INFORMATION SECURITY, TEENAGERS AND TERRORISM. DANGERS AND WHAT IS WORTH TALKING ABOUT. After the well-known act of terrorists, scammers became more active, writing to teenagers with offers to carry out another terrorist attack. At least, such information appeared in the media. Why and who needs this? The question is extremely difficult. It is unlikely that terrorist participants would be “recruited” in this way. But if “the stars are shining, it means someone needs it.” If they write, it means there is something behind it. What to talk to a teenager about and how? The problem is that teenagers will immediately say that they understand everything. That, of course, they will not get involved with any scammers and, of course, they are smart and savvy enough not to get involved in such dubious adventures. And most often teenagers brush it off: “Leave me alone, I know everything, I understand everything.” If teenagers say that they know and understand everything - this is great. And, of course, most teenagers will not perceive this proposal as acceptable. But there is another danger and it is still worth drawing teenagers’ attention to it. This danger lies in the fact that a teenager may begin to respond “for fun” in order to “troll” the person who writes to him. For what? Just for fun. A teenager may understand perfectly well that he will not agree, but will respond with consent, even agree to meet at some appointed place, perhaps even decide to come there with the guys solely to have fun. Impulsiveness, a certain uncriticality inherent in adolescence, can manifest themselves in the desire to play and even fool the scammers around their fingers. But what really? We don’t know who writes to teenagers with such offers and for what purpose. Maybe these are scammers who will then blackmail the teenager, threaten him, because in the dialogue he agreed to commit an offense, agreed to a crime. Maybe there are some other hidden goals and motives. But in any case, this is not a game or a joke. Therefore, it is important to draw the attention of teenagers to the fact that they should not respond to such dubious letters even as a joke. Very often, parents do not know how to tell a teenager who “knows everything himself” about something important. I usually offer this option: “You, of course, know that .... I know that you are aware and, of course, you won’t... But it’s important for me to repeat this to you again. To be sure that I told you, warned you. This is important to me because I'm a huge worrier." When a parent shifts the focus to himself, to his feelings, to his anxiety, the teenager perceives information more calmly. It is no longer him who is a little fool, but a slightly anxious parent. PS Having written this note, I asked my teenage son (12 years old) what he would do if he received such a message? The answer reassured me: “I’ll read it. I won't answer. I'll delete the message. I will ban the contact.” Yulia Guseva, psychologist.