Today’s youth are growing up in a world where digital technology is inseparable from everyday life. Social media, online gaming, messaging platforms and AI-powered applications offer unprecedented opportunities for connection, creativity and learning. But with that access also comes greater exposure to security threats and privacy risks that many young people are not yet equipped to recognize.
As artificial intelligence makes cyberattacks more sophisticated, personalized and easier to scale, protecting young people online is becoming increasingly complex. Phishing, impersonation and identity theft are no longer limited to poorly written emails or obvious scams; AI can make fraudulent messages and interactions more convincing than ever. According to IBM’s 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report, one in four malicious breaches involved AI, a 56% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 11,000 more complaints from victims under 20 in 2025, highlighting youth as a growing target.
New research from Digital Defenders Inc. exposes a critical gap between young people’s exposure to online threats and their ability to recognize them, and underscores data literacy as an essential skill to close it. Kids must understand how personal information is collected, shared and exploited so they can better recognize threats, make informed decisions and protect their digital identities in an increasingly AI-driven threat landscape.
The Perfect Target
Most people assume children are unlikely cybercrime targets because they have no money to offer. The reality is that they have something far more valuable: personal information.
Names, birth dates, email addresses, phone numbers and account credentials can all be exploited for identity theft, account takeovers and future fraud. While any single detail may seem harmless, cybercriminals can combine information from multiple sources to build detailed profiles, personalize attacks and gain access to more sensitive accounts.
Young people are particularly vulnerable because they spend significant time online across social media, gaming platforms and other digital spaces, often without fully understanding the risks of sharing personal information. Digital Defenders’ research highlights this disconnect: 54% of respondents experienced a phishing attempt in the past year, while 22% reported having little to no confidence in their ability to identify scams. This gap between exposure and preparedness creates opportunities for attackers to exploit.
Trust as a Vulnerability
Cybercriminals don’t always need to breach a system to steal a child’s information. More commonly, they exploit human behavior through targeted social engineering attacks.
Phishing remains a common entry point, with criminals impersonating trusted organizations, friends or platform administrators to make scams feel more legitimate and trick kids into clicking malicious links, sending money or sharing credentials. Digital Defenders’ research found that 23.5% of respondents experienced a financial scam, while 17.6% reported a compromised social media account. These attacks can begin with a fake giveaway, an urgent account-verification request or a text message directing users to a fraudulent website. QR codes can pose similar risks, sending unsuspecting users to malicious pages with a quick scan. AI is also making these tactics harder to spot, with criminals now producing deepfakes, cloned voices and AI-generated messages to make fraud look more authentic than ever. In some cases, manipulated images or fabricated claims are also used in sextortion schemes, where perpetrators threaten to share intimate content to coerce young people into sending money or additional images.
Attackers are also meeting youth where they’re at. On social media, fake profiles and account-verification scams can trick young users into sharing personal information. In multiplayer games, attackers may build trust with players before offering fake in-game rewards, stealing login credentials or directing them to malicious downloads. Across these platforms, the strategy is often the same: exploit trust, curiosity or urgency to get kids to act before thinking. Teaching young people to question unexpected requests, verify identities through a separate channel and understand how their personal information can be exploited is essential to staying safe online.
Data Literacy as a First Line of Defense
The consequences of cybercrime can extend well beyond a compromised account or financial loss. Stolen personal information can fuel identity theft, expose private conversations and damage a young person’s reputation, while incidents like sextortion can have lasting emotional consequences. Families may also face financial and emotional strain as they work to recover accounts and secure compromised information.
Protecting kids from cybercrime is a shared responsibility. Parents and educators must help children understand what personal data they share, who can access it and how seemingly harmless details can be combined or exploited. That education should include practical cybersecurity habits: creating strong, unique passwords for every account, enabling two-factor authentication wherever available, and keeping devices and applications updated with the latest security fixes. Young people should also learn to lock their devices when not in use and never leave laptops unattended in public spaces.
As AI continues to reshape the threat landscape, digital literacy must evolve alongside it. Cybercriminals will continue to adapt their tactics, making ongoing education essential. By making data literacy a foundational part of cybersecurity education, we can empower young people to question what they encounter online, understand the value of their information and take greater control of their digital identities.
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