Families are one of the most important sets of people in life. Indeed, most people say “family first” and as a result, many would do anything to shield their loved ones from harm. While this could mean physical or psychological attacks, the same goes for ensuring your families do not fall victim to internet tricks.
Every day, the news keeps talking about terrible internet crimes, so it is more important than ever to build up a safe wall for your family to reduce those risks to a minimum.
Technological advancement often seems to keep kids safe and sound within their homes. Unfortunately, indoor dangers, such as tricks that children and grown-ups encounter on the internet, are inevitable. That is why you should know how to protect your family from online trickery.
Ways to secure your family from internet trickery
Be strangers-sensitive
If you have always informed your family, especially your kids, about the potential dangers of getting closer to a stranger, you should endeavor to let them know it happens in the online world too. Hari Ravichandran explains on the Easy Prey podcast that families are connected with multiple devices and because of this there is more risk.
Not only are teens the target of online strangers, but kids also could fall victim to scammers. Hence, you should teach your kids even at a tender age to be extremely careful when they surf the internet. Instill courage in them not to remain silent when a stranger communicates with them online or disturbs them.
Be careful yourself when meeting new people in the digital enviroment. Always try to check who they really are by monitoring their social media accounts, verifying their phone numbers with PhoneHistory, etc.
Educate your children
Do not hide anything from your children when it comes to internet-associated dangers. Let them be aware that not everyone on the internet has good aims and intentions toward others.
You should talk to your children about the dangers of scams and remind them that giving out personal information such as credit card numbers or bank account details is never a good idea. It’s important to teach your kids that no legitimate website or business will ever ask for this kind of information, so they should never share it with anyone.
Children are curious, so you should educate them about how to cut off any communication with strangers and not even initiate it in the first place for their safety.
Install a comprehensive cybersecurity suite
Some cyberattacks begin from clicking the wrong links disguised as genuine. A good way to keep your family safe from this is by installing a comprehensive cyber safety solution. This will secure anyone in your family as well as their devices.
All your devices – laptops, smartphones, tablets, and more – should have this security feature too as long as they are connected to the internet.
Delete any inactive account
If you have any accounts you are not using, you should ensure to not leave them. Why is it essential? Your inactive account could be a rich source of your details to anyone who wants to spy on it.
At times, some kids open different social media accounts with their names and birthdates. From the little data on your kids’ profile, cyberattackers can intelligently gather these pieces of information together and form details to access your sensitive information from other sites. Therefore, if you have any inactive account, you should try to close it.
Go private on public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi networks can be good but there are dangers associated with using the network. Moreover, when you allow your kids to connect to public Wi-Fi and access their favorite sites, you should let them know that it is susceptible to hacking.
Cyberattackers usually target Wi-Fi in places such as malls and other public places. Therefore, when you want to use such a connection, always try to use a VPN. Alternatively, you may not even connect to it if you can hold off until finding a trusted network.
Turn on privacy settings
Privacy settings are available in almost every social media channel, including native browsers and smartphone devices. You can prevent your information from online attacks with this feature.
When you turn it off, you are authorizing anyone to access your details by sharing them with marketers. However, hackers can utilize this opportunity to spy on your most confidential details.
Since your kids may not understand how to adjust these settings, you should turn it on for them and always keep a close eye on it.
Keep a close tab on online activities
When you monitor the activities of your family online, it can help to keep things in place and prevent cyber attackers from accessing your information. Interestingly, a couple of cybersecurity tools have been designed to keep a close tab on these online activities.
By installing cybersecurity software that has parental control, you can always prevent your kids from engaging in certain things. These may include blocking of certain game features, data backup, screen time management, and location tracking among many other features.
Be careful of your posts
Most people ignorantly post anything online, whether to engage their followers or get as many likes as possible. However, you may be exposing yourself to dangers more than you could ever imagine. You and your family should know how much information is possible to share online and not share. With their enthusiasm to impress people, some kids can go beyond the normal way of posting information.
For instance, robbers or burglars can easily locate your home if your kid posts your driver’s license or any other vital documents. Cyber attackers can bank on this information to swindle you out of your hard-earned money.
Online predators can also get closer to you with the photos on your profile. Therefore, ensure you monitor your posts as well as that of your family. Always review your posts before clicking that ‘post’ button.
Conclusion
Cyberattacks are increasing and scammers are becoming more and more inventive in their tricks to access unsuspecting users’ information. However, by applying simple protection measures correctly, you can secure your information online and prevent your family members from becoming a victim of those cyberattacks.