Household Security Checkup
Most people have never sat down with someone patient and gone through the questions: What would I do if this call came? Is my email account actually mine? What is on my Wi‑Fi? What happens if this phone is lost? The checkup is that sitting-down. It ends with a written plan your household can follow without us.
What we go through together
- Scams and fraudThe scams working in Indiana right now, in the shapes they actually take on your phone and screen. We agree a household “rule of the house” for money, codes and urgent calls — the kind of rule a grandchild and a grandparent can both keep. If something has already happened, this is where we deal with it first.
- The email accountIt is the master key to everything else, because every other password can be reset through it. We make sure it is yours: a strong password, two-factor turned on properly, recovery phone and email checked, unknown devices signed out.
- Banking, phone carrier, and the accounts that matterTwo-factor and alerts on the bank; a PIN on the phone carrier account (the “SIM swap” defense); the two or three others that would hurt most. We set them up with you — you type, we guide.
- PasswordsA way of keeping them that a real person will actually use — a password manager where it suits, a proper notebook where it suits — and the handful that must be unique.
- Phones, computers, tabletsUpdates on and current; a screen lock; the “find my device” and remote-erase features working; photos and documents existing in more than one place.
- The home networkThe 20-minute checkup, done properly: router password, firmware, Wi‑Fi encryption, guest and smart-device separation, remote access and UPnP off, and an inventory of what is connected. Where the network needs more, we say so and recommend the audit.
- The home itselfA short conversation about doors, locks, lighting and — only if it earns its place — cameras and sensors, with our Field Guides for reference and no equipment to buy from us that day.
- The written planWhat we changed, what you own, what to do next, and whom to call for what — kept somewhere the household can find it.
How it happens
In person in Central Indiana, at your kitchen table with the devices in front of us — usually two hours. By phone or screen share anywhere in Indiana, in one or two sessions, when travel is impractical or you would simply prefer it. Family members are welcome to join; a checkup arranged by an adult child for a parent is common and works well when the parent is in the room and in charge.
Who it is free for
Hoosiers 65 and older, veterans, and Indiana nonprofits and houses of worship, as our schedule allows. If you do not fit those groups but cost is a barrier, write to us anyway; we say yes as often as we can. See Free help.
Common questions
Will you need my passwords?
No. You type them; we do not see, record or keep them. Anything we help you change is written in your plan and handed to you. If you would like us to hold nothing at all — not even your email address after we are done — say so and we will honor it.
I think I've already been scammed. Is that a checkup?
It starts as something more urgent, and it is free regardless of who you are: we help you take the right steps in the right order — bank, accounts, reports — and then, when things are steady, we do the checkup so it does not happen again. Write to us and say what happened; you do not have to have it all straight.
Do you sell anything at the checkup?
No. Where equipment would genuinely help — a new router, a hardware security key — we say so and let you buy it wherever you like. Our home systems service exists for households who want it and ask.
How is it priced?
A flat fee, quoted in writing when we schedule, based on in-person versus remote and the size of the household. Free for those who qualify.