Digital SOS: Your Online Safety Playbook

by Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education

Clear, calm steps for when things go wrong online.

icon of a pink flag, used in the AI toolkit to highlight digital red flags and cautionary signs for families, parents, and educators when navigating technology and online safety.

Even with the best precautions, kids may still face cyberbullying, scams, or unsafe interactions online. When that happens, your job is to stay grounded and respond calmly.

This playbook, developed with Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education, gives you simple steps to contain the problem, support your child, and restore safety.

Universal Response Framework

Every incident can be handled with the same four-stage framework:

Prevention

Create healthy digital habits, set boundaries, and enable protections before problems start.

Detection

Watch for warning signs like sudden mood changes, secrecy, or technical glitches.

Containment

If something happens, stay calm, secure accounts, save evidence, and block/report offenders.

Recovery

Rebuild safety and trust: reset passwords, tighten privacy, and talk openly with your child.

For more information on each stage (including more detailed examples, checklists, and talking points), please download the full report.

Gauging Incident Severity

Not every online issue is equal. Use these four levels to decide how urgently to act.

  • What it means: Minor incidents with little to no lasting impact.

    Examples: Child forgets a password, receives a spam message, sees a mildly upsetting post.

    Action: Talk with your child, review basic cyber safety habits, and keep an eye on 

  • What it means: Concerning behavior or content that could escalate severity if ignored

    Examples: Cyber teasing in a group chat, accidental sharing of personal info, using unsafe apps or websites.

    Action: Discuss what happened, review privacy settings, document the incident, and consider limiting child’s access to the platform.

  • What it means: Significant risk to your child’s safety, privacy, or mental health.

    Examples: Repeated cyber-bullying, exposure to explicit content, scams/phishing attempts, someone is pressuring your child online.

    Action: Intervene immediately, report/block the offender, reset accounts, disconnect financial info, and provide emotional support

  • What it means: Serious or potentially life-threatening incident.

    Examples: Sexual exploitation, threats of violence, stalking, identity theft, mental health crises (e.g., suicidal ideation)

    Action: Contact school officials, platform safety teams, law enforcement, or emergency services right away. Ensure mental health support is in place.

App-Specific Guidance

Different platforms carry different risks. Here’s what to watch for across the most common ones:

  • Roblox: Account hacking, scams for Robux, strangers in chat.

  • Snapchat: Location sharing (Snap Map), disappearing messages, sextortion.

  • Instagram & TikTok: Bullying, scams, harmful trends, comparison pressure.

  • Discord & Live Streaming (Twitch, Kick): Stranger contact, explicit content, phishing scams.

  • AI Chatbots & Generators: Misinformation, unsafe outputs, emotional dependence, deepfakes.

  • School Devices & Google Suite: Monitoring, misuse of shared docs, accidental data exposure.

For step-by-step response actions on each app—including recovery steps and reporting tools—refer to the complete Incident Response Playbook in the full report.

Report cover for Raising Digital Natives: A Toolkit for Raising Tech-Savvy, Secure, and Self-Aware Kids, featuring illustrations of children and teens using AI technology. Produced by bitsnbytes cybersecurity, CAS Strategies, and Girl Security.

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Cyber incidents are hard, but they can also be powerful teaching moments. By responding calmly, you not only contain the harm but also help your child build resilience.