As families prepare for a new school year, they face a familiar flood of forms, online portals, and communications from schools, sports teams, and extracurricular programs. Along with the convenience of digital tools comes an increasing need to safeguard personal information. Reports of data breaches affecting schools, educational technology providers, and youth organizations have become more common, exposing sensitive information belonging to students and families.
This makes back-to-school a good time for families to take meaningful steps to discuss best practices in protecting information and reducing the risk of fraud, identity theft, and online exploitation.
The Risks of Oversharing Online
Social media has become a central part of many students’ daily lives, but what is shared online can be used in ways that were never intended – and with unintended consequences. Photos, videos, location information, and personal details can provide bad actors with valuable information.
Parents should encourage students to think carefully before posting content about themselves, their friends, or family activities. Sharing vacation plans, daily routines, or real-time locations can unintentionally create security risks. Images and recordings can also be copied, altered, or manipulated, making it increasingly important to be selective about what is posted publicly.
Students should not be sharing their home addresses, birthdate, age, passwords and other personal information online (whether on social media, gaming sites or otherwise with people met online and not in person).
Students should also be reminded that online platforms, including artificial intelligence tools and public forums, are not appropriate sources for personal, medical, emotional, or legal advice. Trusted adults, school counselors, teachers, and healthcare professionals remain the best sources for guidance on important personal matters.
Strong Passwords Remain a Good Defense
Despite advances in technology, weak passwords continue to be a common security vulnerability. Every family member should use strong, unique passwords for email accounts, devices, financial applications, and social media platforms.
Effective passwords should be lengthy, difficult to guess, and unrelated to easily discoverable information such as pet names, sports teams, birthdays, or schools. Passwords should be changed periodically, default credentials should be replaced immediately with any new device, and the same password should never be reused across multiple accounts or devices.
Whenever possible, families should enable multi-factor authentication (or MFA). This additional layer of security can often be activated at little or no cost and provides valuable protection even if a password becomes compromised.
MFA should be implemented or enabled wherever possible, whether on email accounts, tablets, cellphones, payment apps or social media accounts.
Keep Devices Updated
Software updates can be inconvenient, but they often contain critical security fixes designed to address newly discovered vulnerabilities. Delaying updates can leave computers, tablets, phones, and other connected devices exposed to known threats.
Cybersecurity professionals frequently advise users to “patch early and patch often.” Installing updates promptly helps protect devices from malware, ransomware, and other forms of attack that exploit outdated software.
Exercise Caution with Emails, Texts, and Links
Phishing attacks remain one of the most effective methods cybercriminals use to gain access to accounts and personal information. Many malicious messages are designed to appear as though they originate from trusted organizations, schools, financial institutions, or even friends and family.
Families should approach unexpected emails, text messages, attachments, and links with caution, even when they appear to come from a familiar source. Before responding, clicking a link, or opening an attachment, independently verify the communication using a known telephone number or contact method.
Importantly, never rely on the phone number or contact information provided within a suspicious message. Cybercriminals often include fraudulent contact details designed to reinforce the scam.
Protect Privacy at Home
Simple habits can make a meaningful difference in protecting privacy. Computers, webcams, and smart devices should be turned off or closed when not in use. Many security professionals recommend physical webcam covers as an inexpensive way to prevent unauthorized viewing.
Families should also consider encrypting sensitive data whenever possible, especially on portable devices that may be lost or stolen. Encryption helps ensure that even if a device falls into the wrong hands, the information stored on it remains protected.
Prepare for Social Engineering Scams
Cybercriminals increasingly target emotions rather than technology. Fraudsters frequently impersonate family members, government agencies, schools, or healthcare providers in an effort to create urgency and obtain money or personal information.
One practical safeguard is establishing a family password or phrase that can be used during emergency situations. This simple step can help validate whether a caller or message claiming to involve a family emergency is legitimate.
Families should also adopt a general rule of limiting the personal information they share. Before providing sensitive data online, by telephone, or through email, verify who is requesting it, why it is needed, and whether the request is legitimate. In many situations, organizations need far less information than people assume.
Be Mindful of What Is Shared
Finally, parents and students should remember that once information is posted online, it can be difficult or impossible to fully remove. Hitting “delete” does not mean the information is irretrievable. This is especially true for photographs and videos.
Care should be taken to avoid sharing images that reveal sensitive personal information, expose private details of daily life, or place students in vulnerable situations. Digital footprints often last far longer than expected and can have consequences well beyond the current school year.
A Shared Responsibility
Cybersecurity is no longer solely an issue for large organizations and technology professionals. It is a daily concern for families, students, and individuals of all ages. By adopting thoughtful online habits, maintaining strong security practices, and staying alert to evolving threats, families can reduce risk and help create a safer digital environment throughout the school year.
Being cyber-aware does not require expertise. It requires mindfulness, caution, and a commitment to protecting personal information wherever it is shared.
Michelle Schaap, is Chair of the CSG Law Tech, Privacy and Data Innovations Group.
