According to research Growing Up Online - Connected Kids, which was held by Kaspersky Lab and the iconKids & Youth Institute, boys and girls ages 8-16 behave very differently on the Internet, which means that different approaches are required to be safe.
This is useful information for parents who want to protect their children from online threats. 
Girls love to use smartphones while boys prefer computers and game consoles. Boys are generally more likely to be addicted to computer games: they are more likely to list them in their daily online activities, while girls choose to communicate via social networks and instant messengers.
Regarding their preferred method of communication, girls often report phone calls and messages, which is not surprising given their love for smartphones.
Probably because of their sociability, girls tend to choose more often family members or friends as a source of information, while boys rely more on the Internet for news. Boys are also more likely than girls think they know how to use the Internet and how to protect themselves when they are online.
At the same time, according to the survey, boys are less compulsive on the Internet than girls: they provide many personal information on social networking sites and pretend to be bigger than they really are. They also try to bypass parental control programs on their devices and hide information about their online activity from their parents. And there is something to hide, according to their own confession, as boys compared to girls are more likely to have access to content unsuitable for minors.
"Research shows that boys' parents should pay close attention to what their boys do online. They must use up-to-date parental control programs that can not be bypassed to protect their impulsive boys from unwanted or dangerous information, e.g. toys not intended for children.
Meanwhile, girls' parents need to pay more attention to the people their daughters communicate online with. Social networks and messengers are often used by dubious characters to earn the trust of a child, advises Andrei Mochola, Head of Consumer Business of Kaspersky Lab.
More information and advice about protecting children online is available online address kids.kaspersky.com. Information about a technique solution for these problems are available on his page KasperskySafeKids.
Kaspersky Lab also provides students and young professionals with the opportunity to develop solutions that keep children safe online. More information about international competition Talent Lab can be found on the dedicated website academy.kaspersky.com/talentlab.
