A security threat was blocked on my child's PC. Were they hacked?

Almost certainly not. A blocked security threat means the protection worked: the site was stopped before it loaded. It is the blocks you never see that would be the problem.

How does malware get onto a child's computer?

Usually by invitation. A child downloads a game cheat, a free skin generator, or a cracked program, and is told to turn off their protection first. The file is a password stealer rather than what it claimed to be.

Is antivirus enough to protect my child's PC?

Not on its own. Antivirus reacts to a file once it is on the machine. Blocking the site before the download starts stops the problem earlier, and stops the malware calling home afterwards if something did slip through.

What is phishing, in simple terms?

A fake page that looks like a real login screen. A child types their password into what looks like their game account, and it goes straight to whoever built the copy.

Malware, scams, and phishing: keeping their device safe

A blocked security threat is good news. It means the site was stopped before it loaded. FamilyProtect blocks malware, phishing, scams, and the servers malware talks to, on every protected device, and it does so before anything is downloaded.

What counts as a security threat?

Malware and viruses, phishing pages that copy a real login screen, scam sites, spyware, and the command servers that infected machines report back to. FamilyProtect also blocks cryptomining sites and the algorithmically generated addresses that malware uses to hide.

This is the one category on your Blocked sites page that is about danger to the device rather than the content on it. It sits in the Serious level.

Why is it risky for kids?

Because the attack is aimed at exactly the thing children are best at: enthusiasm.

Nobody tricks a child into installing malware by telling them it is malware. They offer a free skin, a cheat, a way to get a game early, a hack for unlimited currency. The download instructions almost always include a step that says turn off your antivirus, because it will flag this as a false positive. A child who wants the thing badly enough will do it.

What arrives is usually a password stealer. It takes the game accounts first, then the email account those were registered with, then anything else that shares a password. Families often discover it when a sibling’s account is sold.

Phishing works the same way, one step earlier. A copy of a familiar login page, a child in a hurry, and the password is gone.

Does FamilyProtect block it?

Yes, at the point before any of it can start. When a device tries to reach a known malware host, a phishing page, or a scam site, the connection is blocked before the page loads. On Windows today, with macOS and Linux coming soon.

Two things make this different from antivirus. FamilyProtect stops the download from ever beginning, rather than inspecting a file that already reached the disk. And if something did get installed some other way, its attempts to phone home are blocked too, which is often how an infection is first noticed.

Your child sees a clean block page and no accusation.

What should I do if I see it?

For a single blocked threat, nothing. The system did its job, and blocked security threats are a normal part of using the internet.

Look instead at what was being attempted. Threats blocked on a school-night evening while a game was open, alongside entries labelled Unsafe download, tell a story worth asking about.

If you have reason to think something did get installed, change the passwords for the child’s game accounts and the email address used to register them, from a different device, and turn on two-step verification wherever it is offered.

How do I talk to my child about it?

Make it about being tricked rather than being careless. Nobody wants to feel stupid, and a child who feels stupid says nothing.

“Your PC blocked something nasty this week. That is the protection working. Were you trying to download anything?”
“If a download ever tells you to turn off your antivirus first, that is the tell. That is the whole trick.”
“If you think you typed your password somewhere odd, tell me straight away. It is fixable in ten minutes and unfixable in a week.”
“Free stuff online is usually paid for with something. Sometimes it is ads. Sometimes it is your account.”

Where to go next

This page is part of our guide to what FamilyProtect blocks. The single most common route to malware for children is covered in Roblox executors and game cheats, and the tricks used to start the download are in deceptive ads and scams aimed at kids.

For the technical detail, read how DNS protection works on Windows. You can reach us any time through the contact form.