Methodology
How KidSafe Index Works
KidSafe Index is designed to turn fast-moving digital safety signals into clear, structured risk summaries that parents can understand more easily.
What We Track
KidSafe Index reviews signals that may point to meaningful digital safety concerns, including:
- child and teen online safety risks
- grooming and exploitation concerns
- cyberbullying and social manipulation
- harmful or disturbing content
- privacy and data misuse
- mental health risks linked to digital platforms
- scams, phishing, breaches, malware, and other family-relevant digital threats
- regulatory, platform, and enforcement developments connected to digital safety
How Signals Become Threats
The site does not treat every article or report as a separate threat.
Instead, new signals are reviewed and normalized into broader recurring threat categories. If multiple stories describe the same underlying issue, they are grouped into one stable threat rather than creating duplicate cards.
This helps the site stay focused on meaningful risk patterns instead of isolated headlines.
Audience Scope
Each threat is assigned one of two audience scopes:
Child/Teen
Used when the core risk is primarily about protecting children or teens directly.
Family/Parent
Used when the core risk is broader household digital safety, including scams, breaches, malware, phishing, or other family-relevant digital threats.
This allows KidSafe Index to stay child-focused while also helping parents understand larger risks affecting the household around them.
How Scoring Works
Each threat is scored across three dimensions:
Exposure Risk
How likely someone in the relevant audience is to encounter the threat.
Harm Severity
How serious the impact could be if the threat occurs.
Susceptibility
How likely someone in the relevant audience is to trust, fall for, or be affected by the threat.
These scores use a 0–5 scale:
- 0 = very low
- 5 = very high
For Child/Teen threats, susceptibility reflects how vulnerable kids or teens may be. For Family/Parent threats, susceptibility reflects how vulnerable someone in the household may be.
Advice and Resources
Each threat also includes practical guidance and context:
- a short summary of the risk
- action-oriented advice
- a “Lumo’s Tip” insight card
- selected external resources that may help readers learn more
External resources are included as potentially helpful references, but not every outside organization or page is fully vetted or endorsed by KidSafe Index.
Trend Tracking
KidSafe Index also tracks whether a threat appears to be rising or becoming more visible over time.
Trend indicators are based on changes in recent signal activity and coverage, not just on one article alone.
This helps highlight issues that may be gaining momentum, not just issues that happened to appear in a single headline.
KidSafe Index is meant to help parents see patterns more clearly, understand what matters, and respond with better context.