What are Teenagers Really Doing Online?

GFI® Software today announced it has published a scientific study of home Internet use by parents and their teenage children to better understand how they behave online. Designed and implemented by a noted polling expert, the nationally-representative 2011 Parent-Teen Internet Safety Report identifies online behaviors of parents and their teenagers related to content, communications and malware exposure. The study finds that during parents and their teens are engaged in a game of "cat-and-mouse" when it comes to controlling home Internet access, both populations regularly engage in online behavior that puts them and the parents' employers at risk.

"The Parent-Teen Internet Safety Report is a real eye-opener as to how modern computing introduces families to a host of new dangers that reflect our evolving online lives," said Alex Eckelberry, general manager of GFI Software's Security Business Unit. "It is not surprising to see teenagers engage in risky online behavior - such as they will often engage in risky behavior in the physical world. It is surprising, on the whole, to see that parents are often compounding this problem with highly insecure computing practices like letting their children use their work computers, or being lax in updating their virus definitions. As a result, home Internet use is a source of significant risk not only to families nevertheless also to employers."

GFI Software provides web and mail security, archiving and fax, networking and security software and hosted IT solutions for small to medium-sized enterprises via an extensive global partner community. GFI products are available either as on-premise solutions, in the cloud or as a hybrid of both delivery models. With award-winning research, a competitive pricing strategy, and a strong focus on the in a class by itself requirements of SMEs, GFI satisfies the IT needs of organizations on a global scale. The company has offices in the United States, UK, Austria, Australia, Malta, Hong Kong, Philippines and Romania, which at the same time support hundreds of thousands of installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with thousands of partners throughout the world and is as well a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

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