It is this time of the year when children are heading back to school. Not only will they be taking with them their memories from an amazing summer spent chasing Pokemons, and their hopes to have fun while learning more about the world… they’ll also be taking lots of consumer electronics. A recent study by the Consumer Technology Association suggests that consumers will spend more than $15 billion on back-to-school technology; this is a colossal sum. No matter how old your children are, they’ll either have a cell phone, a smartwatch, portable memory sticks, a tablet or a laptop. For some of them, this may even be the first time they are alone with the new technology you’ve just bought them. And with great power comes great responsibility.
Here at Panda, we’ve drawn up a list of products that your children will most likely be taking to school with them this Fall:
Cell phone
Cell phones could be a distraction and are forbidden in a number of schools here in the USA. However, there is now a way around it – connected smartwatches. They connect straight to the LTE network making it possible to make and receive calls.
Cell phones are the main focus of new hacker attacks and malware, so don’t forget to install a security product to protect your children. Moreover, in many cases security products can also protect and monitor smartwatches.
Laptop and Tablet
Delivering a presentation and taking notes has never been easier. Having a laptop or a tablet at school is a must, almost every publisher offers digital versions of their textbooks. Say goodbye to the heavy backpack!
Make sure you install trustworthy programs and remember, you should always have the latest version with all security patches applied, this prevents security holes from being exploited by viruses.
USB Stick
Every day children exchange pen-drives with schoolmates. Make sure you have the tools needed to protect your PC and Mac. Most of the time kids don’t even realise their pen drives are infected.
Did you know that many infections occur directly from USB drives? To protect against this type of infection, be sure to choose an antivirus which, when any USB drive (external hard drive, device, USB, etc.) is inserted, offers the possibility to scan it and clean it in case of infection, so you can use it without risk.
PC/Mac Software
Whether it’s the latest graphic design software or simply a tool that helps you solve math problems, the software you have on your children’s learning devices is as important and as the devices themselves.
Nowadays, technology and BYOD devices are a huge part of the learning process and our children’s lives and future have never been so reliant on technology. Let’s make sure we teach them how to take advantage safely of the benefits the 21st century offers them. All these products can be protected as Panda Security detects and blocks 99.9% of threats no matter what devices or platform they are using. So sleep tight while we work on detecting the remaining 0.01%.