This post is sponsored by Aura.
What is better than unwrapping that new smartphone or laptop, peeling the protective packaging off the screens and turning a shiny gadget over in your hands? It’s a little bit of holiday happiness, and with everything going on in the world today, I say it’s downright therapeutic.
With all that elation and excitement, it can be tough to remember that, with all that speed and connectivity to the internet, comes a lot of dangers, both for your personal data and your kids’ mental health. Identity theft, Credit card fraud, phishing and hacking are an ever-present “new normal” that requires adequate armor and vigilance to combat. For your kids, threats like cyberbullying, online predators, and explicit content loom large.
So when Aura reached out to ask if I’d help them spread the word about their multi-faceted, intelligent digital safety solutions, it was a no-brainer… because I was already using it.
Try Aura with a FREE two-week trial and an exclusive savings on their annual plans by clicking here.
Until it happens to you…
Most people don’t think about digital safety until something catastrophic happens. I think it’s a human nature thing… our brains aren’t great at anticipating problems, but when they happen to us? Hoo boy! One crisis is all it takes for us to make sure it never happens again. This is how many of us live our lives online— blissfully unaware. We see evening news stories about identity theft or online predators online but they wash over us… that probably won’t happen to me.
Yep, even this tech expert lived that way until the digital poop hit the fan one month during the pandemic. While checking something on my credit card statement online, I noticed what looked like a fun shopping spree at T. J. Maxx, Target and Best Buy… in another state. Luckily, my credit card has protective measures in place for dealing with fraud, but I wouldn’t have caught it as early as I did if I hadn’t been online looking at my statement on the same day that my thieving friend was shopping. Aura has sophisticated financial transaction monitoring that will let you know the moment it suspects impropriety… and they have 24/7 support so you can call them whenever there’s a disaster.
Not long after I untangled that mess, I received a barrage of requests to change my password on Gmail. I was literally under attack and had to rapidly change my password over and over until the unrelenting requests abated. If I hadn’t had two-factor authentication, I would have been done for: Once a criminal has access to your email address, they can do untold harm to your personal and financial life, locking you out of your credit cards, bank accounts and (gasp!) social media accounts. Aura could have helped me in this situation with its online account monitoring and identity verification… I would have felt less alone and panicked that day if I knew I had them on my side.
After that month, I was rattled, to say the least. So I went on a mission to find extra layers of protection from cyber attacks that could cover all my devices… and that’s when I found Aura.
For the Kids…
Another rude awakening happened years ago when my daughter, who was 11 at the time, went to play a web-based game some of her friends were playing, and some really explicit pop-ups started to proliferate on her screen. We had some content filtering installed on the family computer, but these pop-ups slipped through the cracks. Thankfully, she came to get me right away (all those years of talking about internet danger and making her feel safe about telling me anything paid off!) but there’s nothing like staring at a screen full of boobs and butts with your young child to scare you straight. I started researching and learned that parental controls and content filtering are a bit like swiss cheese: They each have holes in different places, so the more slices you stack on top of one another, the less problematic content leaks through. Aura’s safety features for kids, like content filtering, dangerous site blocking and cyberbully/predator alerts are peace of mind for busy parents.
Another cool feature many moms will want to know about are Aura’s safe gaming features— all in-game text and voices are monitored for bullying or predator language, plus you’ll get an activity report of how much time your kids are spending playing games online. If your kids are playing MMO games where people they don’t know can talk to them through their headsets, Aura acts like a nosy eavesdropper and lets you know if the conversation gets dicey.
And your parents too…
Lastly, as my parents get older, I’ve taken on the role of tech support more and more. My father-in-law sometimes wanders into weird parts of the internet and catches computer viruses, and my dad is forever calling me to ask me if I know what his password is for this site or that. So being able to install an all-encompassing app like Aura on their laptops and smartphones means I have help managing their passwords, anti-virus software and even help cutting back on their spam calls and junk mail so they’re less grouchy. Aura is literally like my partner in tech support, and the complaints and calls I get from both sets of parents has gone waaaay down.
Not an IF, but a WHEN….
If I haven’t convinced you to get the Aura family plan by now, you’re likely still in your “blissfully unaware” bubble… I get it. But just know that, if you go by the statistics, it’s not a matter of IF but WHEN you will be the victim of a cyber attack, or your kids will be made vulnerable to one of the myriad dangers online. According to the FBI, 422 million individuals were the victims of cybercrime last year, and it’s projected that nearly 33 billion accounts will be breached in 2023 with the cost of these breaches predicted at $8 trillion.
Try for free, plus an exclusive discount!
For the rest of us, it’s a risk-free, no-brainer to try Aura. It’s easy to install, easy to use, and starts working immediately. Follow my link aura.com/carleyk, and you’ll get a FREE two-week trial. After that, there’s an exclusive holiday promotion which offers a special discount on any plan you choose. The Family Plan gives you the most value, but there are plans for couples and individuals too. I urge you to check it out— it has so many features that I haven’t even mentioned that can help you and your family use your new laptops, tablets and phones (or the ones you have) with confidence, knowing you have all kinds of protection from anything that could go wrong online.
Try Aura with a FREE two-week trial and exclusive holiday savings on all of their plans by clicking here.
Thanks to Aura for sponsoring this post— I only work with brands I LOVE and feel great recommending to you, and I hope you love them too!