[PascLeRasc]

Maybe this is off-topic, but everything I know about personal security I learned from my mom. She gets spam calls like we all do, claiming to be health insurance or the IRS or something, and she'll always hang up, look up the right phone number, and call that back and see if there really is anything going on. Same with emails, she doesn't click links but instead goes to the website independently and logs in there. She taught me that if it's actually your health insurance or credit card company calling, they'll already have your information, so asking for your SSN or address is a red flag.

She's "not technical", which means she's a librarian instead of a software engineer, but she still knows much more than me about online security, and I'd bet most of our parents are kinda the same. She "runs" an iPhone and a Chromebook, which I think is the best setup for most people.

[franga2000]

> She's "not technical", which means she's a librarian instead of a software engineer

Funnily enough, librarians are some of the most computer-savvy people I know. I wouldn't be surprised if your mother's "librarian training" of recognizing bad information and tracking down good sources is a big part of what makes her that good at navigating the net.

[NotSammyHagar]

There are some phone numbers where you have to pay to call them, and so there is a current scam where you call people just to get them to call you back, and you'll have to pay.

[lcabral]

I think he meant the mother would lookup the actual phone number in the yellow pages and call that number.

[d3ad1ysp0rk]

My mom doesn't know that her gmail and yahoo emails are different. I promise she's not more online security literate than HN readership on average.

[mosselman]

> ...I'd bet most of our parents are kinda the same.

Haha, I am 100% sure that this is not the case.