Why every child needs cybersecurity skills this holiday

Let me begin with a simple truth that many parents in Uganda still underestimate. Your child is already living in a world you barely understand. Their friendships are digital. Their assignments are digital. Their identity is digital. Their future wealth will be digital. And their biggest risks? Also, digital. Pretending cybersecurity is an “adult issue” is the fastest way to raise a vulnerable child in a dangerous world.

This holiday, while everyone else is preparing to teach children new dances, cooking lessons, or driving skills, I want us to think differently. Your child does not need more entertainment. They need digital self-defence. And the earlier they learn it, the safer their future. The moment a harmless game became an investigation

Two weeks ago, during a cybersecurity training session, a mother approached me worried about her son, let us call him Peter, a slender boy, always wearing bright T-shirts and moving with the restless attention of someone raised on screens. He had clicked on a “free upgrade” link inside a mobile game. Within hours, his phone, the one he borrowed, started sending strange notifications. Data got consumed at an alarming rate. Contacts synced to unknown servers. That is how easily a child can compromise an entire family.

This is not a theoretical risk. Children are now the softest entry point for cybercriminals into homes, offices and top security places. They trust too quickly. They click too fast. They share too openly. And they rarely tell their parents until it is too late. That is why cybersecurity is no longer an optional talent. It is a survival skill.

Why your child is the new target

Children are now the easiest way for criminals to enter your household. And they do it quietly.

1. Children trust screens more than people they know.
2. They do not evaluate risk, they follow excitement.
3. Their digital footprints outlive childhood.
4. Criminals design attacks specifically for young users’ behaviour.

Every online profile your child creates today builds a lifelong digital identity. Mistakes made at age 10 can haunt them at 25 in job applications. If you are with your child, ask them to Google their own name and see how much of their identity is already public. The shock alone begins the learning.

A case of a simple school assignment gone wrong

Subject B, a tall girl around 11, usually wearing her school uniform even during holidays, downloaded a “free PDF converter” for her homework. Hidden inside was spyware. It captured keystrokes, screen activity, and camera access. Her father did not believe it until we replayed a log showing screenshots of their living room taken without permission.

Let us think differently. Children are not careless. They are untrained.

1. Free tools often carry malicious add-ons.
2. Children rarely read permission requests.
3. Household devices become compromised silently.
4. Attackers exploit educational habits, downloading, searching, sharing.

Try it now. Ask your child to explain what each app on their phone does, what permissions it uses, and why. The gaps will reveal their vulnerabilities.

The digital world your child walks into blindly

We must stop pretending children are safe because they are “just on TikTok” or “only chatting with classmates.” Digital danger is not dramatic. It is quiet, gradual, and psychological.

1. Social engineering now targets children first.
2. Identity theft begins with small personal details.
3. Cyberbullying leaves long-term behavioural scars.
4. Strangers disguise themselves as peers effortlessly.

What else to know? A child’s first online trauma shapes their confidence for life.

I got a shock of my life when I did a simple online test at home. You too can try it. Run a mock phishing test at home. Send your child a harmless but deceptive link. Discuss why they clicked or didn’t click. This is the most practical lesson you can give.

Why the holiday is the perfect time to train them

Children learn best when routines are broken. Holidays give you uninterrupted time to build digital discipline without school pressure.

1. Holidays expose children to longer screen time.
2. Boredom pushes them into riskier digital spaces.
3. Peer challenges increase unsafe behaviours.
4. Supervision reduces; curiosity increases.

Let us think differently. Cybersecurity is not about fear. It is about empowerment. Spend one hour daily teaching them simple tasks, checking browser history, identifying fake URLs, and turning on two-factor authentication. Or you can enrol them at the Institute of Forensics & ICT Security holiday program.

This small routine builds lifelong digital instincts.

The skills every child must have by the New Year

If you want your child to thrive in a future driven by AI, automation, and digital identity, these baseline skills are non-negotiable.

1. How to identify suspicious links and apps.
2. How to create strong, memorable passwords.
3. How to configure privacy settings on every platform they use.
4. How to recognise manipulation—emotional, social, and digital.

What else to know? These are the same skills required of cybersecurity professionals. Your child is building a career foundation without even realising it. Activity: Ask your child to “teach you” how to protect your phone. When they teach, they learn twice.

We must face a hard truth. The school system is not built for the digital age. The curriculum is slow, the risks are fast. Teachers are overwhelmed; children are overexposed. Keep in mind that

1. Most schools lack cybersecurity programs.
2. Teachers often do not understand modern threats.
3. ICT lessons focus on typing, not self-defence.
4. Parents wrongly assume schools provide safety.

Parental leadership is the new frontline of cyber protection.

I encourage parents to create a weekly “digital briefing” with their child. Review their digital week the same way CEOs review operations. A deeper look at Subject A and Subject B

Remember our two cases?

Subject A’s curiosity led to malware infiltration that compromised household contacts.

Subject B’s homework tool gave a stranger silent access to her home.

The lesson?

Cybersecurity failure rarely looks dangerous at first. It looks innocent. It looks harmless. It looks like “something small.”

1. Children do not understand digital consequences.
2. Small digital mistakes have a real-world impact and leave lifelong pain
3. Attackers rely on invisibility.
4. Training children protects the entire family.

Activity: With your child present, demonstrate how quickly personal information can be found online using only their social media likes. This makes the risk real, not theoretical.

As a parent, secure your children’s future now, or watch them struggle later

Your child’s world is not the world you grew up in. Their biggest threats will not come from dark alleys; they will come from glowing screens. And the greatest gift you can give them this holiday is not a new gadget. It is the skill to use every device safely.

Cybersecurity is the new literacy. Digital discipline is the new life skill. And early training is the new competitive advantage. Teach your child now, while the cost of a mistake is small.

Because in the future they are stepping into, ignorance is the most expensive vulnerability. Secure their future today.