Parents should know about apps like Calculator% and Omegle that hide photos, messages, and anonymous chats from view. Robert Siciliano explains which obscure apps mask inappropriate content and recommends syncing devices with iCloud to monitor what kids are doing.
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Kids and teens will pick up the newest technology fast as they head back to school, and that means they can be using apps that could put them in danger, and you might not even realize it. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat are all popular, but Fox 25's Elizabeth Hopkins uncovered the obscure apps that should keep parents on alert.
What you don't know can hurt your kids.
There are apps out there today that look and act like apps that we know, like, and trust, but they are in fact ruses, fake apps designed to confuse or lie to the parent.
Robert Siciliano is an online security expert with Hotspot Shield. He says there are countless apps that can fall off a parent's radar, like Calculator%.
This app is designed to mask itself as the calculator app, and the parent would not know that in fact that child installed it essentially to hide all of their inappropriate pictures.
Another decoy app: Audio Manager.
It's designed to pose as the audio manager but is in fact there to mask and hide inappropriate photos, inappropriate text messages, essentially anything that the child wants to hide from their parents.
Snapchat is old news for some kids and teens. Introducing Burn Note.
It's designed like Snapchat, essentially to hide and mask data, and in the end it that erases or deletes any instant messages quickly and efficiently so the parents can't see it.
Robert Siciliano says savvy online predators are lurking in apps on your child's smartphone, and you might not even know it.
Omegle is another one of those apps that can facilitate chats with complete strangers. So your child could be communicating with, you know, a username of 14-year-old Charlie, who is in fact 40-year-old Ed, and your kid or you may never know it.
Robert advises a simple step for parents to take to keep an eye on their kids' apps.
You know, it's really important that parents set up their devices so that they sync with iCloud. That way, if a child installs an app, then it's installed on the parent's device as well.
Elizabeth Hopkins, Fox 25 News.
Now, it is important to note that these apps are not illegal, and they do have safeguards in place. All of the app makers agree that Any abuse needs to be reported immediately.
