The Empowered Parent with Dana Baltutis

Episode 56: Craig Clarke (Cybersecurity Expert) - Safeguarding Families in the Digital Age Through Practical Technology and Privacy Strategies

• Craig Clarke • Season 1 • Episode 56

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Unlock the secrets of keeping your family safe in the digital world with insights from our guest, Craig Clarke, a cybersecurity expert passionate about bridging technology and parenting. As children spend more time online for school and play, understanding cybersecurity beyond antivirus software is crucial. Craig shares practical advice for aligning school and home safety practices, from reviewing school cybersecurity policies to choosing secure devices like Chromebooks for their robust safety features and cloud-based efficiency.

Explore the nuances of password management and technology awareness with us. Craig highlights the differences between popular communication platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, emphasizing the user-friendly nature of Chromebooks, especially for the less tech-savvy. Discover the power of dedicated password managers like LastPass and Bitwarden in protecting against identity theft and cyber threats, while we caution against the pitfalls of relying on built-in web browser password managers on shared devices.

Empower yourself with strategies for enhancing your child's online safety through education and privacy management. Learn the importance of two-factor authentication, the risks associated with phishing, and how to maintain tech-free zones to protect personal privacy. Craig offers guidance on engaging with schools about cybersecurity policies and teaching children responsible technology use, ensuring they grow up to be savvy, informed digital citizens.

Useful links:

https://www.cyber.gov.au/learn-basics


https://www.choice.com.au/consumers-and-data


https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm


https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm


https://bitwarden.com/


https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_security

danabaltutis.com, mytherapyhouse.com.au, https://mytherapyhouse.com.au/your-childs-therapy-journey/ https://www.danabaltutis.com/services

Speaker 1:

Craig Clark, welcome to the Empowered Parent Podcast. I thought it would be timely to talk to you because I know that you are passionate about cybersecurity. You are also the information technology guru go-to person, everything for my therapy house, and you are constantly reminding myself and my staff about the information technology security. So today I wanted to have you on the show to talk a little bit about information technology security, cyber security and how parents can support their children through that and themselves. So first of all, welcome, and I'm glad you could join us today.

Speaker 2:

Oh, thanks, it's great to be here.

Speaker 1:

And Craig, what inspired you, or what motivates you to be so into cyber security?

Speaker 2:

That's where the world's going. It's a large part of life and I can only see it getting more important over time and being more of a part of life and part of the interactions and historically, if you look back on it, it has been the case.

Speaker 1:

And what about have you? Do you study security, or is it your hobby, or how did you get into it?

Speaker 2:

So I got into it simply by listening to a podcast which I've been listening to, a podcast which I've been listening to for many years now, and I found that it was just very interesting what they were talking about not so much as which antivirus is better than the other one or that sort of thing, it was more about the reasoning behind, so you could learn the reasoning behind the information provided and then you could apply that to new situations, which I think was very interesting, informative and useful.

Speaker 1:

So when you said the virus, what does that mean? Like, what were you saying about that? Which virus? Antivirus software which antivirus software is better than the other. It's more about understanding why use antivirus software. Is that right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay, and minimising that risk of having a viral infection, yep yep.

Speaker 1:

Okay, let's talk about antiviral software. I'll be interested to talk about that later, but let's start with the big question. But let's start with the big question. Why would cyber safety be such a big concern for parents as kids head back to school this year, especially with so much learning happening online?

Speaker 2:

And what should parents be aware of? So I think that part of that's going on is that it will possibly be the first time their children be introduced to cyber security, and hopefully they will have a very good introduction to it. But the schools may be doing a minimal job or not get much of a chance to take that information and provide it in a format that every child understands, and I think it's one of those very, very important lessons that the child needs to understand because it's going to impact their whole life.

Speaker 1:

Do you think that it would be worthwhile for parents to ask for the school's cyber security policy to have a look at that?

Speaker 2:

Policy would certainly be a good start. What they're recommending, what they're doing, and they should also be able to provide a format for the parents to look at, read, understand and see how that educates them.

Speaker 1:

Because then they can educate their child right and they can have the same language as well as maybe use similar strategies at home.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, it might not be the same language, it might be use your different native language, it might be use more pictures rather than words, or it might be other ways, but it's the same lesson being taught at school and at home.

Speaker 1:

And I know that at my, my therapy house, we now use chromebooks and, um, this was something you introduced me to many years ago when they first came out. Um, what? Why are schools using chromebooks now, and what is the benefit of a Chromebook over just a regular? They're called PCs, are they?

Speaker 2:

Laptops yeah, regular laptops. So basically there's three types of laptops. You can buy Windows, which is the Microsoft Windows. That's probably the biggest laptop provider or operating system on the laptops. The next one will be the Apple and after that you will get the things like Linux and Chromebooks. But if you go down to many of the local hardware IT stores, they will have Windows computers and they'll have some Chromebooks there. What I really like about the Chromebooks is they're small, they're light, they don't produce a whole lot of heat, they're economical because they are basically a cloud-based environment. So the intent is that, instead of having that problem of, oh, I've downloaded all my files, now what do I do with it? It's well, just log into a new Chromebook, it's all there, don't worry about it.

Speaker 1:

So you minimize that risk? Do Chromebooks need an antiviral software?

Speaker 2:

No, no, they don't, and that's just. One of the great things about the Chromebooks is they are extremely secure, extremely safe, and that's part of the reason why schools, education and businesses use them is they are fast to learn and use For enterprises and schools. You can control what the users can have access to and what they can download or use, et cetera. So it's just a nice system which is not that complex or challenging as what it would be for, you know, a Windows-type computer.

Speaker 1:

And I know with Chromebooks what I really like about them. They've got a drive, their own drive, and you can share files with other people. But then you can revoke the share. Right, you can take it back. Or they can just be a viewer or they can be an editor. Is that right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so when you're talking about the drive, that's the Google Drive in the cloud, and when you share something via that system, then it's basically in the cloud and anyone can access it at any time if they've been given prior access. So it might be a case of you can create a file which anyone can access and they only need the file name or location, as it were, and with that they can access it. But you might have restricted it so they can only view it.

Speaker 1:

They can't edit it and can they download it?

Speaker 2:

You can turn that on or off as well.

Speaker 1:

Okay, great, so you don't yeah. So that's pretty safe, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

It's very safe. It's very much one of those ways of controlling who has access to information or can control it, and it's also for when you have an employee and they're no longer an employee for whatever reason. You can then just remove accesses, and it's just very quick and easy rather than trying to go behind the scenes and clean up issues with, you know, attached storage and stuff like that. It's just so much quicker and easier.

Speaker 1:

What about some parents? Listening will be Apple households and obviously because Apple's got a lot of great apps and everything for kids. Apple's got a lot of great apps and everything for kids. Is it easy to transfer knowledge from an Apple to an Android, like Android?

Speaker 2:

being Chromebooks Windows, so it's very easy to transfer, even to using a Chromebook. Basically, it's a Google product, so all the information is available via Google. There's lots of information videos about it. It's very well supported. They're basically being based around a search engine. If you want information, you can just search for it. Even down in settings you just search for a setting and it comes up. There's none of this having to remember the particular boy of going through I went to here and then I went to C and then it was F and then to D of getting to somewhere which is very, very hard to recall, especially six months later when you have to do it again or when you suddenly realise that what I did six months ago is no longer appropriate for today. I've got to undo it. How do I do? It's just so much easier and quicker.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about security. Some people really, you know think that Apple is the most secure system. What would you say to that?

Speaker 2:

I wouldn't say it's the most secure system To be the most secure system. Turn it off If it's switched off.

Speaker 1:

it's secure, yeah, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know there is a risk with anything connected, but the Chromebooks are extremely well designed and designed from the very beginning of their life, which was to be secure, and that's put into it all the way through, and that's why using them for a business is so much easier. I don't have to get a Windows computer, install all the software, create the accounts for someone and then, hand it over to them.

Speaker 2:

I'll just give them the Chromebook straight out in the box still, and they can open it like it's their Christmas present and log in and straight away they've got access to everything that they should have access to. That's part of the business. We give them access.

Speaker 1:

I know that quite a few government systems use Teams.

Speaker 2:

Microsoft Teams yeah.

Speaker 1:

Have you heard of Teams?

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

And how is that different to like, let's say, zoom or Google Meet or something like that?

Speaker 2:

So Google has Google Meet and Google Chat and they're basically the same sort of systems. It's just a different ecosystem.

Speaker 1:

And that's Microsoft, isn't it? That's on a Windows computer.

Speaker 2:

Microsoft Teams.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, yes, so you can't really do it on a Chromebook, is that right?

Speaker 2:

I reckon you probably could do it on a Chromebook. If you needed to have Microsoft Teams, you could probably download and install that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And many of the things that you can use with a Chromebook is just. If you can use it on your Chrome web browser on Windows or Apple and you find that works, then you can do the same with a Chromebook, and I think with the Chromebook you don't need to pay, do you Like? For I know I've done all my videos via Google Meet and that's just part of my Chromebook, so I don't have to pay for it, right?

Speaker 2:

No, you just get your Gmail account and that's it. You just log in with that. Yeah, it's all there. You don't need to pay extra for antivirus. That's all built in from the start and it's just a nice ecosystem that's friendly to work with. The other things which I find is that people I find that are finding Windows challenging or difficult. When you give them the Chromebook and say, here, have a look at this, try that they find it a much faster system to use, even though it's much lower in the hardware specifications. It's just much quicker for them to switch on.

Speaker 1:

And you've done that a lot, haven't you? You've really counselled people around what technology would work best for them.

Speaker 2:

It certainly works best for those people who don't have a passion for technology. It updates itself in the background. You don't have to sit there waiting and waiting while windows does its updates and things like that, and that's just one of those things that people seem to really enjoy is just I open up the laptop and it just switches on straight away and I'll log in and it's done.

Speaker 1:

There's no waiting for this or that yes, I, I know that's one of my things. I'm not that patient when the laptop starts. Craig, let's talk one of your passions passwords. So when I first met you, I had a little book and I had all my passwords in it, or I was using the same password over and over again. Okay, what do you say to that?

Speaker 2:

That is just inviting the criminals to take over not just that account but all of your accounts and, in effect, your identity on the internet. And that identity on the internet is not just on the internet. It starts encroaching on your life in real life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, validations and checks and everything All of that.

Speaker 2:

Before you know it, you're going to have a lot of problems with you know, proving that you weren't the one who borrowed this. Stole that, whatever, because your identity has been stolen.

Speaker 1:

And I see it a lot Like people will say, oh, my profile has been stolen, or please don't respond because someone's my profile has been stolen, or please don't respond because, someone's taken my profile, so what do you use to keep your password safe?

Speaker 2:

So I always use and recommend a password manager.

Speaker 1:

What's that?

Speaker 2:

So that's your diary, but in a cloud version of it. Um, so basically it means that by being in the cloud, when I log into, a different device will be my phone or my chromebook or the computer at work I've got access to all of my passwords to access that site that I need to get to Now. One of the other benefits of it is being cloud-based. It keeps it up to date, so if I update it on one device, it automatically updates for everything everywhere.

Speaker 1:

And do you need to have? How do you get into it? Like, do you need to remember a password? Like, you still need to remember a password, right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, you'll still need a password, like you still need to remember a password, right? Yes, you'll still need a password. So, basically, that's why they come with the idea of one password or last password being last password you'll need to remember. It's all based around that simple idea of you can only really remember one password, because if you start looking at how many websites you've got or interacted with over time, I think we've got well over 300. How can I possibly remember 300 different passwords, which are all gobbledygook? It's just.

Speaker 1:

So you mentioned LastPass. There's also Bitwarden. What other password managers are there?

Speaker 2:

The web browsers have them built in. I'll be a little reluctant to use the built-in web browsers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I've seen them pop up.

Speaker 2:

Especially if it's a device you're sharing or people are sharing that access to that web browser. That's extremely dangerous.

Speaker 1:

Or someone could steal your device right.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, and that's the problem. If you have very lax security for the device and they can get into that web browser, that's it, they've got everything. And that's where the things like LastPass, bitwarden, et cetera they all are enabling the browsers. They're a little browser plug-in which enables you to automatically log into a website, so for example, if.

Speaker 2:

I want to log into the bank's website. I can go into my password manager and type in the bank name and it'll pop up with the little icon for it. I click on that and then it just goes into. That, opens the tab, opens it up, logs it all in for me and that is it. It's done. The great thing about this is that if someone tries to send me a spam email which says you need to log in and verify this account transaction, or even if I'm unfortunate enough to have clicked on the link, my password manager will know that's the wrong link or never log in. So it's a beaut way of preventing those fake spam URLs which look very similar to the original.

Speaker 1:

And URL. Is the link right yeah?

Speaker 2:

so those links, and quite often they will make it deliberately look like it, or they'll make a typing mistake and create an exact duplicate of the original website you are trying to log into. For example eBay or PayPal or something like that, and you know. You just type your username and password in and you've already given your details over to the criminals?

Speaker 1:

Part of your identity? Yeah, your details over to the criminals? Part of your identity? Yeah, so, um, what you know? People have passwords with their name and zero one at the end. What is a safe password? And what you know? I know that people talk about the goobity gobbity. You know alphabet passwords with a lot of zeros, and this and that and the other. Um, is that why password managers are good, because they generate them, or how does it work?

Speaker 2:

Password managers are great because they generate those long, strong passwords. So the longer the password, the stronger the passwords. By having a lot of different things in the password Like what? All the whole load of numbers and letters which mean nothing to anyone, it means if someone does look at you or look at that password at some stage, it's impossible for them to remember it so it makes it hard for anyone to see it and then access it, etc.

Speaker 2:

Um, it also means that you're not going to use a simple password or one which is going to be in a dictionary attack, and it's you know the criminals have tried everything these days and they have access to billions of passwords that have been used, with email addresses or account name and password, and they'll just run them through everything until they get access, and you know that's how they do it.

Speaker 2:

So to get a strong password, you can either use your password manager, but you probably need one to log in so to create your first or the useful password.

Speaker 2:

Just remember, longer is stronger. So you know, use four words and symbols, a couple of symbols, and you can use symbols or numbers, something like that, as padding. So you might want to put padding of being six zeros at the beginning and then six zeros at the end, and as long as no one knows that you're using six zeros as your password or padding, then it's probably okay and you might decide. Well, actually I want to do extra strength, I want to do a beginning and the middle, and if you need to write something down, you can write down your password, but you leave out your padding and all of a sudden, now you've got it written down in your wallet or your purse, but no one will be able to access it, even when they have that piece of paper because, they won't have that little bit of padding, and where that padding goes, so what about with families, like if kids need passwords, and how would that work with a password manager?

Speaker 2:

So, ideally, you know, train the children on using password managers, you know, and creating that unique, one password to get into their system, into their password manager, if they need access to something else which is a shared thing, for example, it might be your account at the library or something like that the library or disney channel or youtube or something yeah, for those sorts of things you wish to share, then you can actually do sharing with password managers.

Speaker 2:

and again, this is a system designed to manage passwords, so I could share a password with you, for example, but I could ensure that you can never actually see the password, but you could always use it and then I can revoke it and I don't have to do anything other than log in and go revoke and that's it.

Speaker 1:

So that puts in that extra safety where if a child has, say, mum or dad's password and then they want to share it with their friend, they can't because they don't really know the password. Right, they don't know the password, but they can use it.

Speaker 2:

They can't change the password as well. So it just makes life much better. And it's an easy solution where you know I could say, well, look, you can go into. You know the bank and you know I could say, well, look, you can go into. You know the bank and you know, get that transaction done today. I'll give you 24 hours to do it. I'll give you access for the next 24 hours. It'll just automatically revoke after 24 hours. You know it's a great system.

Speaker 1:

And let's talk about two-factor authentication. What is it and is it important?

Speaker 2:

Two-factor or multi-factor. So two-factor is something like a password, something you know and something you have. So that might be your one-time token, which is time-based, which is those six digits that keep rolling around. That's become very popular simply because you just need a little app on your phone.

Speaker 1:

That's an authenticator app, isn't it? Yeah?

Speaker 2:

They're pretty much all the same. They all run on a standard system, so it's really quick and easy, as long as you can type in six digits. It changes every 30 seconds.

Speaker 1:

So basically you put in your password from, say, the password manager, and then it says authenticate yourself as well. So then you can use your authenticator app or security questions or anything like that.

Speaker 2:

I would not use security questions. It's not as safe.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Because security questions are usually like what was your mum's birth? Yeah, Maiden name.

Speaker 1:

What's your dog's name? Dog's name when did you live? Yeah, what?

Speaker 2:

school did you go to? What was your first car? All those questions and social engineering et cetera, or, a good stalker would certainly work that stuff out over time. Yeah right. So definitely don't do that. You must use your multi-factor authentication system.

Speaker 1:

Good point. So how can parents monitor their child's online activity without invading their privacy or creating unnecessary fear around technology?

Speaker 2:

How do you create that? That's an interesting question, because if you're monitoring, then to a degree it is an invasion of privacy, but for certainly it's. The internet has.

Speaker 1:

It's safety, isn't it really? You're doing it for safety, Is that right?

Speaker 2:

For safety of the child, because they're not mentally developed and there's things which are on the internet which are not age appropriate. There's certainly stuff which is adult and certainly you don't want to be going to those sites.

Speaker 1:

And I mean you've got parental controls. But I guess the thing would be like the problem-solving skills Kids may not, you know, yet be cognitively equipped to realise oh, that's a spam or that's a phishing or, yeah, phishing.

Speaker 2:

They might understand the phishing, they might understand the sarcasm. They might not understand the whole bullying and harassment type of stuff that can go on and does happen. It's just it can be the cesspit of society and quite often is, and that's why, even though you're an adult, there are some sites you just choose never, ever to go to. Even though you're an adult, there are some sites you just choose never ever to go to.

Speaker 2:

Certainly those are anything that's offering, you know, paid software for free, or you know I've got the crack code for it. Download it here, or I've broken it here. Download and install. That's all stuff you do not want to do, because you're basically installing something that a criminal has created and they want to take over your computer, your identity.

Speaker 1:

So I guess, like one of the things that I've been thinking about is setting the foundation early, letting children know what the internet is, that it's a shared space, there are all different people on there, and that parents just need to support them in having you know, knowing what to who to interact with. I guess.

Speaker 2:

I think it has to be education first and foremost because if you try to use systems and technology to manage or micromanage them, they will be going to school and then working out with their friends or family, et cetera, or wider family, how to get past those things.

Speaker 1:

And there certainly is DNS resolvers, which will block access to sites which are not age appropriate and, I guess, talking to kids openly what they like on the internet, what they've found, that would be really important as well. As you know setting content and filters content like setting the filters with time limits. You know setting content and content like setting the filters with time limits, you know. So children don't feel like they're being interrogated and micromanaged the whole time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yes, yeah, so you'd have to time limit your own time watching them, et cetera.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And it might be doing it well in the kitchen, but they're in the lounge room, so they're at a distance, so you're not, you know, standing over their shoulder watching everything they do.

Speaker 2:

But in some respects this is what's happening in society as we speak. Is there, is that going on for each and every one of us by the various systems we use there? Pretty much is no privacy in society anymore with the way that Facebook, for example, has little images and things on every website to track you and so they can then sell your information to advertisers.

Speaker 1:

And I know myself like we laugh at work because we talk about something and then all of a sudden there's something coming through. It's like are they listening to us?

Speaker 2:

Oh, exactly, yeah, you talk about. For example, I talk about chub security at work and then all of a sudden I start getting all the chub security stuff on my phone. It's just like it knows.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's listening.

Speaker 2:

And that's just talking around the phone, yeah. And that's just a phone.

Speaker 1:

So it's better just sometimes to switch your phone off and put it away if you don't want that to happen. Would that be right? And having tech-free times, tech-free zones.

Speaker 2:

If you really want privacy, then go nude in the middle of a field. Otherwise it's too hard. You cannot do it because there's technology embedded in so much stuff and it's so impossible to prevent people from listening in. It really is on hot under the blanket at the same time, so that people can't watch you and read your lips. It's just. Privacy is gone, unfortunately, and the government wants to be able to read all the metadata, so they want to know where you've been, what you've done.

Speaker 1:

And so this is the way parents can also monitor what apps kids are on right, because there's a lot of apps and then they download and it's subscription only and all of a sudden they're actually paying for things. Because I've seen that happen as well with parents that kids all of a sudden are like buying things from their.

Speaker 2:

All of a sudden are like buying things from their like, say, from the iTunes store or, you know, google App Store, yeah, so any time the child's got that ability to pay for it, then that's a real concern, unless they have demonstrated that ability to appreciate the power they have and that trust as well. But just on apps in general, every six months you should have a look at what apps are installed on your computer, what apps or browser helpers are installed on your browser, and any that you don't use you need to remove, because all of them will slowly but surely decrease security on your device by providing a bigger surface area.

Speaker 1:

Hey, which reminds me, let's talk about keeping your computer plugged in electricity, like, is it true that the battery can run out really quickly and does it go down and down and down if you don't put electricity into your computer or device?

Speaker 2:

So yeah, the laptops all have batteries in it. To me, you know, keep it plugged in if you can, because it's basically, it has a certain number of cycles before that battery is going to drop its capacity and that's regardless of that battery technology.

Speaker 1:

Is that what you do with your phone as well? Yeah, you keep it plugged in just in case there's a blackout.

Speaker 2:

Well, and that's the other reason, you know, if there's a blackout, I've got a little unnatural power supply for my NBN connection so that I can continue to browse the internet, etc. While everyone else is in the dark. Or if the mobile phone tower falls over, it's, you know, I still got to rely on that nbn connection. It's. It's part of that whole building multiple layers of security, of continuity.

Speaker 1:

So that's another thing parents could really educate their children in is keeping their technology charged.

Speaker 2:

Oh, definitely, especially if that child has to go to school and if they're constantly running that battery down to a very, very low. That's the quickest way to kill a battery is keep running it down low. Those days are well and surely gone. That's the quickest way to kill your battery. And if you do that, then you're going to notice that the battery won't last as long and then one day it'll be halfway through school or work or whatever.

Speaker 1:

It's just not going to work because the battery's gone flat and you normally have a day's use out of the battery and now you don't Right, let's talk about phishing scams. What does phishing actually mean?

Speaker 2:

Phishing going onto the beach.

Speaker 1:

No, not that P-H-I-S-H.

Speaker 2:

Oh okay, yes, going onto the beach and no, not that p-h-i-s-h. Oh okay, yes, um, so fishing in that context is the. It's creating that fake identity or that fake communication, so that it's trying to be misleading and deceptive, and it might be trying to encourage you to log into your website that you think you're logging into to confirm or deny something. So it might be the bank, and all of a sudden, you've clicked on that phishing email. It's created what looks like the website you think you're going to, you put in your details and that's it. The criminals have now taken over because they will, in the meantime, be relaying all this information so that you'll be interacting with your bank via them.

Speaker 1:

So what's the difference between phishing and scams? Is there a difference or not really?

Speaker 2:

Well, phishing is usually a little bit more targeted, where scams are just generic things, like you know. I'll offer to you know bitchmize your drawer of waste, sort of thing.

Speaker 1:

Or put a new roof on or something, yeah things like that.

Speaker 2:

That's you know, they're called scams, but it's all the same sort of terminology and ideas.

Speaker 1:

So what should? Let's just just finishing up. What would a parent ask a school to do to help them understand how they're using technology safely and responsibly?

Speaker 2:

So talk to them about their cyber security policy, their cyber education and what that includes, you know. Are they going to teach them about password managers? If not, why not Teach them also about, you know, cleaning the stuff off that you don't need?

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

You know a new laptop is going to be a more secure laptop than one that's been around you know three or four years and you've downloaded hundreds of different things on it, tried it for half an hour and then decided no, I don't want that anymore, but just left it, and they always leave bits and pieces behind. The other one is teaching about and this is one thing I don't think the government spends enough time on which is teaching about how to prevent the scammers that are phoning up saying, oh, you've got a Microsoft computer, you need to do this, this and this. Anytime you're getting that phone call out of the unknown, you just say sure, okay, I believe you, I'll call you back. What's your extension number? Then look up their organisation in the phone book or you Google it, whatever it is that you like to use, and you call back and quote that extension. Anything other than that you're not interested, and usually, by asking that question, I'll look it up in the phone book and I'll call you back by extension. They'll be hanging up on you very fast.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, that's that often. That's happened to me as well. So what tools or settings should parents enable on their child's devices to create a safer online experience? I know that there's parental controls like Google Family Link or Apple Screen Time. There's time limits. There's safe browsing filters where we can block adult content and unsafe websites. There's location and privacy settings which disable unnecessary tracking on apps. Is there anything else that you can think of?

Speaker 2:

The government does have some cybersecurity website. I can't recall the name of it. That's probably a good place to start and have a look. I'd also check in with the school what they can do and what education they can provide, but it has to go hand in hand. The way of doing it has to go hand in hand with education. If you just implement all these ways of preventing your child or children from getting access to what they want to get access to, then they're going to become a hacker in time because they'll just spend the time and work out how to get through and past all these things.

Speaker 1:

So if when you're saying, you know education, discussions with kids and conversations so parents could use everyday examples, so, for example, what would you do if someone online asked you for your password? You could have that conversation with the child and see what they'd say.

Speaker 2:

Oh, definitely. You certainly want to talk to them that that's not a good idea, that you don't share passwords like that. Sometimes you may need to share a password.

Speaker 1:

But then come and ask someone.

Speaker 2:

But it's always you know who needs that password, why they need that password, and will that end up giving them control, total control of that account? And is that appropriate?

Speaker 1:

And then maybe like comparing cyber safety to real world safety, so like, just like we don't talk to strangers, we don't talk to strangers on the internet either.

Speaker 2:

Perfect yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:

And then you know, maybe instead of scaring kids you know it's sometimes good for them to be like internet detectives and report scans and spot scans. Right, yeah, because in that way that gives them agency and also it's not so fearful. It's not a game, but it's that you know there are scammers out there, but you just have to be able to spot them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you have to be able to spot them, but it's also being able to spot them. Yeah, you have to be able to spot them, but it's also being able to go. Well, if there's any plausible possibility of that being real, search for it yourself. So if someone's trying to sell you the, the plant that never dies, then you go and search for that via a different search engine.

Speaker 1:

I know I've done that quite often.

Speaker 2:

And all of a sudden you work out that you know that plant that never dies. Well, that's not real, it's just a scam.

Speaker 1:

And then also probably a good idea is to create a family tech agreement where the family has rules for device use, um, online behavior and reports. You know anyone can report concerns and maybe they could talk about that over dinner as well. You know, like what's happened on the internet, what, who's read what, so it becomes like a more like a a general conversation a general conversation, a regular conversation.

Speaker 2:

So it'd be, um, you know, when you see one of those scam emails that comes through, you know it'd be like oh look, this is what I've found, this is what I've seen, this is how I worked out it was a scam and this is how I also, uh, reported it to the bank, for example.

Speaker 1:

Um, so, yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, so they see that its parents are doing it as well. Yes, yeah, craig, maybe you could forward me some links that parents can go to for safety passwords and things like that and we could put them on the show notes for parents to look at. And what is the last gem that you would like to say to parents about safety and technology today?

Speaker 2:

Learn about it. If you don't know about it, it's going to be a problem sooner or later, simply because the impact of this is just continuing to grow and grow.

Speaker 1:

And how do they learn?

Speaker 2:

Take an interest in a little bit In cyber security.

Speaker 1:

Cyber security.

Speaker 2:

Try and work out what the best practices are and try and keep up to date with those best practices. But it's look at why is this? You know, don't try and buy the best widget to solve my thing. Work out why it's that widget, why someone recommends a widget to solve my thing work out why it's that widget, why someone recommends a widget to solve the problem.

Speaker 1:

Asking the question why?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, questions why are more important.

Speaker 1:

And for what purpose?

Speaker 2:

do you?

Speaker 1:

want this information. Thank you so much, craig, for coming on the show today. I know that I sort of cornered you into it and I said come and talk technology, because I know you love talking technology and I thought your wisdom and your passion and you know your experience would benefit many parents out there who have technology in their home and whose children might be just starting to use technology for the first time in a school system this year.

Speaker 2:

Oh, thanks.

Speaker 1:

Thanks.

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Dana Baltutis

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