Fatherly
by John Patrick Pullen
The digital world isn’t something your kids choose to be a part of; it’s thrust upon them. They need it to socialize, complete school assignments, and simply exist in the modern world. And while social media and the Internet offer opportunities to expose your kid to the world they also, well, expose your kid to the world. So, how do you ensure they’re healthy and safe in their digital lives? Ask some hackers-turned-dads what they do…
…Ramp Up Your Router’s Protection
But eventually your kids are going to need the internet, so be prepared for when they do. Ori Eisen, CEO of Trusona, an online security company that’s hell bent on eliminating passwords, suggests using the home’s Wi-Fi router to limit what their kids can access over the web.
“A lot of parents don’t realize that every Wi-Fi router comes with a firewall built inside,” he says. “If you just read the manual beyond the five steps to set it up, you can learn about a few things you can limit, like downloads, what you can buy from the App Store, and I don’t let my kids go to specific websites that aren’t monitored.”
The reason setting up firewall-level protection helps is because kids will always find a way to break into places where they shouldn’t be. If they don’t want to get caught, they’ll use private browsing modes, and if you disable that feature from their web browser, they’ll just download another. Firewalls block the bad content from coming into your house whatsoever.
Keep ‘Em Guessing
Eisen is sympathetic and even encouraging to his kids’ curiosity. In fact, he even challenges them to guess the Wi-Fi password, promising them that if they do crack the code — to which he gives hints — he will let them use the internet uninterrupted for an entire day. “Half of me wants them to be safe, but the other half of me wants them to be adventurous and learn how to hack away,” he says. “If you only do what you’re told, you’ll never break the boundaries.”
