{"id":5248,"date":"2025-02-19T13:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T02:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning-old\/?p=5248"},"modified":"2025-02-19T13:05:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T02:05:00","slug":"ometv-and-vpn-usage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/ometv-and-vpn-usage\/","title":{"rendered":"OMETV and VPN usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Virtual Private Networks (or VPN\u2019s) are tools used to enhance privacy, when online. A VPN encrypts your browsing activity and masks your IP address \u2013 this gives the user more privacy and will allow users the capacity to bypass censorship, network restrictions and access geographical restricted content.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst there are legal and legitimate uses for a VPN, unfortunately these tools can be used as a way of accessing restricted content and bypassing network restrictions both at school and at home.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What you can do at home<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Encourage open and honest dialogue with your children regarding appropriate use of their devices.<\/li>\n<li>It is recommended that you invest in a trusted antivirus\/antimalware\/antispyware application to add an additional layer of security to your home network.<\/li>\n<li>Familiarise yourself with the common VPN applications, if you find them on your child\u2019s devices \u2013 delete them.<\/li>\n<li>On an iPad if a VPN is installed and in use, you see the letters VPN next to the Wi-Fi symbol in the top right-hand corner of the device.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>How to Check for VPN Applications<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>On Mobile Devices<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>iOS (iPhone\/iPad)<\/strong>: Navigate to <em>Settings<\/em> &gt; <em>General<\/em> &gt; <em>VPN &amp; Device Management<\/em> to see if a VPN is configured.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Android<\/strong>: Go to <em>Settings<\/em> &gt; <em>Network &amp; Internet<\/em> &gt; <em>VPN<\/em> to view active VPNs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>On Computers<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Windows<\/strong>: Check the system tray for VPN icons or go to <em>Settings<\/em> &gt; <em>Network &amp; Internet<\/em> &gt; <em>VPN<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>macOS<\/strong>: Look for VPN symbols in the menu bar or check <em>System Preferences<\/em> &gt; <em>Network<\/em> for VPN configurations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/usage-agreement\/\"><strong>BeLearning Lounge<\/strong><\/a><strong>: <\/strong>Head to the Cyber safety information and resources for parents tab or the variety of resources found on this page.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bark.us\/blog\/what-is-a-vpn\/?srsltid=AfmBOopRCMZtSAhvdGmgMnZfDguHAb08IICfGoW08zpu9qmftwvaoAVX\"><strong>Bark&#8217;s Guide on VPNs<\/strong><\/a>: Offers insights into why children use VPNs and how parents can detect and manage such usage.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thewhitehatter.ca\/blog\/a-parent-caregiver-guide-to-virtual-privacy-networks-vpns\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"><strong>The White Hatter&#8217;s Parent Guide to VPNs<\/strong><\/a>: Provides a comprehensive overview of VPNs and their implications for parental controls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Pictured below are the most common VPNs in use at present <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/VPNs.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-5251 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/VPNs.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"604\" height=\"729\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virtual Private Networks (or VPN\u2019s) are tools used to enhance privacy, when online. A VPN encrypts your browsing activity and masks your IP address \u2013 this gives the user more privacy and will allow users the capacity to bypass censorship, network restrictions and access geographical restricted content. Whilst there are legal and legitimate uses for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/portal.beaconhills.vic.edu.au\/belearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}