Mobile Security News archives
Chisholm Schools take on cyber-bullying
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsTuesday, July 27th, 2010
FOX 21 News
CHISOLM - The Chisholm School District is cracking down on cyber bullying.
Approved at Monday night’s school board meeting, any bullying which takes place through text, facebook or other social media, will not be tolerated.
Says superintendent, James Varichak, “The courts say that you have to assume that, that bullying is taking place at school, too. And, so we have to be into the public more than we had before. Before, we used to be on our own little island, taking care of what happened on school grounds. That’s not the case any longer.”
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Students ‘sexting’ pose problems
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsMonday, July 26th, 2010
By Michael Rizzo
Buffalo News
The principal of Lewiston-Porter Middle School recently suspended several of his male students who passed along a sexually illicit video—created on a cell phone — after school hours.
Principal Vincent Del’Osso investigated the students upon receiving reports of their behavior, Lew-Port Superintendent Chris Roser said, and police were notified.
“Nothing shocks me anymore,” Roser said, “but it’s a disappointment. And it’s disappointing that it keeps happening younger and younger. It’s just as vile and disgusting as it would be for older people.”
It seems the days of passing love notes that say, “Check yes or no” are on the way out, school officials said, and the advent of sexy-texts, or sexting, is posing a new batch of problems for administrators.
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‘Sexting’ surges nationwide, and it’s not just teens doing it
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsWednesday, July 21st, 2010
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily Record
Teen “sexting” is on the rise, but teens aren’t the only age group sending naked pictures of themselves to others via text message.
In a new survey of 1,017 teens and 1,049 parents nationwide, 28 percent of the parents say they engage in sexting, including sending texts with sexual content or nude pictures of themselves.
Charles Sophy, a child and family psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, Calif., says many of his patients who are parents engage in sexting, and not always with their partners.
“It’s a new and exciting way, for lack of a better term, to explore and express themselves when marriages are in bad spots,” says Sophy, who is on the advisory council for LG Text Ed, a program of LG Mobile Phones, sponsor of the survey.
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Schools and parents have a role in ending cyberbullying
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsWednesday, July 21st, 2010
The Washington Post
LACK OF MATURITY, lack of supervision, and technology that can transmit messages instantly to millions of people: This is the volatile cocktail that lies at the root of cyberbullying. Today’s high school and middle school students have been texting, e-mailing, instant messaging and posting on Facebook since they could reach a keyboard. But when this extensive technological knowledge combines with the raging hormones, limited impulse control and failure to understand consequences that mark the teenage years, the results can be devastating.
Cyberbullies can be popular “mean girls” or tech-savvy loners who use their skills to wreak havoc on a social hierarchy that excludes them. Bullying can be intentional or inadvertent — a message accidentally forwarded, a remark taken out of context. It can be a minor annoyance or, drawing in strangers through hate speech or provocative images, it can escalate far beyond the schoolyard. Because of all these factors, it is difficult to craft a one-size-fits-all rule or policy.
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Stopping cyberbullying in Albany County
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsTuesday, July 13th, 2010
Mean or threating messages can appear on your phone or on the computer. They can be sent from people you probably already know. It’s called cyberbullying and some local teens say they’ve been victims of it.
“Text messages,” said one teen who’s recieved them. “Not so much on the computer but over cell phones.”
A group of incoming Bethlehem High freshmen say teasing and bullying have moved online. It’s something these students actually studied in middle school. They say it’s easy for kids to hide behind a computer.
Cyber Bullying: Take action when high-tech harassment occurs
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsMonday, July 12th, 2010
TH Online
Bullying’s not just for playgrounds anymore.
Today’s bully has made harassment high-tech.
“According to research, over 40 percent of teens with Internet access report being cyber-bullied,” said Tabethe Schemmel, a violence prevention educator with the Riverview Center, in Dubuque. “A lot of kids feel they can do the cyber bullying because they can be anonymous.”
Cyber bullying occurs when someone repeatedly harasses, mistreats or makes fun of another person online or while using cell phones or other electronic devices.
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Cyberbullying and sexting bills are signed into law
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsFriday, July 9th, 2010
Bills making it a crime for one youth to send suggestive electronic pictures to another or to use chat rooms and other computer-assisted methods to threaten or bully a person younger than 17 have been signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal and will take effect Aug. 15.
House Bill 1259 by Rep. Roy Burrell, D-Shreveport, is designed to crack down on “cyberbullying,” while House Bill 1357 by Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma, outlaws “sexting,” or sending suggestive photos by e-mail, computer or other electronic means.
Burrell’s bill makes it a crime to send harassing or abusive messages meant to “torment or intimidate” anyone under 17.
Banks must wake up to mobile virus threat - Ovum
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsTuesday, July 6th, 2010
Banks offering m-payment services need to start working with mobile network operators and handset manufacturers to improve security in anticipation of increased malware threats, according to analyst house Ovum.
Ovum argues that mobile banking is inherently vulnerable because handsets are liable to be lost, stolen or hacked and are used in situations that are less secure than sitting in an office or at a home computer.
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Cyberbullying is so bad that it drives some kids to suicide
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsThursday, July 1st, 2010
The arrest of a young boy at my kids’ elementary school just before school let out for the summer caused quite stir in the community. The 12-year-old was taken into custody after apparently bringing a “hit list” of students he reportedly intended to “kill, injure, or let go.”
Authorities, tipped off about the sixth grader’s notebook list by another student, discovered it in his locker. Sources say the journal was eloquently written but appeared to fall apart toward the end as the boy evidently contemplated suicide.
Police who interviewed the boy, new to the school district, found him to be very articulate, polite, and well-spoken. Like so many other children, he supposedly came from a broken home where the environment was presumably as stressful as that in school.
Increased mobility, increased risk
Filed Under: Mobile Security NewsThursday, July 1st, 2010
By Kathleen Else
Computerworld
Network World - The mobility and remote-access boom is technology powered but business driven. As small and midsize businesses (SMB) increasingly look toward technology to help them rebound in 2010, improved mobility solutions, greater employee productivity and a growing social media presence are all key strategies. Empowering employees with remote access can help SMBs thrive — allowing them to improve customer service and add agility to their business model.
But increasing mobility also means increased risk to security of computing systems, data and the welfare of the very businesses that use mobile devices. We know, for example, that growing use of social networking and video-sharing Web sites increases network exposure to viruses and malware. And contacting those sites via roving laptops or handheld devices, which tend to be harder to secure, only exacerbates the risk.
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