Tatler Experts' Corner: I worry about my family's digital health and safety. What should I be aware of?

A Tatler expert weighs in

As part of the Tatler SOS Experts' Corner, we delve into the subject of improving one's human capital, essentially how you can prepare the next generation for your money, exploring themes of mental wellbeing, family dynamics and conflict. Here Simon Giddins from Blackstone Consultancy shares his advice on protecting your family's online presence and managing digital risks.

The digital world has brought with it an ever-increasing number of apps, shortcuts and aids which facilitate our lives and increase our connectivity and bring ease to our daily lives. Some of these prove to be short term fads, while others pass the test of time and become staples in each of our lives. However, alongside this, unfortunately, comes an increase in our vulnerabilities.

This comes under different guises. We have focused on three of those in this article - from reputational risk via social media, to the possibility of identity theft, and the potential risks posed by Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

There is significant overlap between the physical and digital worlds and never before has it been so easy to discover private details of families lives. Seemingly innocent or naïve actions taken by second and third generation family members with a widespread digital footprint can profoundly impact families and the first generation.

We do not subscribe to the prevalent theme within the security industry that people should altogether avoid social media and generally holding a digital presence. This can have drawbacks of its own, particularly for individuals with a higher profile. We have seen examples where phoney accounts have been created in people’s names – this is not an offence – and controversial or socially unacceptable comments or posts made, thus damaging reputations. In some cases, people have had to buy these accounts off the individuals running them to stop the damage in its tracks.

The key to maintaining a healthy online presence, therefore, is education. Educating people on how to shop and behave online, informing people of the potential risks of what they do online, and enabling the safe use of a resource which is now unavoidable in modern life.

There are websites out there which scour the internet and hoover up images, storing them on databases. It is then possible for a photograph of someone – there are no real checks and balances to ensure that you are only searching your own photographs – to be uploaded, with facial recognition used to identify a series of other images of them online. These can be historic photos from social media accounts from when someone was at university, for example.

People would probably assume that these photos won’t come back to bite them and that they are hidden away in an obscure corner of a social media site but this is unfortunately no longer the case. What can be done? It is difficult to say. Once something has been posted online, it stays in the digital domain in perpetuity, even if it is ‘deleted’. Understanding and accepting this fact can result in sensible decisions being made as to whether or not to post things.

Problems not only arise with images on social media. Wider exposure online can, if people are not careful, lead to acts or fraud or identity theft being committed. For many individuals and families, it is possible to build up a dossier of information about them – names, dates of birth, addresses, email accounts, hobbies, friendship groups, favourite venues/holiday destinations and so on – in a matter of minutes.

As well as the possible reputational damage that could fall out of this, the information can also be used to commit an identity theft, leading to unsolicited debts or account transactions. Again, careful cultivation of digital footprints can help to mitigate against this. We advise on clients having multiple email addresses and bank accounts for different functions – online shopping, food delivery, general bills etc. – to create silos and limit the overall risk.

Simple steps such as Companies House listings using accountants or office addresses rather than home address can make it significantly harder for someone to identify home addresses. Though many of these steps are relatively minor in their individual actions, when compiled together they can reduce risk significantly. That is the aim.

Every year we see more and more Internet of Things (IoT) devices being available to facilitate and speed up life. Most households now run networks of these devices linked to the internet, including computers, gaming systems, TVs, tablets, smartphones and wearable devices that access wireless networks. To protect your home network and your family, you need to have the right tools in place and confidence that family members can use the internet more safely and securely.

Failure to have these safeguards in place will increase the risk of households being impacted by a cyber threat. The increase in smart technology in the home has provided opportunity for criminals to infiltrate residential properties in order to access personal information. Adequate measures must be taken to dissuade a criminal from targeting your home. Should these precautions not be taken, the impacts can be far reaching, from an enormous breach of family privacy, to the potential of login details for emails and other online sites being discovered, to the possibility of criminals shutting down cyber defences by turning off alarms and shutting down CCTV cameras as a precursor to a burglary.

The digital world is an integral part of modern life. There is no getting around this. Acting sensibly and responsibly online and understanding the implications of actions is crucial. The landscape is ever changing, and risk and threats evolving at speed. We advise clients in the first instance to use their ‘inner alley cat’ to determine whether things seem a bit strange, whilst offering them grounded, realistic advice which is not alarmist or exaggerated.

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