How To Help Your Family Prepare For a Cyber-Safe School Year

by Burton Kelso, The Tech Expert

Amidst the flurry of shopping for school supplies and balancing schedules, there's another crucial item on the back-to-school checklist that's often overlooked: cybersecurity. With criminals turning their sights on people of all ages, it's important that you don't only educate your children about ongoing threats, but you need to make sure the adults in your family are taking steps to stay cyber safe as well.

This article will guide you through essential steps to ensure your family is prepared for a cyber-safe school year, protecting your personal information and digital well-being as you navigate the academic year. Here's what you need to know.

Don't turn a blind Eye to AI.
Cybercrime is a human problem and criminals are using AI technology to create tempting phishing scams designed to trick you into giving up your personal information. Everyone in your family needs to be aware of AI-based phishing and cyber attacks that can lure them in with a variety of scams that are fueled by deepfakes and voice cloning.

​The best defense against deepfake and voice cloning scams is to create a password or passphrase to use if you get a call from a criminal posing as a family member using AI technology. During a busy school year, it's easy for criminals to slip in and call you with an AI-based scam. 

Use Easy to Remember Passphrases.
Passphrases are two unrelated words to create a strong password. Passphrases like "PurpleFox2021$" or "StolenBumble!243" are stronger than your garden variety of random numbers and characters to protect your family's online accounts. Visit Bitwarden's password and passphrase generator at https://bitwarden.com/password-generator/

Make Sure You "Back That Thang Up.
Encourage students to stop carrying around important information on flash drives and external hard drives which can be misplaced, stolen, and can fail at a moment's notice. The cloud is the only way to go. Cloud services like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive automatically copy your data to the cloud which ensures their precious information is always backed up.

Keep Track of Lost and Stolen Devices.
Enable Find My to keep track of stolen devices. Get your student an Apple or Android alert to get alerts when devices are missing.

Make Sure Your Family Information isn't on the Dark Web.  
With data breaches occurring on a regular basis, you need to verify your kids information isn't floating on the dark web. Many companies don't disclose when they are responsible for leaking customer's information to the dark web. Once criminals have access to your information, they can commit ID theft, log into and take over social media accounts and access web backup services.

Check out haveibeenpwned.com This website will let you know if your students' information such as passwords, social security numbers, and email addresses have been leaked on the dark web and if they should get ID protection.

Manage Screen Time and Online Behavior.
When it comes to keeping your children safe, establish clear rules for technology use. The more your kids are online, the more at risk they are to cyber attacks. Create family guidelines for device usage, including screen time limits and designated "tech-free" zones.

While not a complete solution, parental control software can help you monitor online activity, set boundaries, and block access to inappropriate websites or apps. Teach your children what cyberbullying is and what to do if they experience or witness it. Encourage them to block the bully, save evidence (screenshots), and report the behavior to a trusted adult or school authority.

Hopefully, this will give you tips to help your family stay safe this school year. If you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments below. If you have any questions, please reach out via email or on social media. I'm always available.