It is estimated that 97 percent of teens ages 12 to 17 play video games. And often these games are played online, allowing for interaction with gamers from across the globe. But this comes with a downside when cyberbullying and hacking come into play. This guide to safe online gaming is a valuable resource for any teen gamer, as well as his or her parents. Written by a gaming blogger and longtime game enthusiast, it covers all of the bases of gaming safety.
Security measures are a critical piece of the game development process because they not only affect the player's ability to safely access and enjoy a game but a publisher's ability to profit from it. Protecting Games: A Security Handbook for Game Developers and Publishers provides IT and game security professionals with the solutions and tools they need to solve numerous game security problems, and an understanding of security principles that can be applied to game projects to prevent security issues. The book covers longstanding issues such as piracy and cheating and also new concerns like gambling, privacy, and protecting children. Security issues are addressed at the technical, business, operational, and design levels, with both technical and non-technical countermeasures and solutions discussed. And case studies are presented as realworld examples of the types of security concerns games and game developers face. You can easily jump to the key topics that are of interest to you, or work your way through the book. Protecting Games: A Security Handbook for Game Developers and Publishers makes understanding and resolving game security issues less intimidating, and provides practical security solutions that can be applied right away.
Video games can instil amazing qualities in children – curiosity, resilience, patience and problem-solving to name a few – but with the World Health Organisation naming gaming disorder as a clinically diagnosable condition, parents and carers can worry about what video games are doing to their children. Andy Robertson has dealt with all of the above, not just over years of covering this topic fo newspapers, radio and television but as a father of three. In this guide, he offers parents and carers practical advice and insights – combining his own experiences with the latest research and guidance from psychologists, industry experts, schools and children's charities – alongside a treasure trove of 'gaming recipes' to test out in your family. Worrying about video game screen time, violence, expense and addiction is an understandable response to scary newspaper headlines. But with first-hand understanding of the video games your children love to play, you can anchor them as a healthy part of family life. Supported by the www.taminggaming.com Family Video Game Database, Taming Gaming leads you into doing this so that video games can stop being a point of argument, worry and stress and start providing fulfilling, connecting and ambitious experiences together as a family.
Is your child safe online? Do you know what information they access on a daily basis? The chances are that you are like most parents and the answer is 'no' or, at best, 'I'm not sure'. These days, our kids are more internet-savvy than we are - they know how to unblock privacy settings or get around simple parental controls. Yet more and more frequently there are stories in the news about children being victims of internet crime; whether through Facebook party invites, cyber-bullying or, worse, child grooming. But what can we do about it? As parents, we have a duty to understand the different media our children use and put in place boundaries and guidelines to protect them. Is Your Child Safe Online? has the practical advice you need to minimise the risk and ensure your child is protected today...whilst still letting them do their homework. Covering all forms of new media - iPhones, apps, iPads, twitter, gaming online - as well as social networking sites - Is Your Child Safe Online? keeps you informed of the dangers and reassures with simple, straightforward advice. It arms you with practical methods to make sure your child is safe. All your questions answered... * Do children get any guidelines at school on internet use? * How do children use social networks, chatrooms, instant messaging and blogs? * How do I control what my children look at online, or what information they give out? * What are the effects of time spent online on mental health and social life? How do I educate my children on how they can protect themselves against cyber-bullying and grooming? Give yourself peace of mind with Is Your Child Safe Online? - the book that every careful parent should own. The facts speak for themselves: In the last three years, the number of children belonging to a 'virtual world' has increased from 8 million to 20 million. One in five children aged five to seven are accessing the internet without parental supervision. Make sure YOUR child is safe online.
‘Honest, gutsy and laugh out loud... Do your pelvic floor exercises before reading as you may pee your pants’ – Kathy Lette A celebration of parenting failures, hilarious confessions, fish fingers and wine! This is a book for anyone who’s ever dealt with a poo in the pool, cleaned up a sick in the supermarket, or gone to an important meeting without realising there’s weetabix stuck to their bum. Because let’s be honest – no matter how much we love our kids, or how good we are at parenting, everyone’s a Scummy Mummy sometimes.
As internet use is extending to younger children, there is an increasing need for research focus on the risks young users are experiencing, as well as the opportunities, and how they should cope. With expert contributions from diverse disciplines and a uniquely cross-national breadth, this timely book examines the prospect of enhanced opportunities for learning, creativity and communication set against the fear of cyberbullying, pornography and invaded privacy by both strangers and peers. Based on an impressive in-depth survey of 25,000 children carried out by the EU Kids Online network, it offers wholly new findings that extend previous research and counter both the optimistic and the pessimistic hype. It argues that, in the main, children are gaining the digital skills, coping strategies and social support they need to navigate this fast-changing terrain. But it also identifies the struggles they encounter, pinpointing those for whom harm can follow from risky online encounters. Each chapter presents new findings and analyses to inform both researchers and students in the social sciences and policy makers in government, industry or child welfare who are working to enhance children's digital experiences.
Dive into this social video-sharing platform and find out why teens can’t live without it. Enjoy explanations of YouTube’s various offerings (YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, YouTube Kids), tips on how to navigate the platform, and advice about parental controls and building healthy online habits. Easily discuss the pros and cons of YouTube with 15 engaging questions meant to spark meaningful conversation, including: Have you learned new things on YouTube? What makes it hard to stop watching a video once you’ve started? What’s a reasonable amount of time to spend on YouTube? Axis is a team of Gospel-focused researchers creating culturally relevant guides, videos, and audios that equip parents of teens to have deep conversations about faith.
Today, we can find an online community to suit almost any interest we may have. And yet these communities carry an element of menace. The anonymity associated with online communities allows particularly vicious interplay, where people can pile on others with virtually zero consequences. Using current examples from the news and connecting this phenomenon to historical incidents like the Salem witch trials, this fascinating resource examines an interesting time in the world and grounds it with practical guidelines for being a responsible member of an online community.
"Imagine trying to play defense in football without ever studying offense. You would not know when a run was coming, how to defend pass patterns, nor when to blitz. In computer systems, as in football, a defender must be able to think like an attacker. I say it in my class every semester, you don't want to be the last person to attack your own system--you should be the first. "The world is quickly going online. While I caution against online voting, it is clear that online gaming is taking the Internet by storm. In our new age where virtual items carry real dollar value, and fortunes are won and lost over items that do not really exist, the new threats to the intrepid gamer are all too real. To protect against these hazards, you must understand them, and this groundbreaking book is the only comprehensive source of information on how to exploit computer games. Every White Hat should read it. It's their only hope of staying only one step behind the bad guys." --Aviel D. Rubin, Ph.D. Professor, Computer Science Technical Director, Information Security Institute Johns Hopkins University "Everyone's talking about virtual worlds. But no one's talking about virtual-world security. Greg Hoglund and Gary McGraw are the perfect pair to show just how vulnerable these online games can be." --Cade Metz Senior Editor PC Magazine "If we're going to improve our security practices, frank discussions like the ones in this book are the only way forward. Or as the authors of this book might say, when you're facing off against Heinous Demons of Insecurity, you need experienced companions, not to mention a Vorpal Sword of Security Knowledge." --Edward W. Felten, Ph.D. Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs Director, Center for Information Technology Policy Princeton University "Historically, games have been used by warfighters to develop new capabilities and to hone existing skills--especially in the Air Force. The authors turn this simple concept on itself, making games themselves the subject and target of the 'hacking game,'and along the way creating a masterly publication that is as meaningful to the gamer as it is to the serious security system professional. "Massively distributed systems will define the software field of play for at least the next quarter century. Understanding how they work is important, but understanding how they can be manipulated is essential for the security professional. This book provides the cornerstone for that knowledge." --Daniel McGarvey Chief, Information Protection Directorate United States Air Force "Like a lot of kids, Gary and I came to computing (and later to computer security) through games. At first, we were fascinated with playing games on our Apple ][s, but then became bored with the few games we could afford. We tried copying each other's games, but ran up against copy-protection schemes. So we set out to understand those schemes and how they could be defeated. Pretty quickly, we realized that it was a lot more fun to disassemble and work around the protections in a game than it was to play it. "With the thriving economies of today's online games, people not only have the classic hacker's motivation to understand and bypass the security of games, but also the criminal motivation of cold, hard cash. That's a combination that's hard to stop. The first step, taken by this book, is revealing the techniques that are being used today." --Greg Morrisett, Ph.D. Allen B. Cutting Professor of Computer Science School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Harvard University "If you're playing online games today and you don't understand security, you're at a real disadvantage. If you're designing the massive distributed systems of tomorrow and you don't learn from games, you're just plain sunk." --Brian Chess, Ph.D. Founder/Chief Scientist, Fortify Software Coauthor ofSecure Programming with Static Analysis "This book offers up a fascinating tour of the battle for software security on a whole new front: attacking an online game. Newcomers will find it incredibly eye opening and even veterans of the field will enjoy some of the same old programming mistakes given brilliant new light in a way that only massively-multiplayer-supermega-blow-em-up games can deliver. w00t!" --Pravir Chandra Principal Consultant, Cigital Coauthor ofNetwork Security with OpenSSL If you are a gamer, a game developer, a software security professional, or an interested bystander, this book exposes the inner workings of online-game security for all to see. From the authors of the best-selling Exploiting Software, Exploiting Online Gamestakes a frank look at controversial security issues surrounding MMORPGs, such as World of Warcraftand Second Life. This no-holds-barred book comes fully loaded with code examples, debuggers, bots, and hacks. This book covers Why online games are a harbinger of software security issues to come How millions of gamers have created billion-dollar virtual economies How game companies invade personal privacy Why some gamers cheat Techniques for breaking online game security How to build a bot to play a game for you Methods for total conversion and advanced mods Written by the world's foremost software security experts, this book takes a close look at security problems associated with advanced, massively distributed software. With hundreds of thousands of interacting users, today's online games are a bellwether of modern software. The kinds of attack and defense techniques described in Exploiting Online Gamesare tomorrow's security techniques on display today.
Omegle is an online chat website that was created in 2009 by Leif K-Brooks. The website's tagline is "Talk to Strangers!" It allows users to have anonymous and random one-on-one conversations with strangers from all over the world. The website's popularity skyrocketed, and in 2010, it underwent a major redesign to make it more user-friendly. Omegle can be accessed through a web browser and requires no registration to use. The website pairs users randomly with each other and offers two conversation modes: text and video. The text mode allows users to communicate through messages, whereas, video mode enables users to see and talk to each other through a live webcam feed. Omegle has been controversial as it has been used for cyberbullying and inappropriate behavior. Despite the risks, Omegle still receives millions of users every month, and many find it a convenient way to meet new people.
