CYBER SAFETY Kids & Computers: Strategies on Cyberbullying and Personal Web Sites Mahwah Police Department Police Officer Rosario Zito
What is IM? Yahoo! Messenger America Online Instant Messenger (AIM)
What is a Chatroom? Yahoo! Chat Room Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Knowing The Rules Before your child goes online, you should: Go over the rules of the online service Discuss house rules regarding computer use Usage time (per day/until when) What websites your child can visit What programs or services your child can use What parental controls will be used What information may be shared with others
Remember this: Chatroom Behavior Anything you say or type, no matter how private you think it is, or who you say it to, may be heard or seen by others You do not really know who you are talking to, even though they may talk like you or say they are the same age as you If you are on your parent s account, what you say or do might come back to them
Chatroom Behavior Before you put or if you have put personal information online your should tell an adult Information you give others can lead to you being contacted at your home or by telephone If you are contacted by someone that makes you uncomfortable, you need to let a parent or adult know immediately If you are in doubt of what to do and an adult is around, don t log off and show the adult If an adult is not around try to save the chat conversation, print it out, write down the screen name, and log off
Let s take a look at some profiles 123DOOM Name: Spencer Age: 14 Sex: Male I m 14, turning 15 in January. If not at the computer playing Doom or Diablo II, you can usually find me at the mall or skate park. My favorite song would have to be 50 cent, In Da Club Anything else you want to know, IM me, I don t bite..
Let s take a look at some profiles pink-princess Name: Katrina Age: 15 Sex: Female Hey, I'm Katrina! I m 15 but almost 16. Can t wait to drive! I'm 5'5 about 105. I m kinda shy, but once you get to know me I open up! Don't be afraid to message me... I'll talk to anyone unless you're a pervert!
Let s take a look at some profiles thatshot!!:p Name:Jenny Age: 14 Sex: Female Hey peeps, I m in eighth grade. I like chatting, field hockey, blogging, and just being around cute guys. I ve just started making money as a model. It s real easy. If ya want IM me and I ll tell ya how 2.
Convicted of Sexual Crimes. Sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison.
Why Would Someone Want your telephone/ cell #? Want your last name? Want a picture of you? How could they go about getting this information online?
Let s Take a Look at MySpace Real name Other personal information I know about Amanda I can harass her via email or AIM
Let s Take a Look at MySpace When creating you're space in myspace.com you don't have to answer all the questions AMANDA GREEN Even if you don t put your real name someone else might put it accidentally.
Google search found tikichic13 on the live journal website Here we find what sports Amanda might participate in
Another Example Lets look at how a predator can get information you didn t know was on the internet just using your screen name. Amanda01
Predators often snoop around chatrooms for potential victims. Victims don t even have to type anything!
By simply typing in Amanda s username a predator can determine if that teenager has created a profile. In this case AIM would even say if she is currently online and even what chatroom she is in.
A Profile can provide a considerable amount of information about a member.
In addition, a predator can harass and frighten by sending email or instant messages with a simple click of b tt
By Google selecting Groups the Advanced enables online Groups users to search Search for option newsgroup a predator can messages. narrow his search to isolate messages from Amanda.
By simply typing in her email a predator can search for all the messages that she has posted on any newsgroup.
The Profile page tells the predator how many messages Amanda has posted, where the messages were posted, when the messages were posted and provides the text of each message.
Messages may contain opinions or questions but are also used by many to conduct business or personal affairs - much like a local newspaper.
With a telephone number a predator can determine a last name and possibly an address.
This search revealed the last name of the person who has phone service for the number Amanda provided. It can be assumed that this is Amanda s phone number. Most of these services allow individuals to change or completely eliminate their personal data from the directories.
Useful and legitimate resources on the Internet can be misused. For instance, having Amanda s telephone number enables the predator to determine in what state she resides.
With a last name a predator is able to With search each for additional an address piece which of can be information, compared to the the predator acquired can phone make new searches number. using other services.
Regardless of how many results are shown, the predator can determine Amanda s address by scanning the results for the known phone number.
With her complete address a predator can even locate the home on a map.
A predator can even locate the closest school she is likely to attend.
The predator The results is taking will find pieces the schools of information on a all over the map internet and may like provide pieces a link of a to puzzle the and putting school s it all together. homepage.
Complete Information Gathered From the entire search we were able to determine: that she is female; her first and last name; her email account; that she likes seashells, rollerblading and English; that she has a baby brother; that she is looking for a Pink Razr phone; the mother s and brother s full name the home telephone number and possibly when the mother returns from work; her complete address; a map and directions on how to get to her house; and the nearest public school. Total search time: 45 minutes
Julie s Story
Online Safety Tips for Parents Talk to them about their internet usage and to report unusual activity to you (Even if they do something wrong they have to feel comfortable telling you) Keep the computer in a central room Choose a family oriented Internet provider that offers parental controls or blocking software Select non-descriptive screen names for children Remind them never provide their real name, phone # etc. to anyone online, and never agree to meet face to face without your permission Set reasonable guidelines for online usage Be familiar with people & websites your children frequently visit
What to do BEFORE something happens Various tools can be used to monitor or record you child s computer usage. All of these utilities require that you install it before an incident occurs. Alternatives to monitoring software: Enabling archiving in instant messaging programs Monitoring Internet History Monitoring websites your child visits and the content they post Enabling content filtering with your ISP or internet browser
What is Archiving? Archiving is an option, available in some instant messaging and chat programs, that enables the user to record or log all of the chats that occur using that program. This option is usually found under the preferences or options menu. It maybe called message archive or message history With an archiving feature enabled, chats are saved without any proactive steps taken by the user. Example: Your child is contacted via instant message and inappropriate acts are discussed. You child closes the window, but does tell you about the incident. With archiving enabled, you can go back to the archive and retrieve that chat converstation.
Retrieving Archived Yahoo! IM s Click the Contacts menu, Message Archive option, then select the abuser s screen name from the archive window
Monitoring Internet History History Button
MySpace Privacy Settings, among other things, contains options to limit who can send you friend requests, who can post to your blog, what user information is available to others, and making a profile private. IM Privacy Settings lets the user set who they allow to IM them: no one, friends, all.
Content Filtering Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs), such as AOL, Comcast, or Cablevision, offer parental controls or other types of content filtering Parental controls and content filtering can limit certain users to only permitted sites, restrict certain users from prohibited sites, or block access to sites containing certain terms These types of controls could also restrict what kind of activities a user can conduct including restricting program use, preventing installation of programs, etc.
Content Filtering - IE Internet Explorer has a built in Content Advisor that will give you the ability to limit users activities The Content Advisor can be password protected to prevent your child from changing the settings. Details about how the Content Advisor works and how to enable it can be found at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/se curity/contentadv/config.mspx Or conduct and internet search for internet explorer content advisor Other browsers may have similar options.
What to do if something happens If your child has been: Contacted via email, instant messenger or telephone by a stranger or someone who makes them uncomfortable Bullied, harassed, or stalked by someone online or in person Provided personal identifying information about themselves to strangers Take note or save information about the incident Screen name or email address Exact language of the chat or email may be significant Date and time of incident Services utilized (i.e. email, chat program, message board, etc)
Saving IM Communications If the message window is still open, you can save the message as a file. This file will contain the abuser s screen name and content of the conversation. The procedure to save the message is similar in most messenger programs.
Saving AIM Messages Click the File menu options, and select Save, enter the location and file name
Saving Chatroom Conversations Similar to saving IM chats, you may be able to save the chat session (i.e. File menu, Save options) If this option is not available, highlight all the text and save it to a text file An additional option is to print the chat session
Emails contain headers Email Headers As simple as TO/FROM addresses As complex as a list of every routing point along the Email s path from A to B Investigators can collect information at each point Trained investigators can analyze this information to find out where the email came from who sent it
Getting Email Headers Click Full Headers Link
Getting MSN / Hotmail Headers - Select Options - Mail Display Settings - Message Headers - Full Headers
MSN / Hotmail Headers
America Online Email Headers Click Details
Other Information If the incident involves MySpace be sure to note the MySpace display name (i.e. honey123) but also the MySpace Friend ID: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=17393909 When noting Screen name beware of hacker language (i.e. substitution of numbers or strange character for letters) Best practice would be to cut and paste the screen name to a text file to avoid any confusion 011100 vs OIIIOO 011100 vs OIIIOO
THE END Questions?
Contact Information Mahwah Police Department 201-529-1000 Police Officer Joe Horn jhorn@mahwahpd.org Police Officer Rosario Zito rzito@mahwahpd.org Detective Guido Bussinelli gbussinelli@mahwahpd.org www.mahwahpd.org