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Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

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21–30 of 215 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#21
The number one thing you can do to help them is talk to them about being conned / scammed. That's by far the most likely way for them to get victimized online, and the only way that's seriously affected anyone I know.

Since they're not technical, their natural self-defense against this kind of this has trouble functioning online. Talk to them about real world analogs to pop-up ads that look like virus scanner alerts, talk to them about people pretending to be someone they know. Hell, show them the movie "Catch me if you can" and explain the same psychological tactics get used online.

Get them to consider "what do I really know, and is this too good to be true" before they talk to anyone, click a link, or buy anything online -- and they will be fine, if their judgement is otherwise unimpaired.

If they're very late in life, or otherwise have trouble with this kind of thing in the real world, there is unfortunately not much you can do to help them, other than force them to only use pre-installed apps on a tablet that you've selected, like you might with a small child. If they're not willing to do that, then it's unfortunately on them. I've had this experience both with my grandfather and a friend who lives with a brain injury, who are responsible for themselves but don't have the judgement necessary to realize how impaired they are.

And of course, make sure the computer is auto-rebooting to get updates, and they know to call you if they get a virus / malware popup they think could be real.

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#22
post #14

Honestly, while getting phished and hacked are big issues, I would also worry about them being sucked into social media bubbles where they could start latching onto conspiracy theories, fake news, and the like. It was not too long ago where their generation believed it was a bad idea to believe anything on the Internet. I'm not sure what changed. I have seen my own parents fall suspect to that stuff now and then, so…

Advice I could have used five years ago. I don’t even know how to talk to my parents about current events/politics now because we don’t share a common base of facts.

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#23
Check out what we're building at Badrap (https://badrap.io/). Our service is free, and you can use it to monitor your and your parents' IP and email addresses for known vulnerabilities and data breaches. Let me know if you have any questions. :)

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#24

Avoid Linux, Windows, etc. For non tech users, iOS is pretty safe. Ipad + iPhone and you're good to go. Leave the notebooks and PCs in the 80s where they belong.

Choice of operating system won't affect whether or not people type away their details into random websites. Putting Windows and Linux in the same box and pushing iOS over them is also puzzling. Why would someone's non-technically literate parents happen to be running a Linux distribution on their personal computers and why would that make them more susceptible to giving their details away than running OSX?

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#25
post #16

Avoid Linux, Windows, etc. For non tech users, iOS is pretty safe. Ipad + iPhone and you're good to go. Leave the notebooks and PCs in the 80s where they belong.

Is this the same iOS that recently allowed anybody to remotely activate the microphone and camera using Facetime?

Yep, it's still definitely considered one of the most secure consumer platforms both in fundamentals and in the practice of the number of bugs it's had.

No security is perfect, a small handful of bugs over the last so-many years is about as good as any platform can hope for.

If you're a CIA agent or run a bitcoin exchange it might not be good enough for you, but for most people it's a pretty good set of options.

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#26
My recomendation is create a block server for ads in this case pi hole is a good option for all your devices (PC, Laptop, Smartphones, etc). For navegation i recommend create user with control on windows, the reason is they can't install apps or changes things in the system that compromise your information or install addons infected in the browsers

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#27
post #11

going down the ios route is safest option.Pretty much in same boat as you taught my dad on online bill payments and banking in iPad . Set up a password manager and store all their personal information in there , make it available via touch id. Chromebook and linux are still tech stuff which can not be handled by elderly.

iOS/macOS with 1blockerX/1blocker and keychain has worked wonders for my parents.

I’d say use AdGuard instead of 1Blocker - the latter pretty much never updates its blacklists.

Re: Ask HN: How do I make sure my non-technical parents are safe online?

#29
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this the same iOS that recently allowed anybody to remotely activate the microphone and camera using Facetime?

Yep, it's still definitely considered one of the most secure consumer platforms both in fundamentals and in the practice of the number of bugs it's had. No security is perfect, a small handful of bugs over the last so-many years is about as good as any platform can hope for. If you're a CIA agent or run a bitcoin exchange it might not be good enough for you, but for most people it's a pretty good set of options.

ChromeOS is more secure and far less expensive than MacOS, although as long as you keep your parents off of Windows you won't have to worry about ransomware.
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