ie. I am thinking about putting their home routers behind NextDNS that can be managed passively/remotely.
Many email security tools (ie. Proofpoint) are not commonly available to consumers, but can be very helpful for the elderly. Obviously, there’s some effort to regularly maintain the setup.
1.) Apple devices. Think of the walled garden what you will, but they tend to have less ways in which Someone not tech savvy enough could break things. They also keep getting security updates for a long time.
2.) whitelisting. Especially with phone numbers. There are so many phone scams that specifically target elderly people. It’s especially easy with elderly who only use their landline. Just block incoming calls from unknown numbers. Also works relatively well with websites and emails. I don’t know how well this would work with smartphones.
3.) adblocking. uBlock origin is a must, even for tech savvy folks, even more for non. Ideally you would also have some kind of DNS solution with a PiHole, AdGuard or NextDNS approach as well.
4.) parental controls in reverse. Elderly folks are often very similar to kids when it comes to the use of technology. So the tools you use to keep your kids safe can also be of great help there.
There are plenty of tools around, however, keep in mind that as much as you want to care about them, just like with kids, people in need of additional security also deserve their privacy. This can be difficult to balance with technical solutions. So, depending on the overall health of the family members you care about, talking about risks, keeping in touch and up to date on what they are doing is probably the best way to keep them safe.
You'd probably want to monitor that. You can also monitor their phones if you are the owner of their accounts. Probably a good idea to know all the callers for conversations over a few minutes.
Gmail is probably as good of a choice as any.
You would absolutely want to make every attempt to whitelist their phone calls. Ignoring unknown senders runs the risk of missing important calls, but taking unknown senders is guaranteed to make them prey for the latest scam.
Password re-use is a scourge upon the elderly. Hard problem to solve because most methods work 95% percent of the time, but that 5% they don't is really painful.
Some amount of education if you can impress it upon them is invaluable. _NEVER_ click links on an e-mail without asking you first is a good one. _NEVER_ use trans union or any money transfer service. _NEVER_ use a number or e-mail provided to you to contact a company, always google the right number and use that rather than what is sent in an e-mail. _NEVER_ click an attachment without asking you first.
For browsers I find uBlock and/or Microsoft Edge. Edge has good privacy controls that works out of the box. I think uBlock is better than DNS-level blocking tools as the latter might break some sites, with the browser extension you can turn it off in those cases. Be sure to get uBlock from a legitimate source.
For my grandparents I've found buying them an iPad and/or iPhone to be the best. The attack surface is significantly reduced. No unauthorized apps, iOS has built in Parental Controls, AppStore purchases can be easily reversed and the device can be reset fast. iCloud is expensive but with family sharing it allows me to ensure their photos and emails don't get lost w/o me having to maintain backups.
If that is not an option and a computer is required I typically setup a non-admin account for the user. I keep an admin account. I use TeamViewer to remote into the computer to fix things when they go wrong.
Passwords are an issue. I use a family subscription to 1Password.
In terms of email, I have briefed them on phishing email. If there is a call to attention with an unreasonable deadline, or they mention shutting things down permanently, or want to involve the law/police or its for some unreasonable charge then I tell them to ignore it and always ask me for my opinion. Never click the link in the email for banks. Log in directly or call the bank directly using the # on the back of the card not in the email. I have set up some rules so that emails originating from addresses of our family members and their friends (programmed in address book) go to inbox and everything else goes to another folder.
In HomeLab settings, I also do the following:
- Block all DNS, including all DoT/DoH servers by IP; set up own DNS server, auto download DNS black holes using family-friendly open DNS lists/servers.
- transparent HTTPS proxy; maintain various ICAP servers to protect (AV, PPI leakage prevention, HTTP block list)
- open a private WebDAV server for many internal use; ownCloud, netCloud, ...
- WireGuard variants; TrueScale, ZeroScale, ...
- MDM; get those phones under your control
Basic G Suite MDM, by Google for various devices, mobile and desktop.
for laptops and desktops it's best to take the hard-drives out to the shooting range and plink at them before dropping them down a deep unused bore-hole.
while this could be potentially debilitating for one of the later generations finest, it will cause only a minor 10-15 minute period of adjustment for those who never had the internet in the first place - and it was just fine. they will immediately adapt by taking up non-internet related hobbies and will thank you profusely in the next snail-mail letter for the $30/mo they saved on their internet bill.
if you don't believe me, propose this course of action and you will get a vigorous response.