Safer Internet Day 2021

What is Safer Internet Day all about? 

Today (9 February) is Safer Internet Day, and the UK Safer Internet Centre is leading the campaign to ensure young people and their families are safe when surfing the web. Part of this requires educating people of the dangers to look out for and how you can stay protected when using the web. 

Worryingly, research has shown that half of most young people encounter misleading content online on a daily basis. With phishing, ransomware and other threats, the young (and everyone else of course) need protection when using the internet. 

Safer Internet Day unites millions of young people, schools and organisations across the UK, to spark conversations around online safety and what to trust online. Over 2,000 organisations are taking part, joining young people in conversation, as well as hosting events. The UK Safer Internet Centre has released toolkits, resources and live content to improve everyone’s awareness of the topic. 

Safer Internet Day in 2021

This year, the Safer Internet Day theme is an internet we trust exploring reliability in the online world.  

Will Gardner OBE, Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, says: “This is the most important Safer internet Day ever. We are in lockdown and being online continues to be a lifeline for most children during the pandemic, in terms of their education and social lives, and also as a form of support. Our research released today sheds a light on this, as well as children and young people’s experience of unreliable content. It shows they are making decisions all the time on the trustworthiness of content they see or are sent, or contact they receive, as well as showing the impact this has on them. We need to listen to young people and hear the strategies they are already using, and we need to work to support them. Managing unreliable content and contact is fundamental to being safe online, as well as for looking after others online.  

Safer Internet Day provides the perfect opportunity to generate conversations that need to take place to support children in their online lives. Through all the activities taking place today, across the UK, we can all work to help empower young people, and those that support them, to be better able to harness and use the positive power of the internet for good.” 

How Grey Matter can help you safeguard your internet 

Ensure your users are surfing the internet safely. We offer a wide range of security solutions that can help your organisation to enable safe internet use, be it academic, commercial or government. For instance, we offer ESET Internet Security for Windows. 

Contact our security specialist to find out more: 

Call: +44 (0) 1364 654 100 

Email: [email protected]