Family Network Security — 2021 Edition
Here are three simple recommendations to help secure a home network for you and your family. It takes about 30 minutes to complete these steps and you’ll be on your way to a safer online experience for you and your kids.
SUMMARY
☑️ Set the DNS on your router and devices to 1.1.1.3
☑️ Install a password manager on your phones and computers
☑️ Enable parental controls on devices and review regularly
Set Your DNS to 1.1.1.3
Why: Block adult content on your entire network and get faster website lookups at the same time.
Cloudflare is a top-tier technology firm that provides a bunch of services that your business and many of the companies you use everyday rely on. A hidden gem in the Cloudflare offering is a free DNS service called 1.1.1.1 that can accelerate your network performance and help secure your network at the same time.
By using 1.1.1.3 devices and computers on your network will be able to complete lookups for sites like khanacademy.com as fast or faster than you do today. In addition, it will automatically block lookups for adult sites.
Cloudflare offers three options for your DNS configuration:
If you set the DNS on your router, than all the devices on your network will use it for lookups. If you’d like to use it on a device-by-device basis than you can configure it that was as well.
- Read more about Cloudflare 1.1.1.3 for families.
- Learn more about how DNS works
There are other services that provide the same functionality for a monthly fee. OpenDNS for families is another free alternative.
Install a Password Manager on Your Phones and Computers
Why: When you re-use the same password at multiple sites, you’re open to identity theft and worse.
Dashlane is a password manager for your desktop and smartphones. It acts like a vault, using a single ‘strong’ password to secure the vault, which contains different, strong passwords for all the different services you use. It can automatically create new strong passwords for you and will collect your existing credentials as you use it across the web. Your passwords are automatically synced to all your devices so a new account on your desktop is available on your phone within seconds.
If you want to find out which of your accounts have been compromised, you can plug your email address(es) into the free site HaveIBeenPwned.com to get an instant report as well as alerts when you show up in a data breach. Since database breaches of major services happen evermore frequently, almost every internet user’s credentials have been compromised at least once. If you re-use the same password on many sites, this means a breach can result in hackers being able to access your other accounts — possibly subjecting you to financial or privacy violations.
The top password managers also have great form-fill capabilities which is an added bonus and will save you quite a bit of time and eliminate errors if you find yourself filling out forms online frequently.
A password manager is mandatory for adults online, and when kids begin creating multiple online accounts it is probably time for them to start using one as well. Good habits start early.
Some leading password managers:
Enable and Review Parental Controls on Kids’ Devices Regularly
Why: Your devices have some great built-in protections to keep kids safe, but you have to make sure they’re fully enabled.
Smartphones, Chromebooks and all major operating systems now have some form of Parental Controls on devices. On iOS devices, these tools are built-in since version 12. On Android, you’ll need to install additional apps.
With these features, parents can restrict certain settings, applications and content types from being accessible by the primary device user. On iOS devices these settings are extensive and well worth your time to enable and review.
Once you’ve turned these features on, don’t forget to regularly check to make sure the settings are still enabled. Kids can been keen hackers themselves — don’t assume they haven’t figured out your device PIN code already. In addition to reviewing the parental control settings, you can also review the browser history and search history if you have the need to monitor what content your kids are consuming when you’re not in the room.
