How to help older Canadians become cyber safe

(NC) Today’s seniors are increasingly spending more time in the digital world. They are also the frequent targets of scammers hoping to capitalize on their lack of experience with newer technology. If the seniors in your family are unsure about how to navigate online life, here are three ways you can help them become cyber safe.

Help them learn about common scams
There are many scams that specifically target seniors. One is even known as the “Grandparent scam.” In this case, cyber criminals contact seniors by text, email or phone, posing as a grandchild in distress asking to send money urgently, often through gift cards. To prepare for this, many families have selected personal passwords (like a code word) that only their loved ones know. This way everyone can verify that the person contacting them is really who they say they are.

In another common scam, cyber criminals will contact seniors pretending to be a bank representative, government employee or police officer with a convincing story. The goal is to steal their personal and sensitive information. Banks, the government and the police would never use regular civilians in an official operation or ask you to verify sensitive information over a quick message, email or phone call.

Share password smarts
It’s tempting to reuse passwords so that you can remember them. But if your login information is hacked on one site, all of your other accounts with the same login information could also be at risk.

Create passwords with a combination of at least 12 characters with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. If seniors are worried about remembering these complex combinations, another option is to use a passphrase. This is a mix of four or more random words strung together, and at least 15 characters long, that you can remember but would be very hard for someone else to guess.

Also, remind seniors that if they forget their passwords, they’ll always have the option to reset them. Another option is to set them up with a password manager to remember all their passwords.

Encourage them to be tech-savvy
To protect banking and other sensitive information stored on our devices, each device should be secured with a unique password. Help them set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) on devices and accounts, which can be a biometric tool, like a fingerprint or facial recognition, or a verification pin sent to another source. MFA offers an extra layer of security to protect their sensitive information as well as another login method in case one is compromised or forgotten.

Everyone should understand the importance of regularly installing software updates. These are often security related and are intended to close loopholes that scammers can use to access personal information. To avoid missing important updates and patches, set each device up to automatically update, when available.

Finally, remind them to turn off features on applications that they don’t necessarily need like cameras, microphones, Bluetooth and location tracking.

Find more cyber safety tips at getcybersafe.ca.