Australian parents are in the dark about what their children are getting up to online, a survey suggests.
One-third of 200 children interviewed by security company Symantec said they had been bullied or experienced cybercrime, yet half of them hid it from their parents.
"That's really important when we start to think about how we change this," said Sean Kopelke, the head of technology for Symantec in Australia.
"It means we're not having an open conversation."
One in 10 children interviewed as part of the "Family Edition" of the annual Norton Report, released on Monday, also admitted to being the perpetrators of cyberbullying.
Mr Kopelke said it was important for parents to talk to children about their online activities, keeping in mind their children could very well be the ones at fault.
It was also important for parents to keep abreast of what's happening online, he said, pointing to research showing poor knowledge of technology.
"Parents need to get a little more savvy and keep up with the latest trends," he said.
"Just as parents think they're savvy and cool and finally figure out how Facebook works, their kids have moved off to Instagram or Snapchat."
Yet he said the Australian results largely reflected what was happening in the other 23 countries surveyed in the report, such as the US and UK.
Overall, children claim to spend about 44 hours a week online.
Those who were bullied or victims of cybercrime were more likely to use social media and were generally at the older end of the 8-17 age bracket surveyed.
The research comes soon after the coalition government earmarked $10 million for improving the protection of children online.
That includes $7.5 million to improve access to online safety campaigns, $2.4 million to establish the Office of the Children's e-Safety Commissioner, and $100,000 to support Australian-based research.
The outcome of a public consultation on strengthening online punishments and empowering regulators to compel internet companies to censor content is set to be announced in the coming weeks.
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