Teens use ‘Code 9’ to block Parents on Social Networks
August 12th, 2010
• ‘Code 9’ advises kids and teenagers on how to stop parents from seeing what they are doing and writing on social networks
A few years ago, a technique called Code 9 was developed and spread among teens and children via email. These emails described techniques to help disguise and hide their chat messages and conversations from parents. Global IT vendor Panda Security has detected the resurgence of these messages, which are now being distributed across social networks.
According to the latest Kids on the Web security survey, published by Panda in June this year, one in three teenagers has contacted strangers across social networks, “Something that criminal minds are no doubt aware of and will exploit to contact children”, warns Jeremy Matthews, head of Panda’s sub-Saharan operations.
“Interestingly, when you visit the profiles and pages created to spread ‘Code 9’ and you look at the followers and friends, there aren’t many young people. In fact it’s quite the opposite, which gives us an indication as to the sort of people who are interested in distributing this type of information”.
‘Code 9’ itself is really simple: It tells children/teens that to hide their conversations in chat rooms or messaging, all they need to do is mention or write the number ‘9’ whenever their parents or guardians are close by. The other person will then rapidly change the topic or delete any information exchanged.
Pic of a typical ‘Code 9’ message available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4879123608/
During the holiday periods, many children and teenagers spend more time than usual on the computer. This is a good time to ensure that our children are using the Internet safely and responsibly.
“We always advise that the best way to achieve this is for parents and children to have a relationship based on trust, so it is not necessary to be constantly monitoring kids while they’re on social networks and the like. It also helps to have an Internet Security product that allows parents to restrict access to unwanted sites”, concludes Matthews.
Since 1990, Panda’s mission has been to detect and eliminate new threats as rapidly as possible, offering clients’ maximum security. To do so, Panda has an innovative automated system that analyzes and classifies thousands of new samples a day and returns automatic verdicts (malware or goodware). This system is the basis of Collective Intelligence, Panda Security’s new security model which can even detect malware that has evaded other security solutions.
Currently, 99.4% of malware detected by Panda is analyzed through this system of Collective Intelligence. This is complemented by the work of several teams, each specialized in a specific type of malware (viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam, etc), and who work 24/7 to provide global coverage. This translates into more secure, simpler and resource-friendly solutions for clients.
More information is available in the PandaLabs blog: http://www.pandalabs.com
For more information about Panda, visit http://www.pandasecurity.com/