As parents, we have no greater desire and duty than to keep our children safe. If you’ve ever been around kids of any age this can be a tall order. Sometimes it seems no matter how hard you try, their number one goal in life is to find a way to hurt themselves.

This can range from anything outside to a perfectly executed Randy “Macho Man” Savage elbow drop from the arm of the couch onto a sibling (I know this from personal experience). We buy helmets, elbow, and knee pads and do our best to cover them in bubble wrap and hand sanitizer to keep them safe, but they still manage to get bumped and bruised.

Are we failures? Absolutely not. In fact. Sometimes the best lessons in life are learned the “hard way.” Whoops, did I just say that out loud? All we can do is protect them the best we can and send them out into the world while we hover in the background with the band-aids and ice packs at the ready.

Unfortunately, parents can’t be everywhere, and like I mentioned earlier, kids will do whatever they can to push the limits of safety physically, but sometimes they don’t realize the dangers that are lurking in places they don’t see. These are the ones that worry me the most.

Every day, we are online and our phones, computers, gaming systems, etc. are bombarded with threats of viruses, malware, and bad actors with ill intentions. Why do the bad people do these things? Who knows, but unfortunately, because the threats are out there, we must take extra steps and be hypervigilant just to work, play and do the things we enjoy online.

Just like helmets and padding, there are numerous lines of defense against schemes and scams that can hurt you and your children both financially and physically and they may not be easy to spot. I’m not talking about the old days when you would get an email from a Nigerian prince you needed your help to access a fortune from his evil captors. All you needed to do first was send the prince a check and your bank account number and you would be doing a heroic gesture by restoring the prince to his rightful throne. Easy red flag, right?

Sounds crazy and easy to spot, but tons of people were preyed upon and fell victim to schemes just like this back in the day. Today we are bombarded with unseen dangers much more heinous than the prince every time we log on to the internet, no matter what device we are using.

Think about that for a moment. Think about every device you have in your home that is connected to the web in some way. Everything from the obvious computers, tablets, phones, and gaming to televisions, thermostats, and lights, and we even have smart refrigerators that tell you when you need to buy more milk.

In a recent video conversation with Gabe Peterson from Calix we highlighted the Wisper Home App, and the safety features it employs as the “remote control” for your home. During that conversation, we talked about some of those new appliances that are starting to remind me a lot of Transformers, but that is a topic for a different blog. You can see that discussion on our YouTube channel.

There are several lines of defense now built into devices, apps, websites, and even equipment like routers to help keep your household members, both young and old, safe from threats. Not just parental controls we have to physically adjust.

At Wisper Internet we do our best to keep you safe before threats even reach our customers. In just the month of May, Wisper blocked 13,000 cyber threats before they could even reach customers’ homes. But as you know, there are more threats out there.

If you have ever received or sent an email, you have encountered a phishing scam. No, they are not emailing about actual casting lines and reeling in lunkers. These are newer, more sophisticated versions of the Nigerian prince who desperately needs your help. These scams have been on the rise in recent years and can come from what look like legitimate sources like your own company as well as streaming or gaming services you may subscribe to and many other innocent-looking sources.

This is where the kiddos come in again. Imagine they are in the middle of a game and see one of these phishing scams pop up. Will they be able to spot the scam, or will they just click yes and move on with their game?

That is where these multiple layers of protection come into play. From the internet source to your Calix router to the Wisper Home app, they are all designed to keep you safe. They are the helmets, knee pads, hand sanitizer, and bubble wrap for your children, devices, and that toaster that might be a Transformer.

You can find more information on potential threats and scams and more importantly, ways to keep your families safe online at wisperisp.com.

Trust me, the prince will be fine without your help.