About this Report
The extreme risks children face online continue to be largely ignored among parents and guardians, despite mounting governmental pressure within the United States and abroad for social media companies to adhere to more restrictive practices that guard children’s privacy. Javelin’s 2023 Child ID Theft: Social Cyber Risks and the Persistent Threat to Families, formerly known as the Child Identity Fraud Study, focuses on steps financial services providers must take to educate and support parents and guardians, by providing more direct provisions aimed at protecting children’s identities. This year’s report focuses how identity protection services can play roles in protecting children’s identities. Identity protection services alert families when potential risks to children’s identities arise via social media compromises, breaches of personally identifiable information, and the detection of PII for sale in underground forums, to name just a few. This report, now in its third year, reflects Javelin’s strong desire to educate the industry and the general public about the cyber and social risks today’s youth increasingly face. To that end, Javelin continues to publish its findings around child identity theft and risk and makes them open to the public, so consumers, parents, educators, financial institutions, law enforcement, etc., can access Javelin’s data and recommendations for thwarting child identity theft risks.
