How can you protect vulnerable users from cyber threats?
19th August 2025
Cyber security is a team effort: what can you do to help those who need it most?
While anyone can come under threat from cyber criminals, there are certain people who are bigger targets than others. It may be that they work in a certain industry, or they’re at a particular level in a company. Sometimes, however, the most vulnerable people lack knowledge around cyber security and can be manipulated easily, like elderly people and children.
Obviously, this is a sweeping generalisation: there are plenty of older and younger people who are incredibly knowledgeable in cyber security and could probably teach me how to improve my resilience. For many in these demographics though, the same awareness isn’t present, which can put them at high risk.
People over the age of 75 are 4.25 times more likely* to suffer a financial loss from online criminal activities than younger users are. Many of them are less experienced at being on the internet and therefore are unable to see the risks: phishing, social engineering, identity theft and fraud are all big risks for older people.
For younger people, the risks are almost reversed. They are almost too online literate, with 89% of 10 to 15 year olds using the internet at least once a day. Because this is so normal to them, 17% of this demographic have spoken to someone online they had never met in person and 5% met up with someone*2 they only knew online, putting them at risk of grooming and other serious crimes, with 11% of children aged 13 to 15 having received sexual messages online.
So, what can be done to keep these vulnerable groups safe? For older people the best thing you can do is try to raise awareness: they don’t know what they don’t know. Talk to them about the dangers they may find online and try to help them to set up security measures. Also, encourage them to talk if they are victim to an attack, as often the shame of being deceived means that attacks aren’t reported.
For children, again, education is the most important thing. They will always be able to get online if they want to, there are too many avenues to get around restrictions and controls nowadays, so getting them to understand the risks and how to deal with inappropriate behaviour online is the most effective deterrent.
Remember, just because these groups aren’t as cyber-literate, it doesn’t mean they can’t be. With a little support from those with more knowledge, these vulnerable groups can stand up to cyber criminals.
If you would like some more cyber security advice, talk to Interfuture Security.
*https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0314380
YouTube: https://youtu.be/tOPRqEqcLII