There's something fundamentally broken in how we approach online safety for young people. We're quick to point fingers—at tech companies, at schools, at kids themselves—but Jacqueline Jayne (JJ) wants to change that conversation entirely.
AISA CyberCon Melbourne | October 15-17, 2025
There's something fundamentally broken in how we approach online safety for young people. We're quick to point fingers—at tech companies, at schools, at kids themselves—but Jacqueline Jayne (JJ) wants to change that conversation entirely.
Speaking with her from Florence while she prepared for her session at AISA CyberCon Melbourne this week, it became clear that JJ understands what many in the cybersecurity world miss: this isn't a technical problem that needs a technical solution. It's a human problem that requires us to look in the mirror.
"The online world reflects what we've built for them," JJ told me, referring to our generation. "Now we need to step up and help fix it."
Her session, "Beyond Blame: Keeping Our Kids Safe Online," tackles something most cybersecurity professionals avoid—the uncomfortable truth that being an IT expert doesn't automatically make you equipped to protect the young people in your life. Last year's presentation at Cyber Con drew a full house, with nearly every hand raised when she asked who came because of a kid in their world.
That's the fascinating contradiction JJ exposes: rooms full of cybersecurity professionals who secure networks and defend against sophisticated attacks, yet find themselves lost when their own children navigate TikTok, Roblox, or encrypted messaging apps.
The timing couldn't be more relevant. With Australia implementing a social media ban for anyone under 16 starting December 10, 2025, and similar restrictions appearing globally, parents and carers face unprecedented challenges. But as JJ points out, banning isn't understanding, and restriction isn't education.
One revelation from our conversation particularly struck me—the hidden language of emojis. What seems innocent to adults carries entirely different meanings across demographics, from teenage subcultures to, disturbingly, predatory networks online. An explosion emoji doesn't just mean "boom" anymore. Context matters, and most adults are speaking a different digital dialect than their kids.
JJ, who successfully guided her now 19-year-old son through the gaming and social media years, isn't offering simple solutions because there aren't any. What she provides instead are conversation starters, resources tailored to different age groups, and even AI prompts that parents can customize for their specific situations.
The session reflects a broader shift happening at events like Cyber Con. It's no longer just IT professionals in the room. HR representatives, risk managers, educators, and parents are showing up because they've realized that digital safety doesn't respect departmental boundaries or professional expertise.
"We were analog brains in a digital world," JJ said, capturing our generational position perfectly. But today's kids? They're born into this interconnectedness, and COVID accelerated everything to a point where taking it away isn't an option.
The real question isn't who to blame. It's what role each of us plays in creating a safer digital environment. And that's a conversation worth having—whether you're at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Melbourne this week or joining virtually from anywhere else.
AISA CyberCon Melbourne runs October 15-17, 2025 Virtual coverage provided by ITSPmagazine
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GUEST:
Jacqueline (JJ) Jayne, Reducing human error in cyber and teaching 1 million people online safety.
On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinejayne/
HOSTS:
Sean Martin, Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine and Studio C60 | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com
Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine and Studio C60 | Website: https://www.marcociappelli.com
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Marco Ciappelli connects virtually with cybersecurity expert Jacqueline Jayne (JJ) from Florence, Italy to Melbourne, Australia ahead of her session at AISA CyberCon Melbourne (October 15-17, 2025). The conversation explores the complex challenges of keeping kids safe online and why traditional approaches to digital safety are failing.
JJ, who has nearly a decade of cybersecurity experience focusing on the human element, shares insights from successfully guiding her now 19-year-old son through the gaming and social media years. She reveals a striking paradox: rooms full of cybersecurity professionals attending her CyberCon sessions not to enhance their technical skills, but to learn how to protect the children in their lives.
The discussion tackles the Netflix series "Adolescence" and its impact on the global conversation about social media, Australia's upcoming social media ban for anyone under 16 (December 10, 2025), and the hidden language of emojis that predators use to groom children online. JJ emphasizes that this isn't about blaming any single group—kids, parents, tech companies, or governments—but rather recognizing that creating safer digital spaces requires a societal approach.
The conversation highlights the shift in cybersecurity conferences from purely technical content to addressing human-centered challenges, reflecting how digital safety has become everyone's responsibility across all business units and life roles.
1. On Generational Responsibility: "Before we blame kids, we really need to take a look in the mirror because the online world reflects what we've built for them, we being our generation. And now we need to step up and help fix it." — Jacqueline Jayne (JJ)
2. On Moving Beyond Blame: "We are at a point now at a juncture where we can't blame kids. It is not their fault, and it's not a matter of, well, who is the one person group government position can we blame? And it isn't anybody. It's a societal approach." — Jacqueline Jayne (JJ)
3. On Technical Expertise vs. Digital Parenting: "Just because you work in cyber or IT doesn't mean you know all the things happening online in social media for your kids. So riddle me this—people came for a cyber conference, but they're in the room to learn about how they can keep their kids safe online. And these are IT professionals." — Jacqueline Jayne (JJ)
4. On the Real Problem: "The real problem isn't teenage curiosity, it's adult neglect and system design within the apps themselves." — Jacqueline Jayne (JJ)
5. On Digital Natives: "These days, kids are born into the tech and their interconnectivity seems to be like natural and getting younger and younger. And parents and carers are making the same mistakes their kids are making." — Jacqueline Jayne (JJ)
6. For Overwhelmed Parents: "For anyone feeling overwhelmed by all of this, because it is very overwhelming if you are a parent or a carer or even a kid listening, what I would say is take a breath and reach out to someone like myself and say, where do I start?" — Jacqueline Jayne (JJ)