With schools closed and kids staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, children are likely to be spending more time online. The CSA Group is a Canadian standards organization that reports along with the increased time online, comes increased risks for Canadian kids.

Doug Morton, VP of Government Relations with CSA Group says they have narrowed down three risk groups parents should be aware of, including privacy and data security, unsafe interactions and unsafe or inappropriate content.

Morton says governments across the country have responded to these issues but he feels more needs to be done. He suggests Canada needs its privacy infrastructure and regulation updated. Morton says the last modification was done nearly 20 years ago and many changes to the amount of time kids are online has occurred since then. Morton says the CSA Group is advocating for change with a research report that will be shared with the Privacy commissioner of Canada.

Morton says parents need to be aware and extra vigilant of what their children are absorbing online at a young age. He recommends talking to children about what online safety means and what they need to do to report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable online.