How to Help Your Aging Parents Protect Their Data

It’s sad but true: older adults are among the most targeted victims of cybercrime. In 2020, cybercriminals stole $1.8 billion from Americans older than 50. During the pandemic, the number of cybercrimes reported to the FBI increased exponentially—a million more total reports were added in a single year. While advances in digital tools and tech have brought us a world of convenience and progress, plenty of risks correspond to these changes.

Of course, it’s not just older adults that need to protect their data. Everyone is at risk. But, if you’ve already implemented the best practices in digital security, it’s time to pass on your knowledge and help your parents (or grandparents, or that nice old lady that lives down the street) out.?

If you’re worried about the online safety of your aging parents, or other older adults in your life, keep these strategies in mind to help them stay safe as they use technological tools.

Remind them of common scams

Knowledge is power, and in the case of cybercrime, knowledge can be the determining factor between getting scammed or staying safe. Older adults who did not grow up or spend years of their adult life using the internet and social media may not understand the degree of crime that happens online. And more than that, they may not understand how the crimes occur or when they’re being targeted.?

With this in mind, older adults must understand the common risks of online life. Many common scams happen when criminals impersonate someone else and well-meaning older adults do not realize that the person they are talking to is not whom they think. Other scams can be related to things relevant to an older adult’s lifestyle, like scams related to house care, medical care, or caregiving. According to the FBI, these are some of the most common occurrences of elder fraud :

• Romance scam: Older adults may think they’ve found a companion through online dating sites or digital communication, but criminals are posing as romantic partners and often scam older adults into giving up money or sensitive information.
• Grandparent scam: Using digital communication, criminals pretend to be a relative and reach out saying they are in need of money.?
• Government impersonation scam: This could take a variety of forms, but most commonly criminals will act as government employees (from state departments to law enforcement) and demand information or payment from victims, threatening to arrest or prosecute them if they don’t comply.
• Tech support scam: This happens when criminals get access to the victim’s computer or other devices by posing as tech support professionals looking to help solve a phony tech problem. They can get access to the victim’s devices remotely and steal important information.?
• Sweepstakes, charity, or lottery scams: This happens when criminals steal money or information from victims by posting as representatives of charities or saying that the victim has won an award. They promise to collect the award for the victim for a misleading fee.

Help them understand best practices online

The best way to set your parents up for success online is to help them implement the best practices for online life. That means that the same practices you use daily, which perhaps seem like no-brainers to you, are things you need to teach your older relatives to do. Many who didn’t grow up online have never really been taught the best practices for digital safety, and are learning through trial and error—which can lead to dire consequences.?

And to be fair, many who did grow up in the internet era are not aware of the safest practices online anymore just because digital risks have evolved so rapidly. We should all consistently reevaluate how we live online, and which steps we need to take to stay safe.

One easy tip that you can share with your older acquaintances is to identify the signs of a secure website. Checking the URL to see if it starts with HTTPS is one easy indicator. If the URL doesn’t include the S (if it’s just HTTP), that’s a sign that the website isn’t secure.?

Another great step is to set up pop-up blockers on devices, so that phony “you won an award” notifications don’t pop up when they venture onto unsafe sites, and so they don’t get pulled into real, but annoying, advertisements on secure sites.?

Email is another area that can pose a lot of threats. Many of the most common scams begin with phony emails. Remind your parents not to open suspicious or unfamiliar-looking emails, and not to click on any links that come from a sender they don’t recognize or trust. Discuss a course of action for them to follow should someone email them asking for money or personal information—even if the sender seems like a family member, friend, or government agency. Hackers are very proficient at impersonating people online to get what they want.?

Set up devices with privacy settings

Privacy settings—from passwords to lock screens to restricting who can see your account—are the first line of defense for anyone online. Make sure that the older adults in your life set up passwords for all of their devices and accounts. Use unique and complex passwords that are easy for them to remember, but hard for others to guess.

You can help them set up a password manager that will keep track of the varying passwords, minimizing any chance of losing access to an account because the keywords were forgotten. Should they get locked out of an account, a password manager will enable them (or you—their more tech-savvy child) to access the password records and log back in.

If your parents are on social media so they can follow you or your children, help them set up privacy restrictions so that their profiles aren’t accessible to just anyone. This is an extra line of defense just in case your parents, or other older adults in your life, post sensitive information on their social profiles.

Plan to help with tech support

Accidents happen, tech gets confusing, and new software or updates can present plenty of new things for people to learn. Because updates can change the look and feel of certain applications, many users put off updating their devices. Ensure that your parents (and you!) don’t fall into this bad habit. Each new version of computer, application, or browser software has increased security features to counter the ever-evolving threats online. Set up your parent’s devices so that they automatically download the latest software updates, that way you and your parents won’t have to think about it.

Remember this: tech support scams are some of the most common scams that older adults encounter. These scams make them think they are performing updates (as they should) when in reality they are downloading and installing malicious software. Remind your parents that the updates should happen automatically, and to let you know if they are unsure as to whether an update is legitimate or not.

Prepare to help your parents with tech support over time because the systems they use will change regularly, and distinguishing between real and scams can be a challenge.?

One option to take some of the responsibility off of your shoulders is to set your parents up with a service that manages their security. You can set up credit monitoring, identity theft monitoring, or even a VPN to protect them online.

Digital tools can provide wonderful opportunities to connect us with the ones we love. For the older adults in our lives, we must remember to practice (and teach them how to practice) safe strategies. Technology is moving at a rapid rate, but there are plenty of tools out there to combat common instances of fraud, help prevent identity theft, and make the internet a safer place for any type of user. Stay aware of the top threats, know how to take steps to protect yourself and those around you, and tech will become an even more effective and impactful tool (with even less stress).