Former Neighbours star Madeleine West on mission to help children protect themselves online

Former Neighbours star Madeleine West is on a mission to educate children on how to become data savvy and protect themselves online.

Former neighbours star Madeleine West is on a mission to educate children on how to become data savvy and protect themselves online.

The beloved Australian celebrity recently opened up about being sexually abused from the age of five on the podcast series “Predator”, created alongside retired detective Gary Jubelin.

Speaking with the Sunday Mail, Ms West said she was inspired to educate others on cyber safety following an interview with Kirra Pendergast, and the realisation the internet had become a gateway for abusers to access children.

“I was the victim of a pedophile when I was very young,” she said.

“Keirra taught me that the internet is the new hunting ground. For so long we’ve educated our kids on stranger danger and yet we give our kids these devices without educating ourselves on data protection.

Madeleine West was the victim of a pedophile as a child. Picture: David Caird

“The solution to predator behaviours is prevention -there is no cure.”

Ms West joined Safe on Social, a globally recognised education conglomerate dedicated to cyber safety and anti-cyber-bullying, headed by Pendergast.

She said legislative action against companies and apps will never be enough to combat cybercrime and adults and children needed to become more savvy with their personal data which was “worth more than gold”.

“Technology is moving so fast and the legislation designed to protect us cannot keep up with it,” she said.

“The future is digital, 175,000 kids sign up to a social media program everyday.

“Apps have a greater role to play but at the end of the day they’re making money by harvesting data and selling a product under terms and conditions that are barely readable.

“People don’t know their rights.”

The biggest learning curve for most adults according to West, was knowing how to use devices and apps, their privacy and location settings, and where they were permitting data to go.

Retired detective Gary Jubelin and Madeleine West. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

A particular issue involved parents often inadvertently posting information about their children, pets, and dates such as birthdays online without realising they’re making the data – commonly used in passwords or verification questions – public.

“Even if there’s no name, if you’re posting ‘happy birthday darling,’ with a picture of a cake with eight candles, you’ve just revealed the birthday, it’s all data points,” Ms West said.

“In an ideal world, cyber safety would be a mandatory part of the curriculum and ideally, once you gain a device there’s mandatory training on how to use it.

“Make telco providers earn their dollars by planning and rolling out programs and modules that prove that people know how to access and use these devices.

“We need to be licensed to drive, we should need to be licenced to control a device.”