Posted by Jacqueline Beauchere
Chief Online Safety Officer, Microsoft

The digital world offers students an abundance of resources and unlimited learning potential. Our largely one-size-fits-all approach to education and technology in the U.S., however, doesn’t seem to be working for today’s digital youth. Moreover, resources are not applied equitably across schools and classrooms. To help address these challenges, The Aspen Institute established a Task Force on Learning and the Internet, to understand the ways in which young people learn today, and to identify methods to expand educational opportunities online and off, inside and outside the classroom.

After a year of collaboration, the group released its findings via a comprehensive report entitled “Learner at the Center of a Networked World.” The Task Force’s conclusions suggest a radical rethinking of the very approach to education is needed—starting with the core belief that students must be at the center of their learning. This means providing young people with affordable access to networks; arming them with digital-literacy skills, so they can tap into the benefits those networks offer, and ensuring they have a trusted online environment that promotes learning and protects their privacy and safety.

At Microsoft, we recognize that while the Internet has a multitude of benefits, it may also expose students to certain risks, such as inappropriate content or invite unwanted contact. Such risks bring into focus the tension caused by varying beliefs and attitudes that exist among consumers specific to privacy and online safety. My colleague, Chief Privacy Officer Brendon Lynch, reflected on his participation in the Task Force, underscoring the importance of recognizing the impact that changing technology has on these areas, and calling for the creation of frameworks that establish trusted environments for learning. To assist teachers and, in particular parents, as they navigate an online culture in which rules and social norms are imprecise and constantly evolving, Microsoft will continue to provide digital literacy tools and resources. These include Bing in the Classroom and our Safety and Security Center so educators and parents can assist young people in making responsible, ethical decisions in our digitally dominant world.

We call this sense of ownership and online personal responsibility “Digital Citizenship.” And, teaching skills like digital literacy, digital ethics and digital etiquette is critical to help prepare students for life in a technology-driven society. We support the integration of digital citizenship concepts into the classrooms and curricula to help put students at the center, and in control of, their learning environments. In fact, the Aspen Task Force identified this as an imperative to help foster continued scholarship both in real life and online.

Cultivating the next generation of digital citizens through digital literacy and educational programs offers students tremendous opportunities to learn, share and communicate. I am bolstered by the Task Force’s findings, and encouraged that we are on a solid path toward comprehensive reform for teaching our 21^stcentury learners.

For more information, tools and resources on Microsoft’s approach to digital literacy and online safety, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/safety.

Editor’s Note: Once a month on Microsoft on the Issues, Jacqueline Beauchere shares her point of view on topics related to the global consumer online safety landscape. Follow the conversation on Twitter using #MSFTCOSO.

Posted by Jacqueline Beauchere
Chief Online Safety Officer, Microsoft

To mark Safer Internet Day (SID) 2014, Microsoft asks people to “Do 1 Thing” to stay safer online and to make that one thing part of their daily digital routines.

As part of this campaign, on Monday we’re launching a new interactive website Safer Online, where individuals can share their “Do1Thing” promise; learn what others are doing to help protect themselves online, and get instant tips to enhance and better protect their digital lifestyles. These tips include:

Lock your devices and online accounts: Use strong passwords and a unique four-digit PIN for mobiles.
Save sensitive transactions for secured networks: This includes paying bills, banking or shopping. Don’t share personal account information over “borrowed” or public Wi-Fi
Take charge of your online reputation: Discover what’s on the Internet about you, periodically reevaluate what you find and cultivate an accurate and positive reputation.
Help protect your social circles: Use privacy settings to manage what information you share and with whom. Be selective about what you post and accepting friends.

It’s all part of our effort to let people know that protecting themselves online is easier than they might think.

For the past three years, Microsoft has fielded a survey, the Computing Safety Index, which measures the steps people report taking to protect their computers, mobile phones and valuable information.

The survey consists of 24 protective steps. The more steps respondents report taking, the higher their Index score, with 100 being the highest rating.

Last year, MCSI researchers surveyed more than 10,000 people aged 18 and older in 20 countries and regions worldwide. With an average Index score of 34.6, it’s clear that the steps people take to protect themselves online haven’t changed much since 2012.

When it comes to using features and functionality built into computing devices, people score relatively well. When respondents checked their settings, the survey found that 95 percent had antimalware software installed, 84 percent had their firewalls turned on and 82 percent had activated automatic updates.

The conundrum, by a large margin (60 percent), is that while people see themselves as best able to protect their information rather than relying on technology companies, government or others, the results reveal that they aren’t actively protecting themselves when it comes to the more daily digital routines. For instance:

· A mere one in five (21 percent) of those surveyed said they take advantage of Web browser filters to help protect against phishing attacks.

· Only 31 percent educated themselves about the latest steps for protecting their online reputation, or were selective about what they texted. Even fewer said they used technical tools to edit or delete information to help safeguard their reputations (19 percent), used search engines to monitor their personal information online (15 percent), or used a service to correct inaccuracies (10 percent).

· Only slightly more than one third (36 percent) said they limit the amount of personal information that appears online or educate themselves about the most current ways to help guard against identity theft (37 percent).

All too often, it’s these types of daily activities that often expose Internet users to more risk. For example, 15 percent of survey respondents said they had been victims of a phishing attack, 13 percent experienced damage to their professional reputation and 9 percent said their identity had been compromised.

Running into trouble online can be costly. According to those surveyed, recovering from a damaged online professional reputation was the most costly by far, with each individual losing an average of $535. Repairing identity theft cost victims an average of $218, while phishing attacks resulted in losses, on average, of $158 per person.

These dollar amounts add up. The worldwide impact of phishing could be as high as $2.6 billion – and $2.4 billion for identity theft – with the cost of repairing damage to peoples’ professional reputations at nearly a whopping $4.5 billion.

There are numerous things we can all do to help protect ourselves online. But imagine how much safer we’d all be by starting with that “1 Thing.”

For more information about our work in Internet safety, visit our Safety & Security Center, “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and look for my “point of view” blog following the #MSFTCOSO hashtag.

Posted by Jacqueline Beauchere
Chief Online Safety Officer, Microsoft

We’re all very aware of people’s desires to be “safe” and “secure,” and to exist and engage in environments – both online and off – that are built on trust. To define these points as absolute states of being, however, is impractical and unrealistic. Rather, when it comes to life online, we should focus first on the almost-innumerable advantages of the Internet; realize the online world is not without risk, and then seek to minimize and manage identified risks accordingly.

Perhaps somewhat of an exercise in semantics, but the need for this distinction became abundantly clear at the 2013 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Bali, Indonesia, which took place from Oct. 22 to Oct. 25. I was observing a panel discussion entitled “Protection of the Most Vulnerable Children Online,” organized and moderated by Yuliya Morenets, Executive Director of the NGO Together Against Cybercrime and an associate professor at Strasbourg University. My colleague, Kim Sanchez, appeared on the panel and took a question from an audience member. He asked, perhaps somewhat facetiously, if the Internet was risk-free. A robust discussion ensued in which I, and others, were compelled to interject.

Unconditional monikers like safe, secure and private should be stricken from our digital lexicon. Furthermore, any Internet service provider, technology company or other online actor that claims to guarantee 100 percent safety, security, privacy or reliability is setting itself up for failure. Instead, we should regard online safety as an exercise in risk management: Survey the landscape; educate ourselves about, and evaluate, the risks that are out there; determine our individual acceptance levels, and then, decide how best to manage identified risks.

At Microsoft, we define the very discipline of online safety in terms of risk management. We see our role as helping people to maximize their desirable online experiences, while minimizing those stemming from what we call “The Four Cs” – risks from content, contact, conduct and commerce. We do this by providing technology tools, raising public awareness through campaigns and social media, partnering with others on a variety of initiatives, and by creating and sharing our own informational and educational resources.

At the end of the day, we’re all striving for the same thing: Behavioral change such that individuals, families and communities know how to best protect themselves when they go online. We want safer habits and practices to become as second nature as locking doors and wearing seatbelts. We look to create a “culture of online safety,” where young people support and encourage one another; parents and adults model exemplary social behaviors both online and off; technology companies provide simple, easy-to-use tools; educators embrace and champion the transformative power of technology and governments help to foster economic growth through innovation.

On day two of IGF 2013, a young man from the Dutch delegation told me he’d been thinking about my “safe versus safer” comments from the day before, noting that he recognized the importance of the distinction. “I usually don’t like having discussions about semantics,” he told me, “but this, I believe, is an important one.”

Labeling the Internet as anything less than the signature invention of our generation would be a mistake. It has changed forever the way we work, play, learn, grow and interact. No, it’s not without risk – nothing is. Individuals and families need to decide for themselves how they want to engage. Practicing good “digital citizenship” – safer, responsible and appropriate use of technology and services – is a positive first step. Microsoft has been promoting digital citizenship and advocating for online safety education for many years.

To learn more about our work, visit our Safety & Security Center; “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Posted by Jacqueline Beauchere
Chief Online Safety Officer, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft

At the kickoff event for his year-long presidential initiative, “America’s Promise – Keeping Our Kids Safe,” the new leader of the U.S. National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) promised to help protect American youth in all aspects of their lives, including life online.

“We need to focus on prevention,” NAAG president and Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen told an audience of about 120, including AGs, members of their staffs and others in Milwaukee last week. “We need to educate our kids; we need them to build positive relationships with law enforcement, and we need to take people off the streets (who would do children harm).”

Representatives from Microsoft’s Online Safety Team and Digital Crimes Unit were on-site at the NAAG event, invited to participate along with a total of nine other corporations and child-focused non-profits. Our “presenter station” showcased our technology tools and educational resources and we offered five different “learning sessions” designed to educate AGs and their staffs about various aspects of the digital lives of America’s youth, as well as Microsoft’s work in these areas.

Standing up to online bullying, taking charge of online reputations, our industry-leading PhotoDNA technology and our efforts to thwart child trafficking were all subjects of our informal learning sessions. In addition, we distributed educational resources we’ve developed to help inform parents, teachers, school officials and others about how best to protect kids online. We dedicated a learning session to this array of free materials so attendees might help do the same. “Building Global Trust Online,” our Policymakers’ Guide to Security, Privacy, and Online Safety; our “Digital Citizenship in Action” toolkit, a primer on PhotoDNA; and Microsoft’s Human Rights Statement were the most popular titles.

Plenary sessions and “main-tent” panel discussions featured experts from varying fields of child protection, including drug-use prevention, combatting child exploitation and addressing school violence.

Microsoft applauds General Van Hollen for his concern for, and dedication to, all aspects of youth protection, and we welcome the opportunity to help him further advance the important effort of childrens’ online safety.

We’ve made protecting kids online – indeed, all individuals – a priority since we launched our first Web service in the mid-1990s. Our work includes:

· Providing family-friendly technology tools in our products and services

· Partnering with others in industry and the non-profit sector on joint initiatives

· Creating educational resources to raise public awareness and inform global Internet users how to be good “digital citizens” in today’s constantly connected world

To learn more about Microsoft’s work in online safety, and to learn how you can become a better digital citizen, visit our Safety & Security Center; “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Posted by Jacqueline Beauchere
Chief Online Safety Officer, Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft

From antimalware solutions and automatic updates, to firewalls and strong passwords, Microsoft and the technology industry routinely stress that consumers should exercise basic “digital hygiene.” To some, these pieces of advice come as second nature. Most U.S. consumers, however, appear to ignore key technology tools that could help them stave off issues.

New Microsoft research shows the majority of U.S. consumers are not leveraging some basic technology tools that could help them better manage their online transactions and protect their personal data. The third annual Microsoft Computing Safety Index (MCSI), a gauge to help assess consumer online habits and behaviors, shows that only 40 percent of U.S. respondents, on average, say they’ve turned on their computer’s firewall and left it on. This is down seven and 10 percentage points, respectively, from the 2012 and 2011 Indices. Data tell a similar story when consumers self-report about installing antimalware software, and turning on and running automatic updates.

The good news, however, is that U.S. consumers are actually better protected than they think they are. When walked through a self-check of certain foundational elements of PC health and maintenance, 78 percent, on average, actually reported having turned on their firewall; 92 percent were running antivirus solutions and 82 percent were using automatic updates, according to the 2013 U.S. MCSI.

These and other elements of the U.S. Index were released last week at an “@Microsoft Conversation” series event in Washington, D.C., entitled, “Online Safety: Past, Present and Future.” I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion moderated by Family Online Safety Institute Founder and CEO Stephen Balkam. Other panelists included: Parry Aftab, executive director of Wired Safety; Amanda Lenhart, senior researcher and director of teens and technology at Pew Research Center, and Jack McArtney, director of Corporate and Community Responsibility at Verizon.

The group discussed the evolution of online safety during the past decade-plus, including a shift in the “content” debate to one centered on user-generated content versus the blocking and filtering of adult images from years ago. When it comes to individuals’ behavior in relation to others, online bullying, harassment and other forms of unwanted “contact” garner the bulk of expert and media attention today, compared to concerns about child predators some 10 to 12 years ago, the group agreed.

We also addressed the state of online safety public awareness-raising and education in our schools, in light of a recent study by the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center. All agreed awareness-raising and formal, in-classroom education are key, but should be integrated into existing, mandatory curricula – not treated as something separate and extra for educators to learn and then teach, and for students to likely bemoan. After all, technology and constant electronic connections are already seamlessly inter-woven into our children’s lives; young people make no distinction between the online and offline worlds. It’s all simply “life.”

Turning to the future, the group’s outlook was largely positive with only a hint of caution. In addition to increasing productivity, speeding communications and, figuratively speaking, shrinking the globe, technology is altering social norms, which can be unsettling at times. Still, the group agreed a more positive, proactive approach to staying safer and more secure online is a digital imperative for all.

The MCSI for 19 other countries* as well as the 20-country worldwide average will be released on Feb. 11 in conjunction with international Safer Internet Day.

To learn more about Microsoft’s work in online safety, visit our Safety & Security Center; “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

* In addition to the U.S., the MCSI is conducted in the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.