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

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

#91

Post by discordance »

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #39

Keep them offline. Get them smartphones, preferably iOS. Educate them about scams. My parents still conduct the majority of their personal business offline, and though I have scoffed at this in the past, it makes more sense for them and also keeps them safe. Their bills come in the mail, and its not uncommon for them to go to a department store and pay the bill for that chain's credit card in person. They meet with t…

After countless majestic infections in his laptop, restricting my dad to only using a large iPad pro (with a keyboard) has saved me countless hours of maintenance.

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

#92

Post by maxxxxx »

defen wrote: post #78
maxxxxx wrote: post #33

Also tell them about phone scams. Over the last year I have received several very convincing phone calls and voice messages from people pretending to be the IRS or cops. It takes a lot of willpower to convince yourself that they are scams. A lot of scams can be stopped if you consult with someone before sending actual money. I think it's important to tell your parents that before they give anybody any money or accoun…

My in-laws got hit by an absolutely ridiculous phone scam. Basically some guy called and said "Hey this is Apple, this is an emergency, your iCloud got hacked, you need to install this remote desktop software and give me your credit card info so I can fix it for you". They are smart people but they still fell for it. So, the advice we gave them was that no organization is going to use a phone call to deliver importan…

They often have call back numbers from what I have heard.

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

#93

Post by forgotmypw »

macns wrote: post #89
franga2000 wrote: post #84

My no. 1 thing is to always install and ad blocker in their browser. uBlock does a pretty good job of getting rid of all the fake download buttons and pop-ups. And tell them explicitly that if their computer tells them they have a virus, they must not try to do anything about it and call you immediately. 99% of the time it's a fake pop-up and they don't want to look stupid so they follow its "friendly instructions" t…

what is CoW?

Here, I found this by searching for "cow file sync":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy-on-write

>Copy-on-write (CoW or COW), sometimes referred to as implicit sharing[1] or shadowing,[2] is a resource-management technique used in computer programming to efficiently implement a "duplicate" or "copy" operation on modifiable resources.[3] If a resource is duplicated but not modified, it is not necessary to create a new resource; the resource can be shared between the copy and the original. Modifications must still create a copy, hence the technique: the copy operation is deferred to the first write. By sharing resources in this way, it is possible to significantly reduce the resource consumption of unmodified copies, while adding a small overhead to resource-modifying operations.

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

#94

Post by DoreenMichele »

Make them a list of hard "no" items.

Tell them no porn, no clicking on pop up ads, no cheezy viral articles with click bait titles, etc.

If you can visit them in person, check their computer for malware.

Find out what they want to use the internet for and help them create a white list. If they have enough safe ways to satisfy their needs, there is less temptation to randomly venture forth into things they don't really understand.

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

#95

Post by discordance »

dontbenebby wrote: post #55
djhworld wrote: post #47

I'm really surprised at the replies in this thread, some are almost patronising. Parents might be old, but they're not dumb. People underestimate older people. Obviously there are some vulnerable adults that need a helping hand, I get that, but try just talking and teaching, it works wonders. The key is patience really.

>Parents might be old, but they're not dumb. People underestimate older people. They aren't dumb, but many in that generation are willfully ignorant. There was a great article in the NYT recently titled "Why high class people get away with incompetence": https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/science/social-class-conf... If you've gone your entire life being able to bluster away criticism or force someone to do things fo…

It's not about parents being dumb. Some of these attacks are very manipulative and convincing.

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

#96

Post by operatorequals »

macns wrote: post #89
franga2000 wrote: post #84

My no. 1 thing is to always install and ad blocker in their browser. uBlock does a pretty good job of getting rid of all the fake download buttons and pop-ups. And tell them explicitly that if their computer tells them they have a virus, they must not try to do anything about it and call you immediately. 99% of the time it's a fake pop-up and they don't want to look stupid so they follow its "friendly instructions" t…

what is CoW?

Copy in write i guess

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

#97

Post by adav »

Set up a new iPad: + auto updating apps and OS + they don’t have the password to install anything new + install the apps they need for them + auto backups to iCloud

Then drill it into them that they should “never click any link in an email for any reason whatsoever. If the bank, for example, sends you a message with a link then ignore the link, leave the email app and log in to the bank the normal way to check the account.”

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

#98

Post by an4rchy »

I've been thinking about this problem for a while as well.

The somewhat oversimplified approach is to use iOS/Android devices with you in charge of installing any new apps and also inbuilt adblockers. However this still doesn't prevent email phishing.

The more restrictive option would be to use a router level / AdBlocker whitelist for websites they can access.

Ex: Facebook, Google, YouTube, Utilities, Banks etc. This way any phishing domain will get blocked. Obviously highly restrictive but probably the safest bet. You can always add new sites as they need them.

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

#99

Post by yasth »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #94

Make them a list of hard "no" items. Tell them no porn, no clicking on pop up ads, no cheezy viral articles with click bait titles, etc. If you can visit them in person, check their computer for malware. Find out what they want to use the internet for and help them create a white list. If they have enough safe ways to satisfy their needs, there is less temptation to randomly venture forth into things they don't reall…

If you are able to talk about porn and ban it with your parents (presumably providing some alterate means, because you know they have needs), then well congratulations that sounds like a very open and sharing relationship.

For the rest of us though...

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

#100

Post by grecy »

maxxxxx wrote: post #33

Also tell them about phone scams. Over the last year I have received several very convincing phone calls and voice messages from people pretending to be the IRS or cops. It takes a lot of willpower to convince yourself that they are scams. A lot of scams can be stopped if you consult with someone before sending actual money. I think it's important to tell your parents that before they give anybody any money or accoun…

This is so true. My father is getting closed to getting conned now.

I tell him that no matter who contacts him and how (could be the government, IRS, bank, and could be phone, or email or a door knock) he should politely end the contact immediately.

Don't listen to what they have to say, don't give them a single shred of information - not even his name or address or anything.

If he is really convinced it's something legit, HE should initiate contact with whoever they said they were - find THEIR phone number or website and contact them and ask.

That way at least he can be sure he knows who is on the other end.

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