The impact of cybersecurity laws on child safety in the digital world: A global perspective

This study investigates the role of cybersecurity legislation in protecting minors from cyber threats by analyzing its influence on the frequency of child-targeted digital crimes. Drawing on diverse sources-including the Global Child Online Safety Index (G-COSI 2023), Interpol Cybercrime Reports (2023), and the UNICEF Online Child Protection Survey (2022-2023)-a hybrid methodology was employed, integrating Random Forest classification with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for legal text analysis and threat prediction. Results show that nations with wellestablished cybersecurity frameworks experience 42% fewer cases of online child exploitation and 37% fewer phishing attempts against minors. The Random Forest model demonstrated strong performance (accuracy: 89.6%, precision: 85.2%, recall: 88.3%). Topic modeling revealed that provisions on data privacy, digital education, and mandatory reporting are key legal factors reducing harm. The findings emphasize the vital impact of cohesive cybersecurity policies in creating safer digital environments for children.