Field testing of a digital security assessment tool has been completed in the Russian Federation

The Digital Childhood Safety Index is a tool for improving the effectiveness of measures to combat cyber threats
The Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment has completed the field testing phase of the Index.

In Russia, the field testing of the first comprehensive national tool for assessing digital safety, the Digital Childhood Safety Index, developed by the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment and the analytical company MAINDSMITH LLC, has been completed.

The index was created on the basis of rethought and refined international experience and adapted to Russian digital practices and social realities. To date, this is the only instrument of this level and scale in the country that has no direct analogues. It provides a systematic view of the digital environment surrounding the child, simultaneously from the perspective of the family, school, society and the teenagers themselves. The tool will allow us to assess the effectiveness of measures taken by the government and business in the fight against cyber risks, as well as to see not only the overall picture, but also specific "subtle" places where targeted work is required to strengthen citizen awareness or introduce new technological products. The index methodology covers various aspects and will allow for comparative analyses by regions, localities (cities, villages, etc.), target groups, and other parameters.

The testing was carried out in 9 regions of Russia, 1,092 questionnaires of parents and 492 questionnaires of teenagers were collected. The main purpose of the approbation was to test and refine the methodology, ensure its correctness and applicability, and then proceed to a full-scale federal study.

1. The index includes seven key components of digital well—being and allows you to analyze data at any level of detail - from a general integral value to individual indicators and indicators across regions, localities and target groups: Digital engagement
2. Digital literacy
3. Digital hygiene
4. Parent environment
5. Educational environment
6. Helping infrastructure
7. Significant others

The approbation revealed an imbalance between the components: the strong indicators of some areas were offset by the low values of others. It is important to understand that the results of the approbation are not the final result, since individual regions were analyzed during this stage, and not the country as a whole. Nevertheless, the preliminary results already allow us to draw important conclusions.

Key findings of the study:

The data analysis yielded some unexpected results for the working group. The highest indicator in the Index was the "Significant others" component — the child's social environment. This indicates that peers, classmates, mentors, and other significant figures turn out to be a key digital security resource, often more influential than parents or schools. However, at the same time, the Index recorded that parents do not control their children's social contacts sufficiently, which can create serious potential risks in the future: exactly where the maximum resource is located, maximum vulnerability arises in the absence of attention.

The second important revelation was that the "Helping Infrastructure" received the lowest score among all the components. This shows that children and parents rarely seek outside help, are poorly versed in available services, or lack confidence in them. In fact, the infrastructure that should provide support in critical situations remains the least involved element of digital security today.

The Digital Literacy component stood out separately, showing a high level of critical thinking, advanced IT skills and the ability to work with digital content among teenagers. However, the weakness of digital communication has been revealed — children confidently control devices and data, but do not always interact effectively in a digital environment, which also requires attention and further work.

"The Digital Security Index is a tool that will make the measures of the state, companies and educational organizations much more effective. We get the opportunity not only to capture the current state of the digital environment, but also to build more accurate forecasts, timely adjust approaches and improve the effectiveness of child protection systems in the digital space," Elizaveta Belyakova, Head of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment.

The Index methodology was formed on the basis of international approaches to assessing children's digital safety (UNICEF, WHO, ITU, etc.) and has been deeply adapted to the Russian digital environment.

During the development, the following factors were taken into account:

real digital practices of teenagers in Russia;

• regional specifics of access to technology;
• Russian regulatory and social agenda;
• management logic of risk assessment and protection measures.

The index allows not only to describe the situation, but also to assess the dynamics, identify risk areas and justify the adjustment of support and regulatory measures.

The approbation confirmed that the Digital Childhood Safety Index is a reliable comprehensive tool that will allow government, educational, social and corporate structures to accurately assess risks, measure the effectiveness of measures and build targeted solutions to protect children in the digital environment.

The next stage in the development of the tool will be the implementation of the Index at the federal level, which is planned for 2026.