MODULE 3: Digital security

Every year, seniors are scammed out of tens of billions of dollars, money they’ve spent their entire lives saving only to have it stolen. The elderly have always been a prime target for Internet scams because of a perceived vulnerability, and now because Internet use among seniors is on the rise. A Pew Research Center survey showed that 67% of seniors are now regular Internet users.

Internet security is something everyone should prioritize, regardless of age, so it’s important to be aware of current threats and how to deal with them. With so many people online, the magnitude of scams is increasing.

2. UNIT 1: Keep seniors safe online – Seniors should learn how to stay protected when using Internet services (2 hours)
3. UNIT 2: What the target group should learn – It is very important for senior students to know how to search the internet for information regarding several issues, such as holiday, entertainment, insurance, taxes etc. It is important to show the usability and traps of email usage, digital services and social media (2 hours)

• group work and pair work
• brainstorming on flipcharts
• inputs of the trainers and possible experts
• individual work
• group discussions (round tables, plenary, tables in U-form)

As a phenomenon defining the modern age, the internet has been considered the preserve of the younger generations – creating a huge obstacle in encouraging and teaching older people to become computer-literate. This view – that the Internet is a young person’s game – is held by many older people themselves, who have been happy to remain disengaged, mostly because they afraid of using it mostly for safety reasons.

Many people over a certain age feel reluctant to learn – whether that’s because of apathy or because of fear. ‘Keeping up with the youngsters’ isn’t working as a persuasive incentive to get older people online. But showing them the countless ways that the Internet is perhaps even better suited to an older person’s lifestyle may be.

Keeping in touch with family and friends across the globe has never been easier. Revisiting the past with all your photos at your fingertips and ordering the groceries for home delivery are only a few clicks away. Apps to jog our memory and record our diets and fitness serve an even more necessary purpose for someone in their older years. Catch-up (online) TV is even more valuable to those who are confined to one place, or even the channel of communicating with others through internet from this very place.

However, certain things people who grew up with technology might not even consider, can be huge obstacles for mature users learning how to use internet afterall. But this is the main purpose of the trainer of older people: to persuade them that “If I can do it, you can do it”

Now as trainer think how older people deal with new technology. For some, it’s been relatively easy to start using the Internet, but for some it’s been more challenging. The truth is, they all want to understand it and use it to connect to life as it unfolds online. They want to see the pictures friends post on Facebook or Instagram, they want to be able to send emails, they might seek medical advice on Google and maybe even pay some of their bills online, or even talk with their family via Zoom, Skype, Viber or Whatsapp.

The danger comes from that fact that their basic skills don’t shield them from online threats and viruses, because their knowledge of Internet security is close to nothing.

In Europe, only 47% of those aged 55 or over ever use the Internet, but the factors that make the elderly attractive for cyber-criminals remain the same:

1. Their excellent credit score or loan history
2. Their tendency to be trusting and polite with unknown individuals, traits which con artists can easily exploit
3. The fact that older Internet users are ashamed to report that they’ve been scammed or hacked, because their family and friends might think less of them
4. The lack of knowledge about the tools and techniques that hackers use
5. Because they are less likely to change their settings or passwords
6. The tendency to be interested in medical advice, medical equipment and others types of products pertaining to this area.

Digital security module is for trainers who are going to train seniors how to use internet in a safe way. Information is given about the things that elderly people mostly tend to struggle with.

1. Virus protection –Older people should learn how to stay protected by viruses when they are using internet.
2. Emails Older people should be trained in how to securely open enclosed files and use an e-mail account in a safe way.
3. Digital services (banking, paying bills) – shopping – One of the most important reasons for older people to use internet is to be more independent in their daily life. This can be feasible when they can use e-banking to pay their bills or visit e-shops to buy things they need, from their house.
4. Social Media – Teaching older people how to use social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc), is very helpful for them, because enables them to get in touch with their family, friends etc.
5. Using online applications – The best and easiest way older people can keep up with their grandchildren (and not only) are applications like Zoom, Viber, Skype, Whatsapp etc. How to use these apps is a must for keeping up with the rest of the family nowadays.

As trainer of older people, it shouldn’t be too difficult to teach them about information security in its most basic form. You should try to use as few technical terms as possible and try to find real world equivalents of the situations you use as examples (do include plenty of those!).