Check this stuff together. Everyone has the right to privacy, no one’s phone should be checked without consent or compelling reason: not even your child’s phone if you are the parent, or your loved one’s phone if you are the caretaker.

1. Are your social media accounts anonymous enough? What information does the public profile or nickname show? Should some information, eg. full name, age, birthday, phone number or place of residence, be hidden?
2. Are your account privacy settings adequate? The safest thing to do is to limit the content to your friends only. It is also a good idea to restrict the sharing of location data, unless there is a real reason to do so.

1. Together, check that no one’s full name, date of birth, address, or other personal data has been used in the passwords.
2. Check if the teen’s or your own credentials have been leaked in a data breach, for example with the help of haveibeenpwned.com.
3. If your phone number or email address have been leaked or passwords haven’t been changed for a long time, change them together. Challenge each other to come up with random funny password phrases.
4. No one can memorize many long passwords. Passwords can be stored on your device, browser, or a separate password manager. The master password can be stored in a safe place at home or in the password manager of someone you trust. If either of you is employed, it’s worth checking whether your employer offers password managers for personal and/or family use.

1. Go through the privacy settings of your devices and apps together. Think about what data the apps really need and what you don’t have to allow. Depending on the device and service, the privacy settings may allow you to restrict access to photos, location data, permission to process usage and diagnostic data, among other things.
2. Cookies collect information about us when we visit websites. Think about all the information about us that remains on the internet. How could it affect us in, say, 20 years? How can we refuse non-essential cookies on websites?
3. Take a look at what kind of advertising profiles Google has made of you: myadcenter.google. Should you both choose non-personalized ads?

1. Think about how you identify scams online. Often, they are too good to be true. In many cases, they spread through links via emails, texts and social media messages. Think twice before answering any strange message or clicking on links from strangers. Learn more about protecting yourself against online scams: kyberturvallisuuskeskus.fi
2. Think about how to curb cybercrime. Often, a cybercriminal first tries to hijack someone’s social media or email account so that they can impersonate the account owner and spread scam/spam messages to followers or contacts of the account owner. What can we do if I suspect that a friend’s account has been hijacked? We can contact our friend another way, for example call them. This allows us to check if the message was genuine and, if necessary, warn the friend about their account being hijacked. Offer your help for double-checking any suspicious messages or websites, and support if they ever fall victim to a scam.

1. Sharing photos of others always requires permission.
2. It is best not to share identifiable images of minors. Photos and videos can remain online forever and be harmful even later in adulthood. Not even a parent or grandparent is allowed to share their (grand)child’s photos or videos without permission. For older children, permission should be obtained directly from the child.
3. Together, check your social media privacy settings and think about who should be able to see the content you share.

1. Both on social media and on dating apps, someone may contact you that just feels too good to be true. If a new acquaintance asks for money before meeting face to face, it is most likely a romance scam. Don’t send money or buy gifts/gift cards to strangers online. Romance scammers can be clever, sometimes the scammer spends a lot of time winning the trust of their victim first! Read more about online romance scams: riku.fi
2. Finding and meeting a new person is wonderful and exciting! It’s still important to stay safe. Never invite a stranger into your own home or go to their home or jump in their car. A public space is always the safest place to meet. Additional tip: remember to tell someone you trust where you will be meeting, and roughly when you will be able to check back in with them.