Tech and Digital Safety: skills checklist

Most of what goes wrong online is not clever hacking. It is a reused password, a login typed into a fake page, a phone that was never backed up, a router still on its factory settings, or a laptop sold without being wiped. Each of those takes a few minutes to prevent and weeks to undo, and most people were never shown the handful of settings that matter.

This category covers the household side of digital safety. You will set up a password manager and two-step login, back up a phone and a computer so a loss is an inconvenience instead of a disaster, keep devices updated, lock down the home router and smart gadgets, and fix slow internet in the right order. Then come the scams: phishing messages, fake tech support, fake online stores, and what to do in the first hour after an account is taken over or your identity is used. It ends with public networks, video calls and wiping a device before it leaves your hands.

Nothing here names a product to buy. Where money has already left an account, each page tells you to call the bank first and report the fraud through the official channels.