Rich Baich, AT&T's chief information security officer, offers four easy technologies to help keep your family cyber-safe.
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the perfect opportunity to strengthen your passwords and get educated on the latest “phishing” scams. These are very important!
You should also take advantage of the great resources offered by wireless and internet providers for your devices. The four security technologies below are usually available for low or no cost. You just have to set them up.
We offer excellent versions at AT&T, so your family can be connected and protected at home or on the go.
Smartphone protection
No one likes robocalls and spam text messages, but there are apps for that. The best ones like AT&T ActiveArmor give you three options for a suspected spam call: Display a warning that a call is suspected spam, send it straight to voicemail, or block it altogether.
This feature is free on the AT&T ActiveArmor app. A couple of clicks can help you block suspected spam calls and even block text messages sent from email addresses – a particularly annoying source of spam.
You can also choose advanced mobile security with the ActiveArmor app. This includes public Wi-Fi protection (known as VPN), Safe Browsing and ID monitoring. An advanced subscription is included in our best wireless plans at no additional cost, or $3.99 per month on other plans.
You can find the ActiveArmor app in the major app stores, and it’s preloaded on our Android phones. It works for AT&T customers, and it’s the most comprehensive security app to help stop spam and scams.
I’m proud that AT&T blocks and labels more than 1.5 billion robocalls per month.
Home internet protection
Did you know that your home internet provider probably offers a free protection service for you? All you have to do is activate it, so what are you waiting for?
They come in two flavors: 1) Activated on your home gateway to protect all devices connected to your Wi-Fi 2) Downloaded onto each of your devices.
If you have AT&T Fiber, the Smart Home Manager app can protect all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi.1 Download the app on one device as a whole-home controller and look for the ActiveArmor internet security icon.
When you activate it, connected devices get malicious attack blocking, device monitoring and more – at no additional cost.
AT&T Fiber customers who want extra protection can take advantage of Advanced Security features such as VPN at home, ID monitoring and advanced content controls for an additional $7 per month plus tax.1
Home internet providers also may offer you free or discounted deals to download antivirus software on your personal computers. We have that for our home internet customers including those who don’t have Fiber in their neighborhoods just yet – AT&T Internet Security Suite.
Family tracking and coordination
There are many apps and services for keeping track of family members. Some parents just want to know where everyone is, while others want digital guardrails to help protect the family’s online experience.
AT&T offers two that I really like. They both can be added straight to your AT&T monthly bill for convenience.
The AT&T Secure Family app helps you track, monitor and manage all your children’s devices in one place. You can know where they are, get arrival and departure alerts, limit their time online and manage what they can access online. There’s one app for your device and a companion app for their devices.
It’s $7.99 per month for up to 10 family members and 30 devices. And it has other features like family SOS alerts and finding a lost phone nearby with a ring.
If you want your child to stay connected without distraction, we’ve introduced the AT&T amiGO Jr. Watch. No need for a cellphone. It lets parents send a quick message to the watch and monitor their child’s location. The child has an emergency SOS button for a number the parent designates.
Children have basic calling and texting on the watch, but you can help your child focus by disabling these functions during school hours. The watch is added as a device to your wireless plan, and you set up an AT&T amiGO account plus an app on the parent’s smartphone. The watch is $179.99, or $5 a month on your AT&T bill.
Parental controls
Whatever connected devices or services you use, they almost certainly have free parental controls built in. These can help control age-appropriate content, purchases and screen time.
You should be able to find them in the device or service’s settings, or on the company’s website or app. In addition to your mobile devices and home internet, don’t forget about television and streaming services, your smart TV itself, and gaming.
Many of us remember when the screen in a typical household was a TV with an antenna. Now the average house has 15 connected devices.
At AT&T, we’ve launched a new parental controls website with links and instructions for our various services. I strongly recommend this site to you. It is full of useful information, and it includes links to the controls of other commonly used mobile devices and TV services.
Our AT&T Smart Home Manager app, which I mentioned in the home internet section above, has built-in content controls for devices connected by Wi-Fi to your AT&T Fiber. It works with profiles you can set up for different family members.1
And finally, the most important tool … education!
The four types of security technologies listed above are helpful. But knowledge is the best defense. In addition to the parental controls website, we have two websites that provide cyber-safety information for everyone.
AT&T ScreenReady has tips and tools to help your family make safe and positive connections on all screens. For instance, it includes an award-winning quiz, developed with the American Academy of Pediatrics, to help see if your children are ready for their first connected devices.
AT&T CyberAware is dedicated to news, tips and resources to help consumers fight scams and fraud.
I hope you’ll invest a few minutes to let these tips and our technologies assist you. Our comprehensive tools help your family stay securely connected to great possibilities!