Technology Safety
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Technology Safety - A "How to" Guide from a wise parent
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When it comes to ensuring your child is using their device and the internet in accordance with your expectations at home, a friend’s house or anywhere else in the world, the most important thing is to educate yourself on what tools are available and to set those expectations and ensure you’re all aligned on them as a family. Kids can run into all kinds of things online --downward spiraling search results after innocently looking for other search terms, chats with strangers that can turn into negative experiences, or just downloading games, apps, or other things from the web because it’s what they wanted to do at that moment.
Cybersecurity is a complex topic that involves assessments, compliance, and remediations in the corporate world. It doesn’t have to be as strict and rigid at home, but a little vigilance goes a long way. Consistency is also key; as parents, we can’t afford to let our guards down.
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Cybersecurity Tips for Parents
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Internet Service Providers & Routers
Our two main residential ISPs in the area have some methods of controlling access and keeping unwanted traffic out:
Xfinity/Comcast:
Xfinity has a router and app that allows parents to create user profiles and control internet access.
Use this app to:- Schedule internet times and routines
- Reward and/or punish internet access by manually toggling internet access by profile or by device
- Protect your network against unwanted attacks.
- More info about XFi here
CenturyLink:
CenturyLink routers have limited ability to control access (dated and only somewhat effective)
More info HereRouter:
Separate from the ISP router, other router manufacturers have the ability to block sites, control discrete access to users or devices, some of which include:
• Synology RT2600ac
• Synology MR2200AC
• Synology RT6600AX
• Netgear: see here
• Asus ZenWifi AX
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Consistent Parental Oversight - A lot of it starts Here
Limit your child’s access at night, after school, and weekends. Take the devices away when necessary, and have conversations about the consequences of not following the rules or running afoul of your expectations. Below are a few things that come to mind when controlling access at home.
It's exhausting, and can feel a little "cat and mouse", especially if you have kids that circumvent your security measures - but it's important to follow up, follow through, and be as consistent in your policing as possible.
These measures take a bit of work but they’re worth the effort considering the trouble they can get into:
Understand what you are blocking from your network and whether they can be blocked with the hardware you have; some sites like discord or YouTube can be near impossible without additional hardware/software/DNS blocking
Take your child’s devices away at night and turn off its access to the net.- Consider setting up two-factor authentication on your child’s device using your phone as the second factor (apps like Duo can be helpful).
For games like Fortnight, Epic games offers a 2FA route for parents:
See here
Set up rules, guidelines, and if necessary a contract with your children about terms of use (seriously). Remain consistent in administering those policies and make clear what the consequences are for misusing the internet, and/or their device.
Set-up a generic email for apps, games, and other access that does not share your or your family’s specific personal data. The app itself is going to track enough about your or your child’s usage - don’t give up more than you need to. Use this email for everything.
Keep privacy settings on all the time.
Only allow apps YOU as the parent have installed on the device. Just because it’s free and a game they play all the time doesn’t quite mean it’s safe. Delete all others you don’t trust or didn’t install.
Review your child’s browsing and search history often. If there is no search or browsing history, they could be covering their tracks by deleting or viewing in private or incognito mode.
Rabbit hole warning: More advanced users can install prosumer devices like firewalls to track and block traffic. These are separate from the routers and their built-in firewalls. Untangle and pfsense come to mind.
Even more advanced users can build DNS blocking devices that manage traffic by blocking online ads, and certain sites using DNS. Pihole and firewalla are products that come to mind here.
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