Dangers of Social Media that was presented by Alex Berta at Level 10 Technology. If you found this slideshow useful please feel free to either reach out to me or send me a message.
2. ALEXANDER BERTA
VCIO
Alexander is a cyber security professional that provides cyber & information security, threat intelligence, penetration testing, digital
forensics and incident response for clients and businesses of all sizes. He is a certified digital forensics examiner where he has
assisted on investigations involving identification, analysis and presentation of data.
He spent his early years studying the methodologies of hacking collectives around the world and gained a rare insight into how
they operate. Alexander has been mentioned in books such as “Art of Intrusion” by Kevin Mitnick, “2600: The Hackers Quarterly” by
Emmanuel Goldstein and “Private Security Today” by Dr. Carter Smith. Alexander has devoted his life’s work to help thwart network
intrusion efforts and expose methodologies of various threat actors.
Hi Everyone, we are Level 10 Technology
D a n g e r s o f S o c i a l M e d i a
Welcome!
3. Dangers Of Social Media
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Why Are We Here
A Childs Footprint
Human Trafficking
Sextortion
Online Predators
How To Stay Protected
Q&A
Social Media
5. 8 Years & Younger
At 8 Years & Younger Your Child Maybe
Viewing Videos, Playing Some Games Or
Browsing Sites On Their Own
A Childs Footprint Online
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6. 10 Years Old
Playing Online Games With Friends.
Most Games Are Rated Teen Or
Higher.
They Are Also Used As Recruitment
Tools By Online Predators & Nation
State Actors.
11 Years Old
Average Age Of A Young Cell
Phone Owner Is 11 Years Old.
They Have An Email Address,
Texting & More.
12 Years Old
Research Has Long Established That
Children Who Watch Movies Or
Listen To Music Glamorize Drinking,
Drugs Use Or Violence Are More
Likely To Engage In Those Behaviors
Themselves.13 Years Old
Children Are Now Allowed To Sign
Up To Social Media. Their Footprint
Begins To Grow.
Children Are Now Being Connected
To Anyone & EVERYONE
7. 14 Years Old
Your child is now taking photos,
videos and posting them online.
Little do they know the images and
videos they are posting they can
never get back.
15 Years Old
Children are now desensitized
by various violent and sexual
acts.
Children are contacted by
people twice their age asking
for sexual contact.
9. Allows communication over wireless
Communication is not logged like a normal text message
Communication is based off screen names or handles
Strangers can communicate directly with your child
Kik & WhatsAPP
In the past couple of weeks, police have linked the KiK
app to at least five serious crimes involving children in the
past two weeks, including the murder of 13-year-old
Nicole Madison Lovell -- allegedly by two 19-year-old
Virginia Tech students -- and an incident in Alabama
where a man attempted to check a 14-year-old girl out of
school. He was charged with statutory rape and attempted
kidnapping. (ABC 2016)
KIK ANNOUNCED THEY WILL BE SHUTTING DOWN
Over 1,000 Sexual Abuses Cases Reported In The USA & UK
10. ooVoo MobileooVoo is a high-quality video chat application. Think Facetime or Skype. It allows people to
connect with up to 12 friends at one time and video chat or have a voice call. You can download
it on an iPad, iTouch, iPhone, Android phone, etc.
Allows 12 people to talk in a group.
These people can use chat or video to
communicate.
Group Messenger
With over 100 million users, offenders
are taking a strong interest in this social
network.
Child Offenders
Law enforcement have notified
parents in the past not to allow their
children to use this social network
Law Enforcement
11. Allows communication over wireless
Allows pictures and short videos to be sent over wireless
Messages disappear after a few seconds
Strangers can send pictures and videos directly to your child
SnapChat
Snapchat can be compared to the Wild, Wild West of
the olden days. There are very few rules, no real
way to moderate what is going on, and any evidence
of inappropriate behavior is quickly wiped away. With
no paper trail, and no way to trace what is being sent
across the servers, parents can easily be taken off
guard, and young children who can not yet moderate
their own activity can easily be harmed by use of the
application.
12. Allows communication over wireless
Encrypted chat and self-destructing SMS
Once a message is deleted it’s gone forever
Used by various crime organizations for recruiting
Wickr
13. Many times pre-teens and teens give away personal information that
should not be shared
All information begins as viewable by the public unless you change the
settings to private.
Make sure your child or teen is not revealing their location on their photos.
You can turn off geo-tagging in the settings under Location Services.
Instagram is another social platform; therefore, your teen can become friends with strangers posing as another
teen.
Instagram
14. Kids who enter an age during registration that's under 13 will be blocked from registering.
Teens 13 and older must enter a first and last name, e-mail, date of birth, gender and zip
code to register. Profiles on the site are very public, unless users opt to make them private;
and the site activities were designed to encourage meeting new people.
Why Is It Dangerous
15. The app is rated ages 17+ but Tinder's privacy policy allows
teens as young as 13 to register (the app connects with
Facebook — which is also technically for ages 13+ — to pull in
photos for users' Tinder profiles). Tinder helps people find
others in their geographic location and allows users to view
each others' photos and start instant messaging once both
people have "liked" one another. The geo-location features and
anonymous nature of the app put kids at risk for catfishing,
sexual harassment, stalking, and worse.
Why Is It Dangerous
16. 13 Years Old To Sign Up
Users Can Create Short Videos 3 To 60 Seconds Long
Users Are Allowed To Connect With Any Other Use
Strangers can send pictures and videos directly to your child
TikTok
Thirteen is the minimum age, but there isn’t a real way to validate age so anyone can
download the app. Also, parents express concern that there is a lot of inappropriate
language in the videos so it’s not appropriate for young children. Lastly, by default, all
accounts are set to public so strangers can contact your children.
Why Is It Dangerous
17. Does Ad Tracking & Analytics On Users
Has EVERY Kind Of Content
Community Can Be Toxic To Other Users
YouTube
Inappropriate content has been sliced into both all-ages content and children’s content.
Also, comments on videos can be extremely inappropriate and hurtful. YouTube also
has a known pedophile problem which is major cause for concern.
YouTube is changing the way they are doing things after being fined by the FTC for over
$170 million for Ad Tracking and Selling Minors information.
Why Is It Dangerous
18. Tellonym is a regular occurrence to see cyber bullying, violent threats, and sexual
content. It also offers unmonitored access to the internet. The age restrictions are
inconsistent ranging from 12 to 16, but this app is inappropriate for anyone younger
than being in their late teens.
Why Is It Dangerous
19. Facebook pages or communities
repost images that are found of
children online
Child Exploitation
Facebook has been used to transport, sell,
and trade humans on the internet. These
chats are often done in the open using code
words and terms.
HumanSex Trafficking
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place
using electronic technology. Examples
of cyberbullying include mean text
messages or emails, rumors sent by
email or posted on social networking
sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos,
websites, or fake profiles.
Cyber Bullying
Know what your child is on and who they
are talking to. Also monitor their usage on
social media. Do not allow your child to
connect with strangers or people that they
do not know.
Stay Protected
20. How To Stay Protected
1. Understand Your Privacy Settings
- Search Settings
- Photo Settings
- Applications and Websites
2. Don’t Friend People You Don’t Know
It should be obvious, but know the people
You are friends with. Criminals often use fake
Profiles to send spam, or worse, steal personal
Information or gain access to your computer.
3. Think Twice About Applications
Applications can often pull information
about your account including name,
address, phone contacts, email contacts
and more.
21. How To Stay Protected
4. Understand Your Geolocation
Facebook uses Geolocation services
That track and monitor your every
Move. This application is called
Facebook Places and can be turned on
Or off in Privacy Settings.
5. Don’t Overshare
What's the best way to preserve your privacy?
The experts agree: Be conservative with what
you share. Things like your home address, your
family members, and your birthday are all easy
pickings for identity thieves. It's harder to retract
information than to simply not share at all.
23. The Facts
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.04%
Estimates suggest that,
internationally, only about .04%
survivors of human trafficking
cases are identified, meaning
that most cases of human
trafficking go undetected.
Avg. Age
12- 14
The average age a teen enters
the sex trade in the US is 12 to
14 years old. Many victims are
runaway girls who were sexually
abused as children.
How Many People?
It’s estimated that internationally there are between 20
million and 40 million people in modern slavery today.
Assessing the full scope of human trafficking is difficult
because so cases so often go undetected, something the
United Nations refers to as “the hidden figure of crime.”
$150 Billion
Industry
In 2018
In 2018, The National Human Trafficking Hotline received
more calls from California than any other state in the US,
followed by Texas and Florida, respectively. (To contact the
Human Trafficking Hotline: call 1-888-373-7888, text 233733,
or chat online.)
71%Women & Girls
29%Men & Boys
Globally, an estimated 71% of
enslaved people are women and
girls, while men and boys
account for 29%
$99 Billion
Commercial Sexual
Exploitation
24. Types of Trafficking
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- #1 Organized Crime
Organization
- #1 State California
Trafficked State
- #1 Knoxville, TN In
Prevention
- #1 USA Largest Consumer
In Trafficking
Data
Labor Trafficking
Globally, the
International Labour Organization
estimates that there are 20.1 million
people trapped in forced labor.
Sex Trafficking
The International Labour
Organization estimates that there are
40.3 million victims of
human trafficking globally.
Organ Trafficking
It is estimated that the illegal organ
trade conservatively generates
approximately $840 million to $1.7
billion annually
28. Demographics
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Adult Minor Unknown
Demographic
Female Male Unknown
Gender
Latino
Asain
White
African, African-American, Black
Multi-Racial
Top 5
Race/
Ethnicity
29. Level 10 Technology
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0-8 Yr 9-11 Yr 12-14 Yr 15-17 Yr 18-20 Yr 21-23 Yr 24-26 Yr 27-29 Yr 30-32 Yr 33-35 Yr 36-38 Yr 39-47 Yr 48+
Age At Time – Sex Or Labor Trafficking Began
Sex Labor
Average Age Of Exploitation
Sex – 12 Years Old
Labor – 14 Years Old
Average Age
S
u
r
v
i
v
o
r
s
34. Level 10 Technology
Child ID Program
Now there’s a free new tool from the FBI that can help. The Child ID app—the first mobile
application created by the FBI—provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and
vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show
the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police
officers on the spot. Using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily e-mail the
information to authorities with a few clicks.
The app also includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in
those first few crucial hours after a child goes missing.
350 million users. Banned in various countries around the world.
Explicit sexual content, unintended location-sharing, and exposure to explicit information about drugs and alcohol.
Schools have also blocked access to these apps and are cracking down on messenger apps.
Children are getting smart and using VPN programs on phones and laptops to get around these issues.
ooVoo provides its own problems.
This app allows up to 12 people to talk in a group. They can use video or text to communicate.
With over 100 million users we are starting to see offenders taking a strong interest in this social platform
Law enforcement agencies have posted warnings across the globe to parents to tell them to keep their children off this social network.
SnapChat is a message picture service that allows people to send pictures to friends for a short time and then they are remove from their mobile devices.
It's a myth that Snapchats go away forever.
App developers have made programs like SnapperBrute that allow someone to recover all your photos from SnapChat.
Like other social media companies SnapChat stores all videos and pictures forever.
Wickr is a beast it uses point to point encryption for communication and is often used by people who want to talk “offline”. These messages can not be traced, recovered or tracked.
Wickr is used by various crime organizations including ISIS to recruit people.
1. Get involved. If your children are using Instagram, then you should be using Instagram as well. By default, anyone can hover over your child’s profile and view info unless you change the settings.
2. You need to sign up for an account and start using the platform. You will realize that photos can be shared on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter.
3. You also need to make sure your child adds your name to their friend’s list. (Yes, they will tell you that no one else has their parent’s on their friend’s list. It just isn’t fair! Do you believe that?)
4. Porn is very easy to find
5. Posts are often shared, copies and reposted
MeetMe is a website used by adults. It has millions of people using this site from all walks of life.
There are groups that go from Gaming to Adult Content.
This site is not OK for children to use.
Other sites that are like this site are OKCupid, Plenty of Fish (POF), and every other dating website that’s online.
Reports so there are an alarming rate of children signing up for these sites
There is no reason your child should be on this app or site.
Terms of service says you have to be 13 years old to sign up, but Tinder is used for random encounters with strangers and online dating.
Lets talk about staying protected
Understand your privacy settings. All social media sites have some kind of privacy setting on them but most people don’t use them.
Change your search settings
Change your photo settings
Restrict Applications and Websites (Apps on websites)
Don’t friend people you don’t know.
Criminals will often use fake profiles to gain trust, send spam, or worse and steal your personal information. A child’s identity sells for 2x more then a regular identify online.
Think twice about applications
Some websites will ask you to sign in on Facebook, Google, Twitter or other mediums.
When someone does this, they are allowing that site or app to potentially gain access to their accounts. Popular apps that do this are things like Farmville, Mafia Wars, Candy Crush and Pet Rescue Saga.
Facebook allows you to remove these apps on your main profile page or edit settings for them. Twitter and Google are a bit harder to remove these settings.
Understand Geolocation
- Never check-in at home. You don't want people easily knowing when you’re not home, so leave this location off your list. Besides, you don't want most strangers to know where you live in the first place.
- Never check-in at a friend’s or family member’s home. Updating your status with “Hanging out at Mike's” might seem like casual fun, but you’re essentially compromising their privacy as if you’d checked in at home.
Don’t link to Twitter or phone number. Unlike Facebook, which requires you to be a friend with someone for them to see your updates, Twitter feeds are usually public (although you can set your feed to private as well).
Don’t Overshare
- Be careful with the information that you share. Remember that there are eyes watching everything you post online.