.

    Do you have any tips or suggestions? Thanks
    casino en ligne
    Hi, I do think this is an excellent web site.
    I stumbledupon it 😉 I will come back yet again since i have
    book-marked it. Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide other
    people.
    casino en ligne
    Outstanding story there. What happened after?

    Thanks!
    casino en ligne fiable
    I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This post posted at this web site is really fastidious.

    casino en ligne francais
    Great post.
    casino en ligne
    Hello there, I found your website by the use of Google at the same time as looking for
    a related subject, your website got here up, it looks good.

    I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks. Hello there,
    simply was aware of your blog via Google, and located that it’s really informative.

    I’m gonna watch out for brussels. I will appreciate if you happen to
    continue this in future. Numerous other people can be benefited from your writing.
    Cheers!
    casino en ligne
    Great post. I was checking constantly this blog and I am impressed!
    Extremely helpful information specially the last part 🙂 I care for such info much.
    I was looking for this certain info for a very long time.
    Thank you and good luck.
    casino en ligne fiable
    I am not sure the place you are getting your info, but great topic.

    I must spend some time learning much more or figuring out more.
    Thanks for wonderful information I was searching for this information for my mission.
    casino en ligne France

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *