{"id":1511,"date":"2022-02-04T17:33:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T00:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2022-02-04T17:34:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T00:34:00","slug":"how-sextortion-impacts-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/isec-601-f21\/2022\/02\/04\/how-sextortion-impacts-us\/","title":{"rendered":"How Sextortion Impacts Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is evident to say that our generations have constantly been evolving as our technology has developed. With the advanced technology improvement, people are more likely to be exposed to various digital crime compared to the past. One of the well-known digital crimes is blackmailing, leading to cause severe consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/beware_sextortion\/5796\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Blackmailing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackmail is an act of threatening to reveal or publicize true or false information about a person or people until the demands are met[2]<\/sup>. A blackmailer will threaten to publish an explicit private image online unless their demands are met[1]<\/sup>. They usually demand goods such as money, and anyone can be targeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Sextortion a Problem?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sextortion is an emerging type of blackmail\/extortion that frequently happens on online. It appears to be a severe worldwide problem since overall internet usage has increased during the pandemic. Being exposed to the internet has a much greater chance for people to enter unidentified websites. Once clicking these types of websites, the devices will be hacked, possibly leaking one’s private information to those who take advantage of others’ precious personal data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many cases of sextortion happen on a dating website[1]<\/sup>. A scammer attempts to gain the victim’s trust first. As they earn the victim’s trust, they ask for explicit photos or videos. With the pictures or videos received, they threaten victims in order to achieve what they want (mostly money)[1]<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another method of obtaining victim’s personal information is hacking victim’s webcam and recording any explicit videos of them[3]<\/sup>. This is done by hacking into security systems and gaining access to the victim’s webcam\/devices. This is a serious problem because even though our devices\/webcam have been hacked, we would not realize that we had been hacked, and it would be too late when being aware of it and trying to fix the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2016-05-sextortion-cyber-crime-common.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are at risks?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone can be a victim of sextortion. A survey has been conducted with 2,006 participants. Of male respondents, 4.5% have experienced sextortion since the pandemic started, while women respondents are 2.3%[1]<\/sup>. Furthermore, the age groups have been said that more than 5% of respondents ages 18 to 29 have been victims of sextortion, while 4% are aged 30 to 40 years. Lastly, 3% are aged 41 to 64 years[1]<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/914983.smushcdn.com\/2254390\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Deceptive-site-ahead-warning-1024×576.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preventions\/Solutions?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since hackers are not generous, they will look for any victim, regardless of their age, gender, and status. Not even guaranteeing that children can be victims as they are exposed to social media from a young age. However, to both adults and children, being educated will help them not become the victims of this terrible crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n