Protect your family

When we talk about our identity, we usually focus on documents like our driver licence, passport, birth certificate and other identity cards. 

But there are also other pieces of information that add together to help confirm and unlock our identity, even for the children and teens in our family. This includes date of birth, phone number and email address.

Criminals use the puzzle pieces of your information to steal your identity. They can then get into your devices and bank accounts, apply for credit cards, and bully or intimidate you or your family members.

Find out more about your personal information and privacy.

What can you do?

As a parent, you can help by learning more about cyberbullying. Keep an eye out for signs that something is upsetting or worrying your child or teenager.

Try to have open and honest conversations with your family about the dangers of cyberbullying and how to avoid it. You can also support your child or teen to report cyberbullying that they experience or witness.

A part of modern-day parenting is managing your children’s access to devices. Each family will have their own approach, but it’s important to factor in identity security when having those chats.

What can you do?

To make sure everyone is on the same page, a family tech agreement is a useful way to set out the rules, responsibilities and safety measures everyone understands and follows.

Find out how to keep devices from being a doorway to your or your children’s identity.

It probably seems more convenient to be able to access your accounts at any time with just one click. However, you’re unlikely to leave all the windows in your house unsecured when you go out, so you should think of your online accounts in the same way – open when you’re using them, locked when you’re not!

What can you do?

Ask your family to avoid logging into accounts with sensitive or critical information when you’re using unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot connections, such as at cafes, airports and shopping malls.

To build another barrier to hackers, create strong, unique passwords or passphrases for each of your online accounts and devices.

Follow our advice for creating and testing passwords.

Protect your passwords

Set up multifactor authentication for accounts, where available. This is like having a double lock, with ‘keys’ that could include SMS codes, apps for authentication, or biometrics (like fingerprints or facial recognition).

Try to encourage everyone in your family to log out of accounts when they’re finished

Everyone (not just teens!) should think carefully about what they share on X (Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and any other social media and chat platforms. 

When a member of your family posts photos on social media, have they been careful to remove personal information or clues? These can include school uniform badges, street signs and car registration plates.

What can you do?

Remind everyone in the family that we create a ‘digital footprint' each time we post, comment, interact with or like something online. It builds up a history and becomes a part of our online identity, which we can’t always erase.

It’s important to only share personal information with people we know and trust.

Check the privacy settings on the platforms your family uses, so you can control who sees what you share. This includes information like your location, date of birth, as well as what you post. Turning on parental controls is another to protect younger children and teens when they’re online.