Children face online sex abuse with risky behaviour, Australian Institute of Family Studies report shows The secret online lives of teens have been uncovered in an 18-month study, Source: Sunday Mail (SA) CHILDREN as young as 12 are at risk of sexual exploitation due to their use of technology - and their parents do not seem to know or care, a study says. A report from the Australian Institute of Family Studies says children and teenagers regularly expose themselves to abuse or sexual assault by online adult predators, blackmailers and "trolls." In an 18-month study, the secret online lives of teens were uncovered by 46 experts, including police, lawyers, judicial staff and youth workers. They say children are: USING mobile phones to record and disseminate both consensual and non-consensual sexual acts. TAKING intimate photos of themselves and sharing them with strangers. AT risk from perverts adopting fake online identities or flooding sites like Facebook with friend requests. UNDER pressure to engage in sexual activity online. EASILY identified by perpetrators from their online "footprint." They said teens' largely unsupervised use of mobile phones, the internet and social media enabled them to access pornography, and enabled adult predators to groom them. It also meant their peer sexual relationships were being corrupted. Sexting, oral sex and the sharing of nude photos were now commonplace. Susie O'Brien: Children have secret online life "If you don't flash your tits out for your boyfriend on the mobile phone and send him a photo of it, you're going to get dumped," one expert says in the report. Young people were also trying on new sexual identities online, AIFS researcher Nicole Bluett-Boyd found. Ms Bluett-Boyd said parents either did not care or did not understand what their children were up to online. She said children did not fully understand the technology they used and the real-life consequences of their online lives. Experts said the law had not kept up with technology.