Safeguarding Children in the Digital Age: Research Gaps and Future Directions

Digital technology has had a significant impact on our lives. As a result, there is a growing concern about children's online safety. This research investigates children's cybersecurity risk in the digital era, focusing on Nigeria as a developing economy with objectives to understand the cybersecurity risk children face in the digital era, explore various ways to mitigate cybersecurity risk to enhance child online safety and present strategies that can be applied to build resilience in children to be better protected from various cybersecurity risks. This study has been able to identify and categorise various cybersecurity threats faced by children. This research has presented the role of risk assessment, data protection and real-time monitoring. This study offers strategies for making children more resilient and covers basic cybersecurity hygiene practices; open communication has been established as the key pillar in building resilience in children. The study concludes by opining that the use of digital technologies has made it essential to develop urgent strategies to mitigate cybersecurity risks. There is a need to develop age-appropriate digital literacy programs for children to educate them about various strategies, improve collaboration between parents, guidance and educators to aid with the development of a safe environment for children, advocate for stringent policies to help address the challenge of child online safety and promote continuous research to understand cybersecurity risk, which continues to evolve and can provide effective preventive measures and policies. Keywords — Cyberbullying, Cyberstalking, Phishing, Stranger Danger, Privacy Concerns, Safety Concerns, Child Online Safety Proceedings Citation Format Oluwatoni Falade & Sadiq Nasir (2024): Safeguarding Children in the Digital Age: Research Gaps and Future Directions. Proceedings of the Cyber Secure Nigeria Conference held at The Ballroom Center, Central Business District, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria - 25th - 26th September, 2024. Pp 83-90. https://cybersecurenigeria.org/conference-proceedings/volume-1-2024/ dx.doi.org/10.22624/AIMS/CSEAN-SMART2024P8