Keep Your Family Safe On The Internet

Did you know that online scams are on the rise? In fact, studies show that a worrying 26 percent of consumers have already been victims of frauds on the Internet. Scams are getting more complex and difficult to recognize, which is why you need to talk to your family about online safety. Everyone needs to know how to recognize a scam and how they can protect themselves.

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Protect Your Privacy

Teach your children not to share personal information online, and share this advice with your parents and older relatives as well. Your parents are likely to be more trusting and might not think that the Internet users they interact with are not who they pretend to be.

Help your relatives adjust their social media settings so that their profile and the information they share remains private. Did you know that burglars will check social media to see who is going away on vacation?

Secure Your Devices

Your laptop and Smartphone need a good antivirus. Not all your relatives are tech-savvy enough to choose an antivirus and install it. Take a few minutes to check the laptops and phones used by your children and older relatives and install an antivirus if needed. If they use an Android phone, check this page for a list of quality antivirus programs.

Think About Using A VPN

Hackers can access the information you share and receive whenever you use an unsecured connection. This is a risk you shouldn’t neglect since you might use an unsecured Wifi hotspot when you browse the Internet with your phone while you are on the go.

You can use a VPN to automatically encrypt everything you do online. Install one of these programs on the computers and phones of your family members to protect their information.

Learn To Recognize Fake Emails

Phishing emails are commonly used by scammers to steal login credentials and personal information. These emails usually look like they come from a bank or a retailer and ask you to follow a link to log in or enter personal information. Make sure everyone in your family is aware of this practice and knows how to find the email address of the sender. As a rule of thumb, recommend that they don’t follow suspicious links and make sure they understand that banks, retailers, and other institutions won’t send emails to request information.

Keep your children and older relatives safe by talking to them about common scams. Take a few minutes to install antivirus programs and other software on the devices they use to protect their privacy.