Digital Awareness for Domestic Workers: A Key to Enhancing 'Family Cybersecurity'

28/07/2025 General | Ministry Of Human Resources and Emiratisation

 257     0

With the growing use of smart applications, social media platforms, and other daily digital activities on smartphones and tablets, the concept of "family cybersecurity" has become a priority issue and a responsibility to be shared by all members of the family. This includes domestic workers, who, by virtue of their job, are in close contact with the home's Wi-Fi network. Their involvement plays a key part in ensuring the security of the home's smart and digital network against any breach that may have severe consequences for the entire family. Incorrect or reckless use of smart gadgets and internet applications by any member of the family carries a range of risks. Opening suspicious links, downloading unvetted programmes, or sharing passwords with third parties are all actions that may seem minor, but actually pose a threat of cyberattacks that may compromise the family's data, disable smart home systems, or even allow scammers to access the home network and take over security cameras or cameras on smart devices and toys, compromising the privacy of household members and potentially leading to extortion or exploitation. With that in mind, it is imperative that families adopt a proactive approach in raising awareness among their domestic workers about basic digital literacy, offering them uncomplicated training on fundamental concepts of online safety, such as identifying common cyberthreats and activating security settings for home networks. Families could also create a separate guest Wi-Fi network for them to use, activate parental controls or device management software to restrict access to specific content or apps, and perform regular evaluations on acceptable technology use within the household. Moreover, household staff - and all members of the family - must be cautioned against taking pictures of valuable objects in the house to post on social media, or even to save on personal devices with the purpose of sharing them among friends, whose intentions and backgrounds they are unfamiliar with. Protecting the family from cyberattacks can only be ensured through collective awareness, including every member of the household, regardless of their role. Any person using technology within the home must be involved in the digital security system, in order to ensure a secure, safe, and stable digital environment that protects family privacy and wards off potential intrusions. Assistant Undersecretary for Support Services, Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE)

Your comment

There are no comments yet.


(success)
Start chat button