In its annual Safer Internet Week Education and Advocacy Campaign, telecommunications and entertainment provider, Flow, on Friday (February 11), hosted a forum that outlined the three key ways senior citizens could navigate and ‘tech charge’ of their online security.

Held under the theme, ‘Tech Charge! Using the internet to simplify your life’, the Seniors’ Forum was one in a series of events organised by Flow, in observance of their Safer Internet Week Campaign. Along with the senior citizens, the company placed focused on other vulnerable groups which included teens and pre-teens.

Hosted by media specialist Fae Ellington and Jamaican actor Glen Campbell, the Seniors’ Forum highlighted a common problem faced by older folks across the island, scamming. Outlining the best ways those aged 60 years and older could mitigate against this growing phenomenon was Lieutenant Colonel Godphey Sterling, head of the cyber incident response team, JA-CIRT.

With a slew of challenges, Sterling explained that there are very few ways to gain total online security, and the focus should instead be placed on becoming a harder target.

He identified gaining understanding, as the first step to avoid being swindled online. Once interpreted, if the older adult, as seniors are now referred, is not able to perform the activity on their own, the colonel suggested seeking assistance.

“And when you understand that, if you can’t do it on your own seek support or get someone to help you. Normally your children or grandchildren are able to do that….at the very least you can reach out to JA-CIRT. As long as we are not totally immersed in other investigations, we will assist,” Sterling explained.

Second to understanding, Sterling advised that setting up a strong password is an ideal way to avoid being a victim of scamming or any other fraudulent activity in the digital space.

“I know it is difficult to remember long passwords, complex passwords, but if you think about a passphrase as opposed to a single word with a lot of complex characters, then that might help you to get that passphrase in,” he explained.

With passwords now at risk of being lost or stolen, he further advised that if senior citizens are seeking help to input their passcode and have to resort to sharing their information, they should utilise the multi-factor authentication, as it minimises the risk of losing access to their resource.

“What that means, is when somebody enters your password to access your online resource, it will send your request usually in the form of a one-time password (OTP) or passcode, requiring you do an action on some other device…when you use multi-factor authentication it adds to your security.,” he said.

Finally, the Colonel stated that senior citizens can become harder targets by keeping their devices up to date, as criminals are better able to get into devices that are unpatched or unmaintained.

“Ensure that your devices are up to date as far as their operating system, the applications are patched and they are upgraded as necessary,” the Colonel said.

He furthered: “And I would say check then upgrade. And I say check then upgrade because there are some very sophisticated scams out there who will send you messages that you need to do something to your device, when really its not coming from the manufacturer of the device or the application and when you click you are compromised.”

Sterling also noted that if a message requiring very urgent action pops up, more often than not, those types of notifications are fabricated.

For any senior citizen or individual who falls victim to internet scamming or any type of internet fraud, Deputy Superintendent of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Cyber Crime Division, Warren Williams, advised visiting the nearest police station to make a report. If in the capital parish, one should instead visit the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA).

For those senior citizens who are immobile, they can dial 119 or 311. If you would like to give an anonymous report, dial 311.