As parents, it is our job to teach our kids about life. One aspect of life we need to teach and lead them in is information security. In this talk I’ll outline our family’s approach to information security and why my bio mentions teaching my children how to hack in an ethical fashion. This talk will be more than encouraging parents to get their kids to eat their digital vegetables. It will also touch on some of the vexing problems our children face today including bullying and suicide.

2. Meet the Widners...

3. Technology in the home
❏ Technology has always been a huge part of our lives. I like gadgets
and I like to equip my family with gadgets.
❏ I want my kids to discover the wonder I did at 13, when the
internet was young and 28.8bps had just come out.

5. Two parenting styles
diverge in a wood
Iron Man believed Avengers should
be constrained by external factors.
Captain America believed Avengers
should be constrained by internal
factors.
We’re going to take the Captain’s
perspective. That comes with a
huge risk that we lose many of you.
I implore you to bear with us.

6. The foundation of our
approach is the cardinal
rule that the physical
space is more important
than the virtual space.
However…..
The Virtual World is
very real. They can’t
touch it like a set of
blocks, but we respect
the value that it holds in
our children’s minds.

7. In this electronic age we see ourselves being
translated more and more into the form of
information, moving toward the
technological extension of consciousness. …
We mean that we can translate more and
more of ourselves into other forms of
expression that exceed ourselves.
Marshall McLuhan
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

8. Medium is the massage
Different media invite different modes of interaction. These modes have
an intensity from cold to hot.
Youtube videos and most games are hot. This is the addiction that
many studies have picked up on.
The medium massages both the message and the brain.

9. Adults haven’t really
gotten this figured out
yet. What hope do our
children have?

10. How you operate in the virtual will carry over into the physical

11. Trouble in paradise
❏ That initial rule served us
well for years. But then we
started to notice some
troubling trends.
❏ When you use an application
you are in a relationship with
the developer.
❏ Applications today are
abusive.
❏ Therefore we find ourselves
in abusive relationships.

12. “Electromagnetic technology requires
utter human docility ... such as befits
an organism that now wears its brain
outside its skull and its nerves
outside its hide.”
-Marshall McLuhan

13. Training Good Digital Citizens
Our goal is to provide support stakes for our children
and have them take responsibility for their actions

14. YouTube Movie Night
❏ We help our kids learn
about good content by
inviting them to share their
favorite videos
❏ This helps us learn where
their minds and hearts are
❏ It also helps us point them
towards good content
❏ The goal here is to draw our
children closer
❏ This keeps us from creating
digital latchkey children

15. Magic is for movies
❏ Reduce technological magic in all
aspects of our lives
❏ Understanding technology breaks
its control and equips us to wield it
as a tool
❏ Research is the disinfectant for
magic

16. Trolling
❏ Physical interaction
humanizes, virtual
dehumanizes
❏ Kids are natural trolls
❏ Are you being malicious in
your interaction with others?
Including/especially NPCs
❏ Without checks, we end up
in feedback loops. These
loops amplify negative
behavior
❏ It also fosters loneliness

17. Junior Red Teaming
❏ We train our kids to look
at their environment as if
they were an attacker
❏ Advertising is one of the
oldest mental viruses
❏ Our goal is to develop a
strong desire to search for
and lay ahold of the truth
❏ Knowing how social
engineering works keeps
us safe from intellectual
predators
❏ We’re teaching our kids
digital stranger danger

18. Information leakage
❏ Secrets management is the central plank of homeland security
❏ Some secrets, like passwords, are worth keeping
❏ Minor bits of information can be devastating in bulk
❏ Information that isn’t stored can’t be leaked
❏ All information is eventually leaked

19. Trust, but verify
❏ It’s not snooping, its overwatch
❏ Evil thrives in darkness, sunlight is a disinfectant
❏ We practice continuous monitoring vs castle defense

20. Don’t offload your security onto other people
Anyone can control the light
in the cozy room
Know who can view your
data and how likely it is to
make front page news
Don’t take unnecessary risks
like walking through the
house with a live video
session going
Use encrypted everything.
- Notes (Standard Notes)
- Chat (Signal)
Make security a purchase criteria

21. The future of our democracy
depends on you
We need to weaponize our
children in cyberspace if we
want a society where
democracy flourishes.

22. We need a society of curious individuals who own their own sense of
security and are able to push back against the darkness in the cyber realm.

23. Wes Widner wes@manwe.io @kai5263499 manwe.io
Thanks for
Coming!