Quick Guide: Cybersecurity for Teens

Today's teens are more connected to the digital world than ever before. They aren’t just on social media; they’re online gaming, shopping, and messaging. Even if your teen isn’t on social media, their schoolwork is done through online portals. Unfortunately, they are targeted by cybercriminals constantly. Young people have a tendency to share more online, making them an easier target and because they are young, cybercriminals rely on their limited knowledge of scams. Because a lot of their lives are living online, they have more of an emotional investment in digital spaces, making them susceptible to manipulative content and social engineering. 

This guide is aimed at helping you and your teen identify threats and understand the actions you can take to protect against them. The easiest way to do this is by working together as parents and teenagers to stay safe. 

What Teens Can Do  

Passwords 

• We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, strong passwords. Strong and unique passwords are key when protecting your devices and accounts. Each account and each device should have a different password, so don’t fall back on the classic 1234. However, you do need to make it memorable for yourself. Most sites nowadays have requirements asking that you include capital letters, numbers, and special characters. This isn’t for no reason and should be put into practice when making all of your passwords. 

• If you don’t trust yourself to remember passwords, try a password manager that will hold all of your logins under one master password. Here’s a few recommendations from cybernews Best Password Managers for the USA. We strongly recommend this tool for all ages. No matter how young or old you are, we all have far to many passwords to commit to memory.  

• See about implementing multifactor authentication. If you use an online portal for school, you might already be familiar with MFA. You can take security a step further by implementing multifactor authentication on your most important devices and accounts. Accounts related to personal information like your school portal or email would certainly benefit from this added security.  

Think (yep that’s it) 

• A lot of security issues come up because we sometimes forget to think before we post. We are all guilty of it at times, but we have to remember that any personal information you share on the internet could end up in the wrong hands. 

• The ever-looming digital footprint is something we have all grown to fear, but it’s for the best. Even if you delete posts or your entire account, things stay online forever. Once something is posted, there is always the chance that someone else digitally saves it. So, ask yourself, “Are you okay with this being online forever?” 

Stay Alert 

• Know what you are looking at. If you are familiar with being online, it won’t be super difficult to recognize something fishy. However, if you are new to the online world, make sure you familiarize yourself with what online scams look like. Here’s a good resource from the Nation Cyber Security Center to reference when debating whether or not something is a scam. Phishing: Spot and report scam emails, texts, websites and calls 

• Keep your devices updated for the latest bug fixes and security improvements. 

• Use the block and report button. If you receive inappropriate messages or see things that make you uncomfortable, don’t hesitate to block, report, and delete. There’s nothing wrong with it even if you are unsure if something qualifies as “inappropriate.” Just report it and the platform can take charge from there. 

• Remember to hold yourself responsible when online. Make sure that you aren’t the one participating in bullying or inappropriate behavior. Empathy and accountability apply to you too. 

What Parents Can Do  

Start the Conversation 

• Open up the conversation about online safety with your teen, ideally before they even get online. But if they already have devices and social media, it's still better late than never. 

• Ask them what platforms they enjoy using and the things they do to keep themselves safe. They might already know some good cyber hygiene. If not, at least you’ve brought it to their attention. 

• Emphasize trust over control. By framing the conversation around mutual trust, you will have a better chance at developing productive practices.  

• Learn about new scams as a family by staying up to date on the latest cyber threats. These threats are in the news all the time, and they can be a really interesting topic of conversation to bring up with your family.  

• Set a good example. By having good online security yourself, you’ll set a standard not just for your teen but for the rest of the members of your family. 

The key here is to understand that teens' digital safety means digital freedom. A lot of parental hesitation surrounding the use of devices and social media is about safety. If we are confident about our teens' safety, then they are able to have more online freedom. It’s all about having smart, secure habits. This differs from protecting younger children when they are online. Young kids need far more supervision and restrictions. Once kids are a bit older, they are less likely to stumble into dangerous parts of the digital world, especially if cybersecurity has been a conversation since early childhood. Transitioning between having a young child online and having a teen online can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to happen all at once. Adjusting based on circumstances over a long period of time will make it easier for both of you. Instead of making changes all at once, try going app by app to make sure that your teen knows how to be safe on every platform. Just keep in mind, it is easier to learn habits at a young age, so the younger you teach them these practices, the more you can trust that it will become second nature for the rest of their life.