Practical protection for the connected family
Your children are growing up online. The risks are real, but most of them are preventable with a small number of well-chosen settings, a few household rules, and regular conversation. This site turns 25 years of professional security experience into plain-language guidance for parents, grandparents, and caregivers.
What we cover
Parental Controls & Devices
Setting up phones, tablets, consoles, and home Wi-Fi for the age of the child using them.
Social Media & Gaming
Account settings, who can contact your child, and how to keep in-game spending under control.
Scams & Fraud
Recognizing the scams that target teens, parents, and grandparents, including AI voice cloning.
Privacy & Identity
Child identity theft, credit freezes, and limiting how much of your family’s data is exposed.
Grooming & Exploitation
Warning signs of grooming and sextortion, and exactly what to do in the first hour.
Screen Time & Wellbeing
Family media plans, healthy habits, and rules that hold up as children get older.
Latest articles
If something has already happened
If your child is being threatened, blackmailed, or pressured for images, stop and go to the Get Help & Report page now. Do not pay, do not delete the messages, and do not blame your child. In an emergency, call 911.
About this site
Online Family Safety is written by David Pahlman, a security and compliance leader with more than 25 years in cybersecurity and IT risk. The advice here is the same discipline used to protect hospitals and businesses, scaled down to the size of a household. More about the author →
