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"Sit down with tweens and teens to show the privacy settings you use on your apps and devices. Talk about why you keep certain information private or limited to a small group. Ask them what information they feel comfortable sharing and why."

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"Find the privacy policy of your kid's favorite app and read it together. Is it clear or complicated? Can you tell what information the company collects and what they do with it? Are they selling it? Storing it? Keeping it safe?"

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CS Tip #3 Discuss online Scams, Clickbait and "Special Offers"

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CS Tip #3 Discuss online Scams, Clickbait and "Special Offers"

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"Share experiences of being targeted for a scam. Have either of you ever received a fishy email or text? What tipped you off? Discuss the telltale signs of a hoax, including poor grammar, misspellings, Photoshopped images, and close-but-not-exact company logos. And don't forget quizzes and tantalizing pop-ups, which can disguise shady privacy practices."

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CS Tip #4 Understand how tech companies make money.

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CS Tip #4 Understand how tech companies make money.

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"Along with your tween and teen, research how digital devices, social media platforms, and apps and games get paid. Do they sell ads? Do they sell kids' data? Discuss why companies might want kids to spend more time on their platforms and what tricks they use to keep their attention."

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Your Family Has a Right to Privacy Online | Common Sense Media

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Your Family Has a Right to Privacy Online | Common Sense Media

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Common Sense Media improves the lives of kids and families by providing independent reviews, age ratings, & other information about all types of media.

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Kids today are going online at younger ages - which means that parents have to get involved in their digital lives much sooner than they used to. Although you may sometimes feel out of your depth when it comes to technology, as a parent you have an important role to play in helping your kids safely navigate the online spaces and activities they enjoy. The Parenting the Digital Generation workshop looks at the various activities kids love to do online and offers tips and strategies for everything from Facebook privacy settings, online shopping, cyberbullying, to protecting your computer from viruses.

Parenting the Digital Generation was made possible with financial support from Bell.

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Kids today are going online at younger ages - which means that parents have to get involved in their digital lives much sooner than they used to. Although you may sometimes feel out of your depth when it comes to technology, as a parent you have an important role to play in helping your kids safely navigate the online spaces and activities they enjoy.

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Cybersecurity Tips for Families & Schools | SmartSocial.com

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A great compiling of resources and suggestions from experts on cybersecurity

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A great compiling of resources and suggestions from experts on cybersecurity

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We protect our valuable items: houses, cars, important paperwork...but how much do we protect our digital assets and information? Cybercriminals are getting savvy with their phishing emails and hiding malicious downloads. Both schools and families are vulnerable to attacks from every individual email account on their network.

So, we asked cybersecurity experts for best practices and warning signs for both families and school staff to look for to avoid phishing, ransomware, and malicious downloads.

1. Teach cyber "hygiene"

For younger kids, parental monitoring software on laptops and phones can inform parents of what their kids do online and let parents set content policies to block inappropriate content.

Teach your kids basic cyber "hygiene":

Don't click on unsolicited links or ads

Don't overshare on social media

Keep apps and operating systems updated

Set a unique password for every account

Adjust the privacy settings on all of your apps and operating systems

I always recommend parents of teenagers follow and friend their kids on social media. By joining the same social networks, parents can monitor their kids while maintaining a safe distance. Parents will get to know the risks associated with the social networks that their kids use, and kids will be less likely to engage in risky behavior if they know a parent is watching.

There's no shortage of real-life examples in which people were scammed or hacked and suffered significant losses.

Keep learning and staying up-to-date about cyber safety with resources like SmartSocial.com or Comparitech.com.

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"This age group is very comfortable being online and being very public about their lives," McClellan said. "So that makes them very trusting when they're on the Internet."

‍2. Family discussions

Cybersecurity should be talked about by every family as a whole. Times are changing and being vulnerable to these kinds of attacks is becoming more and more common.

No matter what the ages of the household members are, it should be addressed proactively. It can be brought up during dinner or anytime that everyone is gathered around. Among the topics that should be discussed are reminders of creating strong passwords, never clicking pop-up spam, never giving out personal information, and being careful about what's downloaded.

Students, in particular, need to be briefed in a way that they can understand. Explain to them rules they must obey in simple terms. For younger children who cannot grasp the concept just yet, Internet usage should always be supervised. Having open conversations with the family is important in instilling vigilance for any online activity.

Parents and kids alike should remember to not overshare on social media. Social networks can easily be exploited and used for cyberattacks. To prevent this from happening, limit the posts you share on social media. For instance, do not announce your vacation until it is over. Do not post your whereabouts because doing so is basically saying I'm not at home, rob me.

Discuss among your family to change social media accounts to private and update security pages regularly. Remove any personal information and unfriend people you don't know.

3. Research all parental controls before downloading

Parental control software and antivirus software can be great additions to help protect your family's cyber security. We recommend doing thorough research on the software before buying and downloading it to your devices. Some companies are based in countries that do not have similar privacy protections like we have and may have links with their governments. Read our Parental Controls resource to find out some pros and cons of dozens of popular parental control and cell phone monitoring apps.

4. Disable location services

The easiest ways to prevent being a target of cyber-attacks are to prepare your personal computer systems for intrusions, warn your family about potential hazards, and be vigilant of strange behavior.

On your personal computers, you must download powerful antivirus programs that will constantly monitor the computer for hazardous items which may have developed as a product of a cyber-attack. Running a nightly scan for upgrades will guarantee that your system has more up-to-date security.

Change your privacy options and disable location services to avoid extra possible assaults. Make sure you communicate to young kids about how serious cyber-threats are and about what to look out for.

Preventing cyber-attacks is the easiest means of avoiding them, and it may be as simple as paying enough attention to strange emails.

5. Be aware of the services you use

These recommendations might not seem like much, but they can really help consumers protect and preserve their information, as well as their family's information.

Use strong passwords, but make them different for every account/device you use. Consider a password manager like Dashlane to help manage strong passwords for your whole family (learn more: SmartSocial.com/dashlane

Make sure you change your passwords frequently - I change all my passwords every 3 months

Be aware of the services you use and make sure you know what they do with your personal information. Might not be a surprise to everyone, but many organizations from around the world sell and share their users' personal information, and is usually done without the users' knowledge

Delete your information from companies you don't use anymore. This is particularly helpful and I strongly recommend this. If a company can't make money out of you, they might sell your information to make up for their loss. Unfortunately, this cannot be achieved by everyone, as only a few states in the US have privacy laws, but those that have this ability should always clean their digital footprint

6. Backup and make copies

Like any other core topic related to families, first and foremost I would say they should invest in values, cyber education, and cyber awareness.

Know that if a good hacker wants to hack your computer, they will find a way

Make sure to have at least two copies backed up on physical removable media (thumb drives and hard drive)

Have the copies backup up once a month, and have each copy backed up in different months (for example, Hard drive 1 would back up the files in January, March, May... while Thumb drive 2 will back up the files in February, April, June...). That way, even if you have a "sleeper cell" ransomware on your backup, you can still recover some information from the other disk

Invest in cloud backup

Make the hacker's life difficult by applying strong passwords and changing them every 6-12 months or after every time you hear about a breach to a service that you are using or a family member, friend, colleague, who gets breached

While most think that using a password such as 'THISi$V3rySafe' is the best, it's better to have a longer sentence you can remember such as 'once upon a time I forgot my keys attached to the door'

Don't be lazy: apply different passwords for different accounts. If a hacker gets your password they can and will be using it with different services you are using based on your email address. Don't want to remember a lot of different passwords? Consider a password vault like SmartSocial.com's recommendation of Dashlane

As a good percentage of successful hacking campaigns originate from email, I would focus my efforts on that topic:

Self-educate yourself and your family about phishing and social engineering. Many phishing simulators are affable online, to help you train yourself and distinguish between a legit email and a suspicious one. As a general rule of thumb, if you don't know the sender or the file sounds too good - do not open it!

Look for file elimination tools also known as Deep Content Disarm and Reconstruction (CDR) or Deep File Analysis solutions

NEVER give any personal information out via email. No service provider will ever ask you to give your password, credit card information, etc. online. If you receive such a request from a close relative, colleague, or friend - perhaps their account has been hijacked. The best practice is to give them a call and verify they indeed sent that request

Apply MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) in as many tools as possible. When possible, set a backup email address different from your primary one

7. Determine your security threats

With the aid of the Internet, we now have access to a wealth of information that may help us enhance our lives in new and interesting ways. The Internet, on the other hand, has the potential to harm us and others we care about. We hear all too often about another corporation being hacked, or a friend's email or social media account being hijacked. These dangers are quite serious.

Here are tips to help minimize these risks:

Determine the security threats that exist in your house and on your devices: Hackers can get access to your home's Wi-Fi network. Consider security software that can identify intruders on your network and make sure your password is tough to guess. Teach your children the importance of staying away from public Wi-Fi networks.

When was the last time you utilized a public Wi-Fi hotspot? Almost every coffee shop, school, airport, and hotel now provides a way for you to access the internet using your phone or another mobile device. That means that unless you've taken efforts to protect your data, hackers in the area might acquire access to your phone's data.

Become an authority on the subject of phishing: You may know better than to click on a URL that looks to be from your bank or a friend, but does everyone in your household? Teach your kids about phishing and don't let them click on links in emails or social media posts. Invest in a security program that can identify and block questionable URLs. Read more at SmartSocial.com's Parental Control Software & Cell Phone Monitoring Guide.

Recognize that cybersecurity is an ever-changing target: Because cybercriminals are continuously developing new risks, you must be vigilant about downloading the most recent security updates and patches and keeping an eye on the news for any new threats.

Remind your family that just because their gadgets are protected by antivirus and firewall software does not imply that a hacker will not deactivate them.

Keep a watch out for con artists: There are many techniques to persuade you to provide your personal data. Even ostensibly, legal firms can dupe you into signing yearly payments and other similar contracts. Pay close attention to the statements on your credit cards.

Students should be taught the significance of online safety: When it comes to cybersecurity, children are typically the weakest link. Install security software to prevent minors from viewing or clicking on inappropriate links or websites. Teach kids about unethical internet behavior and encourage them to seek help if something seems strange.

8. Consider an identity protection service

In our increasingly digital world, protecting our families against cyberattacks is more important than ever. While there are many steps we can take to safeguard our online identities, one of the most important things families can do is to subscribe to an identity protection service.

These services monitor your personal information for signs of fraud or theft and provide tools to help you recover your accounts if they are compromised. In addition, they often offer insurance in case of financial losses due to identity theft. By subscribing to an identity protection service, you can give your family the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have taken a proactive step to protect them from cyberattacks.

Additionally, families should make sure their home computer networks are secure and that their devices are up-to-date with the latest security patches.

Finally, it is important to have a plan in place in case of a cyberattack. By having a plan in place, families can ensure that they know what to do if their personal information is compromised or if they are the victim of identity theft. In addition, a plan can help families quickly and efficiently recover from an attack, minimizing the disruption to their lives.

By taking these precautions, families can help to protect themselves against the ever-growing threat of cybercrime.

9. Don't take "candy" from strangers

We teach our children to never take candy from strangers on the street, but the same type of conversation needs to be had with our kids surrounding the use of the internet. Children are naturally impressionable which makes them far more likely to be susceptible to social engineering scams where they voluntarily give personal information that cybercriminals then use against them.

A great way to instruct kids about cyber security is to show them obvious phishing messages and ask them to identify why they are fake. Turn it into a game where you quiz your kids on the signs of scam emails, like if there are obvious spelling errors or low-resolution logos.

A great safe-guard to prevent cyber attacks is to set up a VPN for your home computer (learn more on SmartSocial's Parental Control recommendations page). This will make it much more difficult for cybercriminals to prey on your family by masking the whereabouts of your IP address. These are common in businesses but are less so in home computers.

Start drilling into your kids that they should never respond to any direct message or emails without your supervision. Make the downloading of any file or program off-limits. Create hard lines that they know they shouldn't cross, and enforce consequences if they are crossed. Kids will naturally try to push the limits and will be given many opportunities to do so. Make sure you are prepared by frequently monitoring their online activity and putting parental controls in place whenever possible.

10. Secure your printers

It may sound trivial but you won't believe how much valuable private information can be pulled by hackers from your printer without you even noticing it. And that's not all, printers nowadays have access to your devices, network, and the internet which makes them a perfect target for hackers trying to spread their botnets and malicious software.

So, what can an ordinary person do to protect their printer? First of all, use a stronger password. If I had to guess, I'd say that every 4th or 5th printer can be "hacked" by using a simple list of 50 most common passwords. So please, change your "admin" or "password123" or even worse "qwerty" password to something stronger. A good password should be something in a range of 12-16 characters that has numbers, letters (both lower and upper case), and special symbols like asterisks, underscores, braces, etc.

Also, look into your printer settings/properties. Going through the tabs you'll probably find a tab with all the users that have access to that printer. Make sure that only devices you trust have access to your printer. Found someone you don't know? Remove their access and change your printer password. Didn't find anyone suspicious? Great, check back in a month or two. This is a nice habit to have and it takes less than a minute to do.

And lastly, update your printers regularly. Every printer company spends huge amounts of time and resources on finding and fixing software vulnerabilities.

11. Consider a credit report freeze for your kids

I have seen a lot of disturbing cases of cyberattacks in my career which is why I'm always so worried about my family, especially my kids.

We often see network safety for seniors on the news as they succumb to email and telephone phishing tricks. Be that as it may, with regards to fraud, kids are considerably more prone to be impacted.

Why are children an ideal target? Consider it - kids won't have to look at their credit reports for as long as 18 years. Criminals can assume cards in their names and enjoy the good life, damaging your kids' future credit scores. They'll pile up unpaid liability until your child is denied a school advance since they're some way or another $1 million strapped in debt.

I explain to my kids that I'll put a credit freeze on their report (or if nothing else check it) to keep key safety issues from influencing them later on. Every time I survey their credit report I include them in the process to cultivate knowledge of what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and also why it's important for them to learn.

12. Use familiar words and metaphors to explain digital safety to kids

The simplest approach to explaining these cybersecurity concepts to a child is by using familiar words and analogies that they can understand. Some examples are talking about computer viruses, password sharing as well as fraud. The risk that your information might get hacked or stolen is called cybercrime!

As for me, I relate the risk of sharing the password to giving your house key to a stranger. Another example is how anti-virus software can best defend yourself against online threats like malware and other computer viruses; you can compare it to vaccinations against common flu that help boost the immune system against future attacks on the body.

By making simple connections to the real world, children can better comprehend the dangers of cybersecurity. I also recommend the FBI's Safe Online Surfing. This site offers games and teacher resources to help children of all ages stay safe online.

13. Always use multi-factor authentication

Being a cybersecurity expert, there are many tools and techniques schools can use in addition to security awareness training to avoid cyber incidents.

Phishing can be prevented by allowing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all school facilities, including teacher and student email accounts and any other program that stores confidential information. It's also never too early for students to learn how to apply this method to their online lives outside of school.

With the volume of data brought in by remote learning, educational institutions can back up their systems on a regular basis and store backups in an 'offsite' spot. Offsite can be described as a location that is not linked to the main network, making it much more difficult for a criminal hacker to delete or encrypt backups.

14. Read tips from the Federal Trade Commission, FBI, and even PBS

Here are some clues that an email is potentially phishing, according to the Federal Trade Commission:

The email looks like it's from a company you're familiar with, whether that's a social media site, a bank, a credit card company, etc.

The email tries to get you to click on an attachment or link, saying something like there's a problem with your account, you have to confirm personal information, or you're eligible for a coupon.

The email has a generic greeting that doesn't use your name.

The easiest way for employees, staff, and teachers to avoid phishing, ransomware, and downloads in their professional communications is to download antivirus software on all of their work-related devices. Antivirus software scans for phishing, ransomware, and other types of malware, quarantining malicious software if it finds it so that it can't affect the rest of the device.

As soon as students are granted access to school-provided email accounts is also when schools should start teaching students about phishing, ransomware, and malware. Being able to recognize phishing emails is essential for safe internet usage. There are a number of user-friendly digital security resources for kids that can teach them the basics of malware and cyber-attacks from organizations like PBS and the FBI.

15. Creating a cyber threat team and response before there's ever an incident is key

There are many clues that an email is phishing. These emails are designed in a way that the victims respond and click on the links immediately. The content of such emails is specially designed to manipulate the emotions of the victims. For example, sometimes they have a sense of fear in them.

These are a few patterns in a phishing attack:

Such emails manipulate victims emotionally

They have a sense of urgency

Links look suspicious. The best way to identify phishing links is by using secure phishing detection services such as Google Transparency Report

There may be spelling and grammatical errors

Awareness is the key. The major source of ransomware attacks is phishing emails. For example, unaware employees can unknowingly assist in ransomware attacks by downloading malware through phishing emails. Awareness training of all the staff, teachers, and students can significantly reduce the impact of phishing and ransomware.

We have to change our cyber defense mindset from 'incident response' to 'continuous response'. We have to adopt proactive cybersecurity measures against evolving ransomware attacks. These include offensive cybersecurity measures (such as ethical hacking and pen-testing), and cybersecurity drills. You can check the level of awareness and security culture in a school by launching a mock phishing attack.

Ransomware and phishing attack mitigation requires swift measures from incident response teams. Data protection and backup, forensic analysis, and disaster recovery plans are key to reduce the impact of the attack. School administration should work on developing a cybersecurity team.

As soon as students start using computers/smart devices is when schools should be teaching cybersecurity training to them. Students should be aware of the cyber threat landscape.

16. Read every sentence & review the sender's email address

Here are some tips on how to spot a phishing email on your own:

Is it coming from a public email domain or a private email domain? It shouldn't be coming from an email address with a public email domain. For example, you're not going to get an email from someone at our company that says [email protected] It's going to be from an email address such as [email protected] Make sure to look at the email address before you do anything else

Are there spelling errors in the email address? Read the email and check for spelling errors. Check the sender's email address for spelling errors. It will be an error that will be hard to spot and it looks correct at first glance. This happens pretty often because cybercriminals think you won't be cautious enough to check the spelling. For example, they might spell Amazon like Arnazon. (They would change the m to an r and n to make it look like an m.)

Is the content grammatically correct or is it poorly written in general? If you get an email and it's full of grammatical errors and not well written, that's a sign it's a scam. Actual companies/organizations aren't going to make this mistake

Is there an attachment or link in the email that you weren't expecting? Hover your mouse over any unsure link or attachment. If the link isn't what you are expecting, it's possibly malicious. It's better to be safe than sorry, so if you're unsure about opening a link or attachment, ere on the side of caution and don't open it

Does the email sound strangely urgent? Some examples of this are when the email says they need money now or they need you to give them information ASAP. This isn't realistic and can easily be debunked. They'll usually pose as your boss, a senior executive at your company, or your bank because they think you are more likely to give these types of people sensitive information

The best way to educate employees/staff on phishing emails, malware, and ransomware is by implementing a continuous cybersecurity training program. By enrolling your employees/staff in a continuous cybersecurity training program, you're giving them the knowledge to keep themselves safe from cybercriminals.

When it comes to students, it's best to educate students about phishing emails, malware, and ransomware as soon as possible. By doing this, you're giving them the knowledge to avoid these types of attacks. The younger they're able to recognize these things, the better it will be. Learning about how to stay safe online early on in life will be beneficial as they get older and use technology for college and their careers.

17. Provide fun, engaging, gamification cybersecurity training for everyone - students, parents, teachers

In this day and age, you must be extra vigilant when it comes to checking your emails for phishing attempts. There are several things you can do to determine if an email is a phishing email:

Hover (don't click!) over the sender's email address and check for any misspelled or suspicious domain names. Double-check the sender's email address and ensure it matches your expectations

Read emails with caution that use words like immediately, cancellation, or notification. This is very likely an indicator that the email is a phishing attempt. Hackers often use psychological tactics to pressure users to respond quickly or out of fear

Verify unexpected email attachments before clicking or downloading. Always contact a trusted secondary source to validate if the email is legitimate. This could mean calling a coworker from a phone number in your school/business directory and asking them if they sent an email or reporting the email as SPAM to your IT department

Watch for misspelled words, grammatical errors, or strangely constructed sentence structure. A poorly written email may also be (but not always) an indication that it is a phishing attempt

One of the best ways to inspire secure habits among faculty and staff is through relatable, relevant training that leverages educational best practices like micro-learning and gamification. This starts with engaging training that helps faculty and staff understand why bad actors target schools and student data - and what they can do to protect themselves and their students. Where possible, we recommend using real-world examples to help make training real for educators.

You can start by implementing a good cybersecurity education program to educate teachers, employees, and staff to identify malicious emails. Train thoroughly and often, at least quarterly. Teach employees to question all digital correspondence and always, always trust their gut instinct. Then make sure employees know who to report suspicious emails to and how to report them using the school's incident response call tree or email reporting system.

Recommended topics include password complexity guidelines for home routers/computer assets, timely system patching, and good data privacy practices, including how to share information safely online and how to recognize phishing emails.

It's all of our responsibility to teach children about the security risks associated with email accounts and internet access. This is no different than teaching kids to look both ways before crossing a street; their safety and welfare depend on their ability to stay safe online.

Additionally, schools should consider an outreach program to parents. A fun monthly or quarterly newsletter, written and researched by students, helps educate parents and students simultaneously.

18. Use the old adage: 'don't talk to strangers'

Generally speaking, phishing, ransomware, and malicious downloads all have one thing in common: they require the user to 'get the ball rolling.' Starting from that point, the best defense against getting infected with such files is to encourage faculty, students, or teachers to do nothing if they think something is 'fishy' or 'too good to be true'.

Should a teacher or student have any doubt whatsoever about an email, a download, or an attachment, they should err on the side of caution. For schools, this can be done similarly to how students are instructed to 'not talk to strangers', albeit, in a digital context.

Apart from instilling a very healthy dose of care when opening links or downloading files, it's also good to show faculty, staff, and students how to set up and use a (qualitative) and free antivirus or anti-malware suite. During our internal review process, Avast, Sophos, and AVG were the three best free suites we tested. Teachers can integrate installing and running virus scans into computer lessons, and show students how to engage real-time protection.

Finally, within browsers, it's a good idea to introduce students and teachers alike to ad-blocking extensions, since this can also close off a lot of the avenues for an attack that malware can use to establish itself on computers.

19. Create a healthy dialog around internet privacy

Elizabeth l. Jeglic Ph.D., John Jay College - City University of New York

Talk to your child about online privacy issues, making sure they know to never identify their name, school or city/state in which they live.
If they ever see or experience something that makes them uncomfortable they should tell/show you.
Do periodic browser history checks. If the computer uses internet explorer you can check their browser history to see what websites they have been frequenting. You want to be especially mindful to see if there are any inappropriate related sites or chat rooms or social media sites that you are unaware that they are frequenting. These sorts of checks should be done every 2 weeks or so.
Consider installing software or devices that can help you with monitoring and detecting inappropriate online activity.
Enlist your community. While teens may not always tell their parents what they are doing - they may tell their friends - who may, in turn, tell their parents. While we as parents don't want to be engaging in covert espionage on our children if another parent hears from their child that their friend is doing something potentially dangerous on-line we need to share that information.

20. Pause and think before you post anything about someone else

Vasiliki Baskos, Learn Greek Online

Respect people's privacy in general and transfer it to the online world. Never give out a friend's email address, social media usernames etc. Do not attempt to hack social media accounts or read other people's emails.

Before you post, tag, comment, "like" etc. anything about another person, think: Will this hurt their feelings or reputation? Do you have permission to post this? Will they be in trouble if their parents, spouse, college admissions officers, current or future employers see it?

Example: you post a picture of your friends and someone thinks they do not look good, or it reveals they are in a relationship with someone.

21. Teach students to avoid hiding behind the anonymity of social media

Justin Lavelle, Beenverified

Don't do, say, or repeat anything that you wouldn't say if the person was standing right in front of you. Common sense communication seems to have gone out the window with all of the texting, tweeting, messaging, and other means of communication available today. Make sure that if you ask, repeat, say, or share something that you would do it in person as well. Don't hide behind the anonymity of a device. If you wouldn't say it to a person's face, don't say it! Also, remember when your mom or grandma would use the old adages 'don't judge until you walk in their shoes' or 'what if the shoe was on the other foot?' Well, these apply perfectly to this scenario. What if it was you? What if it was your picture? Govern your action by treating others as you want to be treated... words to live by!

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22. Secure your webcam from hackers
Aileen Menchaca, PeepShield Update software and anti-virus/anti-malware on a regular basis
New computer viruses crop up daily. Update your computer as soon as you see a software update notification. In addition, schedule your antivirus/anti-malware program to run on a regular basis. Cover your bases.
Disconnect camera when not in use
If you have a USB webcam, disconnect it from your computer when not in use. This ensures that your camera cannot be compromised. It has no power source or internet connection. Similarly, for laptop users, close your laptop when you are not using it. Never leave your laptop open in your room or private setting.
Cover your webcam
Many current devices include built in webcams. These cameras offer flexibility, but many people do not consider the potential security risks. These days technology tools enable hackers to access these cameras putting you and your family's privacy at risk. A simple fix is to cover the webcam.

23. Have a candid conversation with your students about internet and social media safety
Aaron Zar, Management & leadership professional
Even though it can be an uncomfortable subject, not unlike the birds and the bees, every child should understand that there are an unfortunate few among us who would exploit them. Teach your children about the pitfalls of social media such as coming into contact with predators and stalkers, cyberbullies, and thieves. Tell them to limit the amount of personal information on their profiles. Explain that mentioning vacationing on these outlets while the family is away from home is a great way to invite burglars to break in.

24. Address "red zone" areas

Dan Konzen, Campus Chair, University of Phoenix

One of the most important things to address is that they have to be cognizant of everything they are posting. One thing we did at the University of Phoenix is create a live hack. We wanted to show people instead of just saying, "Be careful, be careful." So I would pull up a website that shows all third parties who are tracking everything that they do on their computers: their IP addresses, their browser history, all of their contacts, etc. They don't realize this. Once we do this demonstration, I will grab a volunteer and I hack into their Facebook account (with their permission), all of the places that they have checked into over the last few years, where they worked last, etc.

25. Think about fake profiles
Satnam Narang, Senior Security Officer Symantec
Over time we've had cases where there are fake profiles of companies appearing on Instagram and other social media sites. Someone claims to be from Nike or Apple and sends out links offering free shoes or free iPhones. If you click on the link, they start asking for personal information. It puts you, your family, and your students at risk.Certain apps such as Facebook or Instagram have a blue checkmark so you can verify the legitimacy of a company or brand. If you are going to follow a particular brand, make sure that you are following the legitimate brand.

26. One word: passwords
Kevin Haley, Dir. Security Response, Symantec
Do you know that a common password used is "password"? I hope it's not for you. Passwords are your first line of defense, and it is so important to be smart about them, because it isn't even people guessing it. It's a machine running tens of thousands of passwords at a time to crack your password. But the longer it is, with uppercase, lowercase, special characters, etc., it's more difficult to guess. Hacking can happen anywhere.

To teach kids, I think we have to use stories and examples that relate to them. I can sit here and say "use a password," but that isn't as strong as telling them about a time when not using a password hurt me.

27. Set safe boundaries right away
Clayton Cranford, Orange County Sheriff's Department
As soon as your child has access to the Internet, step in and set safe boundaries for them because a lot of the things that they are being exposed to online is unintentional. What I suggest that parents do, especially parents that did not grow up in an age with social media, is to look for opportunities to learn more about tech. Whether your school holds a seminar, or you find an online conference, understand what your kids have access to and what you can do next to keep them safe online. Download the apps that your kid wants to download and look at them. Then look at reviews and determine whether or not the app is appropriate for your kids. Ask the same questions that you would if your child was going to another child's house. Where is your child going on the Internet and what are they going to be exposed to?

28. Don't hesitate to get police involved
Marc Marty, Montebello Police Department
If your child is being bullied or threatened on social media, get the police involved right away. We take cyber bullying very seriously and so we encourage parents and school professionals to get the police involved right away, no matter how small the problem may be, because it may be something that we could nip in the bud before it escalates.

29. Use a password manager & have a unique password for each site
Gibby McCaleb, Sony PlayStation
Protecting your online identity is critical because someone can access your online identity and post things as "you," and we have seen a lot of cases where that has been done irreparable damage. Use a password manager, such as LastPass. Have a unique password for each site because you don't want to use your gaming password for your Bank of America password. It makes it possible for a hacker to get into your private accounts by knowing one password that is used for several different accounts.

30. Parental Controls
Dr. Adam Pletter, iParent 101
Always look at the parental controls, not to take control but to be empowered as a parent to know what your children can be exposed to and what can be prevented with the parental controls. In terms of protection, it's about balance. Be aware of what your children are doing online and learn how to be proactive rather than reactive.

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Conclusion

While there are a lot of preventative measures for cybersecurity, nothing is 100% guaranteed. If something looks fishy (pun intended), it probably is phishing. Look at every detail of emails, install quality software to scan against attacks, and keep up to date with how hackers and others are scamming people every day.

Additional Resources
Watch this panel interview
Listen to MomTalk podcast where Beth and Andrea discuss cybersecurity tips

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Cybersecurity Tips for Families & Schools | SmartSocial.com

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We protect our valuable items: houses, cars, important paperwork...but how much do we protect our digital assets and information? Cybercriminals are getting savvy with their phishing emails and hiding malicious downloads. Both schools and families are vulnerable to attacks from every individual email account on their network.

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Child Identity Theft is difficult to spot, can ruin your teen's ability to get a car loan, an apartment, or credit card and can happen when parents overshare about their child on social media

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Child Identity Theft is difficult to spot, can ruin your teen's ability to get a car loan, an apartment, or credit card and can happen when parents overshare about their child on social media

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Every day, criminals scour the internet for personal information they can use to commit fraud and identity theft. In this digital age, individuals need to take steps to protect their privacy and information from fraudsters.

This is as true for children as it is for adults, as kids can be victims of identity theft well before they reach adulthood. Social media can be a valuable trove of information for identity thieves looking to assume the identity of children.

Sharing too much information about your kids on social media platforms can actually leave them more vulnerable.

How Thieves Can Use Social Media to Gain Information

Proud parents who came of age using social media may not think twice about sharing comments or photos of their kids. It's a convenient way to keep friends and family up to date, no matter where they are.

But when you share information about your kids, you are creating an online footprint that your child has little to no control over. And some of the information you share can be valuable to identity thieves.

Your child's name, age and birth date are three key pieces of information that can be used for fraud. Identity thieves can troll social media platforms for public posts that give them clues to these pieces of information. Even restricted posts could be used or sold by an unscrupulous friend or family member.

For example, a post about your newborn baby could clue an identity thief onto your child's name and birth date.

The Consequences of Identity Theft for a Child

Most forms of identity theft require a Social Security number. But if a criminal has already accessed your child's SSN, they can fill in the rest of the pieces from social media to open fraudulent accounts in your child's name. With synthetic identity theft, thieves may combine certain bits of information about your child with falsified information to create a fake identity using your child's SSN.

Identity theft of a child can go undetected for years. Most parents don't think to check their child's SSN, and the child can't apply for credit until they're 18. Once your child has a credit check for a loan, credit card or apartment lease they may discover his or her SSN has been compromised.

While the victim won't be held legally responsible for financial losses caused by identity theft, they may need to spend months or even years cleaning up the mess and regaining control of his or her SSN. This can involve a lot of red tape and even out-of-pocket expenses.

How to Avoid Oversharing on Social Media

Be mindful when posting pictures or talking about your kids online, especially in public social media forums. Keep in mind that even if your posts are private, friends and family can potentially use your child's information.

Check and customize the privacy policies and settings of any website you use. You may be able to keep photos restricted only to specific individuals, for example. But in general, you may want to consider the implications of sharing photos and information about your children before they can consent.

It's a good idea to hold back from sharing too much information about your child, including their full name and birth date. Even a happy birthday post could clue an identity thief onto your child's birth date.

Always know what information is collected by the websites you use. Under federal law, websites must get a parent's permission before they collect data from children under the age of 13.

Monitor Their Online Behavior and Teach Best Practices

Once your child is online, it's a good idea to be aware of their online habits and help kids avoid sharing private information or visiting dangerous websites. You can act as a copilot as your child learns to navigate the web and use software to monitor their online activity.

Make sure to teach your kids good privacy habits, including:

Avoiding sharing names, phone numbers, addresses, passwords and other personal information

Avoiding clicking links or opening attachments from unverified sources

And never message with strangers.

Remember, the information your children share online can come back to haunt them even if it doesn't lead to identity theft. Pictures or comments can be tied to your child's name and reputation forever. Make sure your child understands the information they share online has real life consequences.

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How Oversharing About Your Kids on Social Media Can Lead to Identity Theft

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Every day, criminals scour the internet for personal information they can use to commit fraud and identity theft. In this digital age, individuals need to take steps to protect their privacy and information from fraudsters.

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Child Identity Theft: Parent Awareness, Behaviors, and Attitudes | Security.org

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Written by Aliza Vigderman Last Updated: September 1st, 2020

Childhood is supposed to be a carefree time where kids can learn and grow in a safe environment, without having to worry about (or even know about) things like identity theft. However, children can fall victim to identity theft, especially if a parent isn't monitoring their credit or personally identifiable information (PII) like their Social Security numbers (SSNs).

This study focuses on parental awareness, attitudes, and behaviors to prevent identity theft. In general, most parents are aware of and concerned about the problem and many follow best practices like disposing of sensitive electronic records and limiting the use of their children's SSNs. However, at least a third of parents say they aren't very concerned or aren't concerned at all or don't take commonly suggested preventative measures.

How Common Is Child Identity Theft and Fraud?

In 2017, over one million children were victims of identity theft according to the research firm Javelin Strategy. In our research of more than 600 parents of children under the age of sixteen, 14 percent responded that their child's identity has been stolen, which would equate to roughly 10 million children.

We expect children are targeted more often because they are less likely to discover identity theft before adults who apply for loans, file tax returns, and other actions that require the use of their SSNs. Most people who have their identities stolen as children don't discover the theft until they are adults, so stealing children's identities gives the thieves a wider window to use their credentials versus adults.

Nearly two-thirds of parents are concerned about child identity theft, with the most frequently cited risks being social media, medical records, and school forms. Interestingly, about a third of parents were either not so concerned or not at all concerned about child identity theft, even though most parents do take measures to prevent their children's identities from being stolen.

Adherence to Best Practices

Regardless of the level of concern regarding child identity theft, most parents reported that they shred documents with their children's PII, store these types of documents and electronic records securely, and only provide their children's SSNs when necessary. However, 15 percent of parents didn't take any action to prevent child identity theft, which is striking considering its potential consequences.

We looked specifically into how parental concern affects the measures parents took to protect their children from identity theft.

Even parents who were not at all concerned about child identity theft take preventative measures to protect their children's PII; 45 percent shredded documents that contained sensitive information and only provided their child's SSN when necessary. Parents that fell in this not so concerned group were also more likely than more concerned parents to limit information posted about their children on social media, which was counterintuitive, seemingly. Why aren't more concerned parents supervising and controlling information about their kids on social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and the increasingly popular Tik Tok?

It's unclear from our research why more concerned parents aren't limiting information posted about their children on social media; overall, less than half of the more concerned parental groups limited this information, which seems low compared to the other precautions they take. Similarly, in a study conducted by the University of Michigan regarding parental rules about their children's use of technology, only 18 percent of parents said that they had rules about oversharing which required their children to get explicit permission before sharing information online.

In the same vein, only seven percent of parents supervised their children online to ensure that they were following their established rules. However, this study did not connect parental supervision or rules surrounding their children's Internet usage with child identity theft, so more research needs to be done to demonstrate the connection between the two, or lack thereof.

In general, however, parents not so concerned or not at all concerned with child identity theft were less likely to shred documents with PII and store documents and electronic records securely than more concerned parents, which was not surprising.

The Victims of Child Identity Theft

Identity theft can happen to any child that has a Social Security number, but some groups are more likely than others to fall victim.

Cyberbullying and Child Identity Theft

Being online necessarily means using your personal information to create accounts, whether that's your name, email, bank account information, and more, so it stands to reason that kids who are online more are more susceptible to identity theft and even cyberbullying. However, we were surprised to find out that kids who are the victims of cyberbullying are nine times more likely to be fraud victims than kids who weren't cyberbullied, according to Javelin Strategy. In our recent research on cyberbullying, we found that about a fifth of parents with kids ages 10 to 18 said their children had been cyberbullied before, making this sizable portion of the population more susceptible to identity theft as well.

Household Income and Child Identity Theft

At the beginning of our research, we hypothesized that parents with larger household incomes would be more likely to report child identity theft, as thieves would rather steal from more affluent people versus less affluent. This proved to be the case for the highest household income brackets on our survey, $175,000, and up. On average, 43 percent of parents of these household income brackets reported child identity theft, higher than the average reported child identity theft of 23 percent from households with incomes of $174,999 and below. While household income and reports of child identity theft weren't perfectly correlated, in general, parents of children from households with higher income brackets were more likely to report child identity fraud than parents of children from households with lower income brackets.

Warning Signs

Oftentimes with child identity theft, the child in question doesn't find out that their identity has been stolen until they are adults trying to apply for a loan or something of that nature. By that point, the thief could have used their Social Security number to get PayDay loans, file tax returns, and even get unemployment benefits in their name, which is why it's best to look for warning signs early.

Government benefits: If you are turned down for government benefits and you don't think you should have been, it's possible someone is already using your child's Social Security number to obtain benefits.

IRS notice: Did you get a notice from the IRS that your child hasn't paid their income taxes or that their Social Security number was used on a tax return? If so, your child's identity has likely been stolen.

Unfamiliar bills: Finally, if you receive unfamiliar bills or collection calls for products or services you haven't purchased, that could also be a sign of child identity theft.

How To See If Your Child's Identity Has Been Stolen

If you think your child's identity has been stolen, you can check by reading their credit report from all three major bureaus: Transunion, Experian, and Equifax. Ask them for files relating to your child's name and Social Security number to see if there are any changes you aren't aware of; they could be a good indication of identity theft, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Consequences of Child Identity Theft

The main consequence of child identity theft is financial losses. In 2017, the total losses from child identity fraud were $2.6 billion in the United States, which translated to $540 million in out-of-pocket costs for families. Your child could also experience difficulty getting loans, renting apartments, or doing any activity that requires a credit check. This could seriously delay or even impede them from taking out school loans, buying a mortgage, or even leasing a car.

Recovering from Child Identity Theft

That's not to say that it's impossible to recover from child identity theft. Once you find out that your child's identity has been stolen, here's how to recover it most efficiently:

1. Contact companies and bureaus: First, get in contact with the companies where the fraud occurred as well as those three major credit-reporting agencies we mentioned earlier, alerting them of the situation.

2. Freeze credit: Have the bureaus freeze your child's credit so no further changes can be made, temporarily.

3. Report to FTC: Finally, report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission by going to IdentityTheft.gov.

Best Practices for Preventing Child Identity Theft

Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to dramatically reduce your child's risk of identity theft, although it's not 100 percent preventable. Adhere to the following best practices:

Secure storage: Any paper or electronic record that includes your child's Social Security number should be stored securely, whether that means in password-protected, encrypted cloud storage or a locked file cabinet or safe.

Be careful with SSN: On top of that, only share your child's Social Security number when it's necessary; inquire about how it will be protected and why it's needed and if possible, use a different identifier or the last four digits of the Social Security number only.

Shred documents: If you're disposing of any papers that contain your child's PII, shred them before putting them in the garbage or recycling.

Hold onto your purse: This is an obvious one, but try to avoid losing your purse, wallet, or any papers that contain your kid's Social Security number.

Identity theft protection: Several identity theft protection services monitor your child's SSN in many financial and criminal areas. Many of these services have subscription options aimed at families specifically, usually covering two adults and up to 10 children.

Summary

You protect your children 24/7, and their identities are a part of that. It's a possibility that can result in financial losses and missed opportunities, so the best approach is to prevent it and look for warning signs to protect your child's credentials. Believe us, they'll be glad that you did, although they may not fully understand it for years to come.

Sources:

1. https://www.javelinstrategy.com/coverage-area/2018-child-identity-fraud-study

2. http://yardi.people.si.umich.edu/pubs/Schoenebeck_FamilyTechRules16.pdf

3. https://identitytheft.org/types/child/

4. https://www.identitytheft.gov/Assistant

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Child Identity Theft: Parent Awareness, Behaviors, and Attitudes | Security.org

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Written by Aliza Vigderman Last Updated: September 1st, 2020 Childhood is supposed to be a carefree time where kids can learn and grow in a safe environment, without having to worry about (or even know about) things like identity theft. However, children can fall victim to identity theft, especially if a parent isn't monitoring their ...

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Sexting is damaging to all involved and is punishable by law as transmitting child pornography, even if the teen sent the picture themselves. 

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Sexting is damaging to all involved and is punishable by law as transmitting child pornography, even if the teen sent the picture themselves. 

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Learning about sexting involving your teenager can seem frightening and overwhelming. Read more to discover some of the dangers surrounding sexting, relevant terminology, and repercussions. Finally, read our advice and guidance on how to appropriately and lovingly discuss this topic with your teenager.

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Learning about sexting involving your teenager can seem frightening and overwhelming. Read more to discover some of the dangers surrounding sexting, relevant terminology, and repercussions. Finally, read our advice and guidance on how to appropriately and lovingly discuss this topic with your teenager.

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How to encourage your teen to make smart choices about sexting

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How to encourage your teen to make smart choices about sexting

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https://www.psycom.net/teen-sexting

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Keeping Kids Safe from Grooming and Manipulation

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Keeping Kids Safe from Grooming and Manipulation

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Keeping Kids Safe from Grooming and Manipulation

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Grooming and Red Flag Behaviors - Darkness to Light

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Grooming is something all parents should be aware of as this is something that can happen online as well as in person

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Grooming is something all parents should be aware of as this is something that can happen online as well as in person

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Child grooming is a deliberate process by which offenders gradually initiate and maintain sexual relationships with victims in secrecy.

Grooming allows offenders to slowly overcome natural boundaries long before sexual abuse occurs. On the surface, grooming a child can look like a close relationship between the offending adult, the targeted child and (potentially) the child's caregivers. The grooming process is often misleading because the offender may be well-known or highly regarded in the community. As a result, it's easy to trust them.

Survivors discuss grooming & how their offenders gained access to them.

THE STAGES OF GROOMING RECOGNIZING RED FLAG BEHAVIOR
Now that you understand the basics of child grooming, how do you intervene if you see grooming behaviors or if your gut is telling you something is wrong? Click on a red flag behavior below to discover grooming examples and actions you can take as an active bystander when a child is vulnerable or uncomfortable.

Perpetrators will test the limits by starting to introduce touch into the relationship. They might put their arm around the child or asking for a hug to see how the child reacts. They may do this in front of other adults. If the caregiver does not intervene or object, and the child is uncomfortable, it can confuse the child on what type of touch is appropriate. Teach your kids about body autonomy and let them know it's OK to say "no" to adults.
Example: "It looks like you are forcing Annie to hug you. She looks uncomfortable, please stop. We let Annie decide if and how she wants to show affection."

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Grooming and Red Flag Behaviors - Darkness to Light

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Grooming allows offenders to slowly overcome natural boundaries long before sexual abuse occurs. On the surface, grooming a child can look like a close relationship between the offending adult, the targeted child and (potentially) the child's caregivers. The grooming process is often misleading because the offender may be well-known or highly regarded in the community.

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Cybersecurity for the entire family: Five surprising ways kids and adults get hacked | Our Insights | Plante Moran

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Cybersecurity is a risk for children and adults alike. Learn how to protect your family from identity theft and cyberattacks at home and while traveling.

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Cybersecurity is a risk for children and adults alike. Learn how to protect your family from identity theft and cyberattacks at home and while traveling.

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If you're online, you're visible around the world - and with more than 10 billion internet-connected devices, opportunities for hackers abound. In 2021 alone, 294 million people were impacted by breaches, and nowadays, one in every 12 people have already been a victim of identity theft - children included.

Got any online accounts? Wi-Fi-enabled devices? A social security number? Then you'd better watch your back because hackers may be coming for you and your family. But, don't panic just yet. If you know what to look for, you can dramatically reduce the risk of a cyberattack.

You've probably heard the cybersecurity basics, like changing passwords regularly and using a password manager, doing regular software updates, and not opening attachments from people you don't know. But, as cybersecurity professionals learn how to prevent attacks, criminals just invent new ones. So, let's look at some of the new ways hackers are trying to break in and how to keep your family safe from cyberattacks.

1. Increasingly sophisticated phishing scams

Most people think they won't be a target for a cyberattack, but more than 50% of attacks are untargeted. That's why cybersecurity for families is so important. Email phishing scams are a great example of this. In fact, social engineering emails are the most common cause of a cybersecurity issue, and that's why the entire family must take precaution, especially when computers are shared.

Gone are the days of the obvious phishing scam. Don't expect "princes" from exotic locales to email you asking for money. Now, hackers come after us by pretending to be those we trust - banks, cell phone companies, the government, and even friends and family members. So, when opening emails, look out for these warning signs:
Asking for private information
If you receive an email asking for account numbers, passwords, or any other sensitive information, it's likely a phishing scam. Scammers are good at making emails look like they come from authoritative sources like the IRS, but organizations like the IRS won't email or call you for information if there's an issue (they'll contact you through U.S. mail or come right to your door). If you're not sure if an emailer or caller is who they claim to be, look up their number on Google (don't use the one provided in the suspicious email) and call to find out.

Note: If you're getting harassing phone calls or emails from someone claiming to be the IRS or another government entity, report it.
Out-of-the-ordinary emails
If a friend's email account is compromised, a hacker might reach out to you via their email and see if they can break into your accounts, too. If you get an email from somebody you know that you're not expecting, especially if it asks you to open a link or click an attachment, just give the person a call - a hacker might be able to imitate somebody in an email, but it's unlikely they can nail a voice impersonation, let alone get access to their victim's phone.
Unusual language, typos, and alterations to account names
Watch out for subtle clues, like getting an email from jane.doe@gmail.com when your contact is listed as jane-doe@gmail.com. Typos or strange wording are unlikely in emails from companies, and out-of-character phrasing from somebody you know well could be a red flag, so read carefully.
Asking you to open an attachment or a link
You may have heard this one, but it bears repeating. If you don't know what you're opening, don't open it before you've spoken with the person who sent it. If an email looks like it's from your bank and asks you to log in using a link they provide, play it safe - avoid the link in the email and just log in to your online banking account the normal way. Why? Because you never know what that attachment might be. You could very well be downloading malware that can access your entire hard drive. If you're working on a shared computer, you'll be putting everybody who uses it at risk.

What to tell your family: Trust, but verify, and call before you click. A call takes two minutes. Reversing the damage of a cyberattack could take years.

2. Stealing children's identities

We hear about cybersecurity for seniors on the news all the time - they always seem to be falling victim to email and phone phishing scams. But, when it comes to identity theft, kids are surprisingly much more likely to be affected. Why are kids such a prime target? Think about it - children won't need to look at their credit report for up to 18 years. Criminals can take out credit cards in their names and live large. They'll rack up debt unnoticed until your kid is denied a college loan because they're somehow $1 million in the hole.

The red flags for this one can be easy to spot. If you get a letter from the IRS stating that your 8-year-old didn't pay income taxes or start getting collection calls for items you didn't attempt to purchase, follow these instructions for what to do if your child's identity is stolen, courtesy of the FTC.However, as cybercriminals often wait a few years before using the information they obtain, you may not notice any red flags. Consider reviewing your kids' free annual credit reports every year to make sure everything looks right. In addition, you can put a credit freeze, also known as a security freeze, on credit reports for all of your children. Credit freezes are one of the easiest ways to protect children from identity theft. This free tool prevents anyone from accessing a credit report. Since most new accounts won't be approved without that report, this makes it much harder for identity thieves to use your information.

What to tell your family: Explain to your children that you'll be putting a credit freeze on their report (or at least monitoring it) to prevent cybersecurity issues from affecting them in the future. If you review their credit report, involve them in the process to foster comfort with managing finances.

3. Accessing sensitive information through unsecured internet-connected devices

Does anybody care what you're putting in your Wi-Fi-connected crockpot? Of course not, but that doesn't mean it's not going to get hacked.

Smart home devices are amazing, but with benefit comes risk.

The Internet of Things is a cybersecurity risk because if a hacker can get into one device, they could access your whole network. That app-controlled video baby monitor could be a major chink in your digital armor.Many of the usual cybersecurity guidelines apply here. Use passwords that you change regularly, try multifactor authentication, complete security updates, and avoid using public Wi-Fi. But, when possible, simply avoid getting devices that connect to the internet unless you're reasonably assured that they're safe to use. Ask yourself if that device really needs to connect to the internet, and if it does, try putting it on a different network than your main computer.

What to tell your family: Sorry, kids, we're not getting that Wi-Fi-enabled fridge. But, we are getting a password manager.

4. Taking advantage of oversharing on social media

It's totally normal to want to share about your vacation. You're excited about it, you'll be making lots of memories, taking lots of pictures, and it's not something you do every day. But, if you reveal on Facebook that you're leaving town for two weeks, you might as well hang a sign on your door that says, "Please rob my house."

It's ok to have public social media pages, such as for your business, but avoid sharing personal information on those pages. For personal pages, keep them private and review your friend list every once in a while. Are you really keeping in touch with 1,000 people? Remove the people you don't know, customize your security settings to limit who sees your information, or stop sharing personal information on that profile.

While we're on the subject of Facebook, note that every time they do a security update, they change your defaults back to the weakest security setting. Check settings regularly and use strong passwords. Many social platforms even offer multifactor authentication, which means you need to use your password and one or more additional forms of verification to access an account. This could be, for example, a single-use code sent to your phone or a fingerprint - anything a hacker is unlikely to be able to use.

What to tell your family: Set personal pages to private, update security settings regularly, remove anybody you don't know, and avoid sharing your whereabouts. If you go on a trip, consider waiting until you get home before posting the pictures.

5. Launching cyberattacks on travelers

Staying mum on social when going out of town can protect your house while you're gone, but what can you do to protect your information when the plane lands? Just like there are hackers at home, there are hackers abroad - and travelers make easy, unsuspecting targets.

Let's say you're staying at a hotel and want to get out a few emails for work. You open your laptop and see several Wi-Fi options: Hotel-1, Hotel-guest, and Hotel_publicwifi. Pick the wrong one, and you could be on a fraudulent Wi-Fi hotspot, exposing your information to whatever unsavory character laid the trap.

Criminals set up phony hotspots and wait for you to log on, which can allow them to see everything you're doing on the internet, such as logging in to your online banking account. The more visitors, the greater the risk:

Disney, Paris, New York City, the Walk of Fame, and the Las Vegas Strip are positively loaded with fraudulent Wi-Fi hotspots.

Protect your family from cyberattacks by sticking to personal hotspots or bringing a clean device (a device without any of your information on it) instead of your personal computer that contains years of financial data.

Take caution when using cards, too. ATM skimming is a constant concern. Criminals may use keypad overlays or put card skimmers over the ATM's actual card reader, but usually, they're placing cameras above the keypad so they can see your PIN. ATMs connected to banks are typically safe because the bank is able to regularly check in on it. Stick to those when possible, and cover your hand when typing in PINs. It doesn't hurt to give the card reader a jiggle, too. If it's loose, you could be dealing with a card skimmer.

Children and older adults who aren't as knowledgeable about technology are likely to make these easy mistakes while traveling, so make sure your entire family understands the risks.

What to tell your family: When traveling, be careful when using devices or credit/debit cards. Stick to ATMs connected to banks, and cover your hand when typing in a PIN. Don't connect to public Wi-Fi, and instead use personal Wi-Fi hotspots or data (or - better yet - put devices away, and enjoy your vacation.)

What now?

Most compromises happen in just a few minutes, but rarely are they discovered that fast. The average time to detect and contain a breach is over nine months and they're often being discovered by third parties. Even if it seems like a lot of effort, it's much easier to prevent an attack than it is to detect one and reverse the damage once it occurs. That's why it's so important that you share ways to stay safe online with your entire family.

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Cybersecurity for the entire family: Five surprising ways kids and adults get hacked | Our Insights | Plante Moran

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If you're online, you're visible around the world - and with more than 10 billion internet-connected devices, opportunities for hackers abound. In 2021 alone, 294 million people were impacted by breaches, and nowadays, one in every 12 people have already been a victim of identity theft - children included.

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Advice for Helping Protect Yourself &amp; Family from Cyber Threats

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Be Cyber Secure: Dos and Don'ts for the Whole Family

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Be Cyber Secure: Dos and Don'ts for the Whole Family

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ODDS ARE YOU WOULDN'T DISCLOSE personal details, like when you're planning to go on vacation and leave your house empty, to a random stranger on the street. But many people happily post that sort of information on their social feeds for millions of people to find - and if you're not divulging your family's schedule (and secrets) online, your teens just might be. Review the following do's and don'ts to help you and your family stay safe in today's super-connected world.

DO educate your family about cyber risks.

Children may not understand the risks of the online world. It's up to parents to teach them the dangers of sharing photos and personal information, like vacation routines or daily schedules - information that could be used by others to harm them. Teach them, too, that it's a good practice to avoid downloading apps from obscure or untrustworthy developers and playing games or taking online surveys that ask for personal information.

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Advice for Helping Protect Yourself &amp; Family from Cyber Threats

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ODDS ARE YOU WOULDN'T DISCLOSE personal details, like when you're planning to go on vacation and leave your house empty, to a random stranger on the street. But many people happily post that sort of information on their social feeds for millions of people to find - and if you're not divulging your family's schedule (and secrets) online, your teens just might be.

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Protect Your Personal Information and Data

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The FTC's suggestions on protecting your family from cyberattacks

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The FTC's suggestions on protecting your family from cyberattacks

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The internet has been called the information superhighway. But with scammers, hackers, and other bad guys trying to steal your personal information online, it's a good idea to know how to lock down your devices, network, and information. That way, your passwords, Social Security number, or account numbers don't go speeding along the superhighway to the scammers.

Secure Your Devices

Keep your security software, internet browser, and operating system up to date.

Criminals look for weak points to exploit before the software companies can fix them. But updating your software regularly - as soon as possible when a newer version comes out - helps make sure you have critical patches and protections against security threats.

For information on how to update your security software, operating system and internet browsers and apps, go to the developer's website. They usually have a way to sign up for email updates or set them up to update automatically. Don't ignore reminders to make updates. You don't want to leave a door open so hackers can get your information.

Be sure to update:

Security software. Your antivirus or firewall programs must be up to date to work, whether they came pre-installed or you loaded them onto your device.

Operating system software. This could be Windows, Apple OS, or Chrome, for example.

Internet browsers and apps. Developers often provide updates to address security issues, to fix bugs, or add new features.

Secure Your Accounts

Once your computer, tablet, and phone are secure, next take steps to protect your accounts - particularly those with personal information, like your bank, email, and social media accounts.

Create and use strong passwords

That means at least 12 characters. Making a password longer is generally the easiest way to increase its strength. Consider using a passphrase of random words so that your password is more memorable, but avoid using common words or phrases. For more tips, check out this Password Checklist.

Use multi-factor authentication

Some accounts offer extra security by requiring two or more credentials to log in to your account. This is called multi-factor authentication. These additional credentials fall into two categories:

Something you have, like a passcode you get via an authentication app or a security key.

Something you are, like a scan of your fingerprint, your retina, or your face.

Multi-factor authentication makes it harder for scammers to log in to your accounts if they do get your username and password.

Choose security questions only you know the answer to

Many security questions ask for answers to information available in public records or online. So, when you can, avoid questions like your zip code, mother's maiden name, and birth place. And avoid using questions with a limited number of responses that attackers can easily guess - like the color of your first car. You can even put in random answers to make guessing more difficult. If you do that, though, you'll have to remember the answers you use.

Back up your data to protect it. Backing up your data means making an extra copy of all your files. That way, if something happens - say a virus, your device crashes, or you're hacked - you still have your files. It's important to do it once a week so you don't lose important data, like your photos, documents, and files. If you do need to restore a backup, it will only be as current as the last time you backed up.

Here are two options, and a few things to consider when choosing how to back up your files.

Save your files in the cloud. There are many cloud storage services that let you save files and data online. You may be familiar with some, like Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, OneDrive, or iCloud, but there are many others out there. Many of these services come with some free storage space, and you can pay for more storage. When you save your information in the cloud, you're trusting someone else to keep that information safe. If you're thinking about using cloud storage, find out what level of privacy or security the different services offer.

Save your files to an external storage device. A USB flash drive is an affordable option that offers a moderate amount of storage. Another option is an external hard drive. It might cost a little more than a USB drive, but it can give you more storage capacity, transfer data faster, and be more reliable. You can decide which files or folders to back up, and you may be able to schedule automatic backups.

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing

Peer-to-peer file-sharing programs can give you access to free music and videos, but they come with risks. For example:

strangers might be able to see and share your personal files

the program might share files and folders you didn't plan on sharing

you might unknowingly download malware, pirated or copyrighted material, or pornography.

If you decide to use a peer-to-peer program, use your security software to scan any files before you open them, and before you play any downloaded files. Avoid any peer-to-peer program that asks you to disable or change the settings of your firewall. Disabling or changing these settings could weaken your computer's security.

Protect Your Home Network

One important way to protect your information is to protect your network at home. Think of your router as the connecting point between your devices and the internet. If malware gets onto any of your connected devices, it can spread to the other devices connected to your network. Your devices, accounts, and whole network are only as secure as your router.

See this article on Securing Your Home Network to learn how to quickly make your router and your network more secure.

Protect Yourself While on Wi-Fi

You can control how secure your home network is - but you can't do the same for public Wi-Fi. It's always best to assume it's not secure.

The easiest solution? Save your online shopping, banking, and other personal transactions for when you're on your home network. Or use your mobile data, as that data is typically encrypted.

If you do use public Wi-Fi, read more about protecting your personal information while you're online in public.

Report Identity Theft

If you think someone has gotten into your accounts or has your personal information, visit IdentityTheft.gov. There, you'll get steps to take to find out if your identity has been misused, and how to report and recover from identity theft.

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Protect Your Personal Information and Data

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The internet has been called the information superhighway. But with scammers, hackers, and other bad guys trying to steal your personal information online, it's a good idea to know how to lock down your devices, network, and information. That way, your passwords, Social Security number, or account numbers don't go speeding along the superhighway to the scammers.