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For the home user, however, password safety requires more than on-the-fly thinking. Pacheco suggests a system built around a main word for all instances. The distinction is that the name of the site is added somewhere. For example, if the main word is "eggplant," the password might be "eggyyplant" Yahoo, "eggplantgg" for Google or "wleggplant" for Windows Live. He suggests listing the variations in an Excel spreadsheet.

Hackers rely on a lot of methods. Some, Rogers said, employ "shoulder surfing." That means what it sounds like -- looking over someone's shoulder as that person is typing in a password

The type of hardware being used can be a clue, said Rogers, a senior technical staffer in the CERT Program, a Web security research center in Carnegie-Mellon University's software engineering institute. It's easy to find a default password, typically in the user's manual on a manufacturer's Web site. If the user hasn't changed the default, that's an easy break-in.

Cyberbullying Cyberbullying or online bullying is repeated, unwanted or cruel behavior against someone through computers, cell phones, gaming consoles, or other Internet-based means. The Internet is always “on,” opening the door for 24-hour harassment. Cyberbullies can be anonymous. They never have to confront their victims, they don’t have to be physically stronger and cyberbullies may be virtually invisible to parents and adults.

Look for warning signs your child may be the victim of cyberbullying – depression, lack of interest in school and friends, drop in grades and subtle comments that something may be wrong. If your child is the victim of cyberbullying, take action. By filtering email, instant messages and text messages, you can cut off many of the ways the cyberbullies contact your child. By having your child avoid the sites and groups where the attacks occur, he/she can ignore the bully. If harassment continues, change your child’s email address, user names and Internet account. If these steps do not stop the cyberbullying, contact the parents of the child who is behind the bullying, contact the school, and if the situation is not resolved, involve the police. It’s important to compile copies of harassing emails and postings to have evidence for authorities or the school, so they can take action. Look for signs that your child may be the cyberbully themselves – if they sign onto the Internet under someone else’s name, if they use someone else’s password without their permission, if they posted rude or mean things about someone else online, if they use bad language online, or if they changed their profile or away message designed to embarrass or frighten someone. Talk to your kids about cyberbullying and why it’s wrong and hurtful.

"When we were kids, our parents always told us not to talk to strangers. That was drilled into our heads," he said. "But now, we have to factor in what happens on the Internet."

Security settings and parental involvement are especially important in the virtual world, Morris urged. "Check your child's e- mail account on a regular basis. You're the parent; you can do that."

While social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Xanga can be hot-spots for sexual predators, "not everything about these sites is bad," Morris said, noting some of the most up-to-date information after the NIU shootings was found on Facebook. "Good things do occur, but we need to make sure we're monitoring them," he said. Morris urged the group to keep home computers in plain sight, to outline their expectations and review communications regularly with their children. "We want to build that level of communication with their kids," he said. "If they're talking to someone they shouldn't, we want them to be able to come to us. A child should be able to listen to a parent more than a predator."

Parents are worried about a new form of stranger danger in the form of cyber-bullying - abuse through email, chatrooms or text messaging.

The issues around Internet safety often arose when adults such as parents or teachers did not understand the importance of the online world to their children. "You get children as young as 8 now who say, 'Take away my phone and take away my life'," he said. When children thought they would be restricted from the Internet and mobile phones if they reported bad experiences, such as bullying, they were less likely to report it, he said.

They said the worst part of cyber-bullying was the distance between the perpetrator and the victim. "They don't have to see the consequences if they post a comment or a picture in a chatroom," Hannah said.

Many educators, however, miss these opportunities because they don't know their rights under fair use, have been given bad information or lack administrators who will back them up, said a report last year by American and Temple universities. The report, "The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy," found that many teachers were censoring themselves.

Internet child molesters may be the modern parent's great fear but new research suggests this electronic monster is mainly the stuff of bad dreams. Is letting your kids go online the same as dropping them off at the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop in fishnet stockings at 3 a.m.?