Avast Blog_Tips & Advices: Digital Sanity Summit: How to deal with cyberbullying

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Blake & Dave, co-founders of My Life Online, teach kids the right way to respond to cyberbullies

In our third post discussing the Digital Sanity Summit, we learn how to combat cyberbullying with a tactic that transforms potential harm into proactive healing.

The Digital Sanity Summit is a free online event from March 30-April 3 that features a panel of experts offering useful insights to help parents navigate how to raise kids in the digital age. Earlier this week, we posted about Avast’s Leena Elias and her Summit talk on how to keep families safe online, as well as the Council of Europe’s Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov and her tips for parents of tech-using kids.

Now, we switch over to the kids’ point of view. Enter Blake and Dave.

They are the co-founders of My Life Online, a program that reaches across schools and communities to teach children how to be safe, smart, and kind online. Their secret? They don’t talk down to the kids, and they don’t lecture them. Instead, they empower the kids by talking to them in their language, at their level. They teach about respect and decency online, and one of their lessons concerns how to deal with cyberbullying.

While kids cannot control the words or actions of a bully, they can control how they respond to those words or actions. “A new life skill that we believe kids need to be equipped with is how to handle haters,” says Blake. “So, we have this three-step approach to handling haters online.” The approach was designed for kids, but Blake and Dave invite grownups of all ages to apply it to any negative confrontations.

Blake & Dave’s 3-step response to cyberbullying

1. Rate the hate – In this first step, kids are encouraged to size up the nasty comment or hurtful act and assess whether it connotes a high level of hate or a low level. The advice is, “If it’s a high level of hate, let someone know. If it’s a low level of hate, let it go.” This process helps kids see the cyberbullying in an objective light right off the bat, which may help them avoid making a big deal out of nothing. If the hate is deemed severe, kids are urged to tell an adult right away. Usually, Blake says, the hate is rated somewhere in the middle, not too high and not too low. For those cases, we move on to steps 2 and 3.

2.- Write yourself an “I” message – This is an opportunity for the child to respond to their own hurt feelings while avoiding retaliation and escalation. They do this by writing a message to themselves, NOT to the bully. In their “I” message, they reverse and reframe the bully’s sentiments. For instance, if a child receives the message, “You’re dumb and ugly,” the “I” message in response could be “I’m smart and beautiful.” The child must write this message down so they can see it visually. Better yet, they’re urged to actually text the message to themselves, so that the very next message they get on their device is this positive affirmation. Seeing the positive words can undo some of the hurt from seeing the negative words.

3.- Write and send a “you” message – To further erase the negativity, kids then should write a message of positivity to a friend or family member. It could be words of encouragement, a compliment, a funny picture, a favorite song, or anything that will make the recipient smile. By doing this, the child who was just bullied empowers himself or herself to feel not like a victim, but like a force of positivity and good feelings.

The end result of these steps is that by avoiding retaliation, kids minimize flame wars that could get out of control and do serious damage. Instead, the online hate serves as a cue for kids to take care of themselves and to ask for help if they need it, as well as to spread positivity to others in their lives.
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Plus, some governments use cell phone data to track virus carriers and the U.S. considers more Wi-Fi access for all

Researchers discovered a flaw in the Zoom chat feature that could allow attackers to steal users’ Windows login credentials. Over the past month, as much of the population began working from home and discontinuing social gatherings, the number of Zoom video conferences has skyrocketed. Since 2020 began, 2 million new users have signed up with the service. People all over the world are using Zoom on a daily basis for work meetings, school sessions, social hours, and casual video chats. The sudden surge, however, has brought to light several privacy and security issues with Zoom protocol.

The latest vulnerability puts Zoom users on Windows systems at risk if they use the chat feature to view shared files. Bleeping Computer reported that when users share a file through the Zoom chat, Zoom converts that file to a hyperlink. When other users click that link, they are connected to a remote site to see the file. At the same time, their Windows login name and password are transmitted in the metadata. The password is hashed, but it easily can be cracked by a savvy hacker. Researchers at Bleeping Computer walked through the process and cracked the password within 16 seconds. Zoom has acknowledged the vulnerability and said they are working to address the issue. Avast security evangelist Luis Corrons applauds the quick efforts Zoom has made to mitigate the problems. “Vulnerabilities are found in all kinds of software,” noted Corrons. “The important thing is how the company behind the program reacts. In this respect, Zoom has stepped up to fix vulnerabilities and focus on the safety of their users.” Zoom founder and CEO Eric S. Yuan posted a message to users yesterday explaining the measures the company is taking.

FCC will vote on widening Wi-Fi spectrum

The United States Federal Communications Commission will vote later this month on new rules that would allow unlicensed devices – namely, private home routers – to operate in the 6 GHz band. “Cisco projects that nearly 60% of global mobile data traffic will be off-loaded to Wi-Fi by 2022,” commented FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “To accommodate that increase in Wi-Fi demand, the FCC is aiming to increase the supply of Wi-Fi spectrum with our boldest initiative yet: making the entire 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use.” The move would increase the spectrum available for Wi-Fi almost by a factor of five. “This would be a huge benefit to consumers and innovators alike,” Pai added. “It would be another step toward increasing the capacity of our country’s networks.”

This week’s stat

400 million – that’s how many Marriott guests had their personal information stolen in the hotel chain’s 2018 data breach.

Over 5 million at risk in new Marriott data breach

International hotel chain Marriott, which counts the W Hotel, Sheraton, and Courtyard among its brands, announced this week that an unauthorized user exploited the login credentials of two employees back in January and February this year, accessing information on more than 5 million guests. The hacked data includes names, birth dates, mailing addresses, and loyalty program details. CNN reported that no passwords or credit card information seem to have been compromised. The hotel chain says it is currently alerting those affected and setting up a website and call center as a resource for potential victims.

Texas med group hit by ransomware data breach

Medical network Affordable Urgent Care Clinic, based in Texas, reported that it discovered a ransomware incident on its servers on February 3. While the vulnerability that caused the incident has been removed, sensitive patient information has been compromised, including birth dates, medical records, insurance details, and Social Security numbers. Affordable stated that law enforcement has been brought in to investigate the incident and the ransom has not been paid. They are notifying affected patients by letter. According to SC Magazine, the notorious Maze ransomware group is behind the attack and, because Affordable did not pay the ransom, Maze has exposed some of Affordable’s sensitive information on its doxing website to pressure the group to pay.

This week’s quote

“Tech has the power to help us get through this rough stretch. Keeping conversations open about how we can use it best will help us better adapt to other situations in the future. “

Avast VP of Product Delivery Leena Elias, giving tips to keep your family safe online during the coronavirus crisis

FBI warns private industry of Kwampirs RAT

The FBI issued an alert to the private sector this week warning about the advanced persistent threat (APT) of the Kwampirs remote access Trojan (RAT). The FBI has been observing the Kwampirs RAT since 2016, as bad actors have been using it to conduct a global network exploitation campaign, particularly towards the industries of healthcare, energy, engineering, and software supply chains. The RAT burrows into networks where it facilitates secondary malware infections. The FBI calls special attention in the alert to current attacks on the healthcare industry, saying the RAT is infecting systems through infected hardware products and compromised software supply chains. The FBI uses the alert to share guidance on best security practices to defend against the threat.

Governments use cell phone tracking to manage virus lockdown

To keep track of citizens infected with the coronavirus, some governments have turned to cell phone location tracking. Reuters reported that mobile carriers have been sharing their data with health authorities in Italy, Germany, and Austria to map the movements of infected cases. The aggregated data is said to be anonymized, per GDPR regulations. The Verge reported that in addition to European countries, Israel, China, Taiwan, and South Korea have also been using location data to manage the spread of the pandemic. So far, there have been no reports of U.S. authorities using location tracking.
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