Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 29 July 2019
Girls are bearing the brunt of a rise in U.S. cyberbullying

By SALLY HO said they were bullied on-
Associated Press line, compared with 6% of
SEATTLE (AP) — Rachel boys.
Whalen remembers feeling The survey does not ad-
gutted in high school when dress who the aggressors
a former friend would mock are, though girls were more
her online postings, threat- likely to note that their bul-
en to unfollow or unfriend lies were perceived to have
her on social media and the ability to influence oth-
post inside jokes about her ers.
to others online. Lauren Paul, founder of
The cyberbullying was so the Kind Campaign, said
distressing that Whalen said 90% of the stories she hears
she contemplated suicide. while working in schools are
Once she got help, she of girls bullied by other girls.
decided to limit her time The California-based non-
on social media. It helps profit launched a decade
to take a break from it for ago to focus on "girl against
perspective, said Whalen, girl" bullying through free
now a 19-year-old college In this Monday, July 22, 2019 photo, Rachel Whalen looks at her phone at her home in Draper, educational programming
student in Utah. Utah. that reaches about 300
There's a rise in cyberbully- Associated Press schools a year.
ing nationwide, with three Paul recalls meeting one
times as many girls report- sphere that is all about at- al school superintendents But in that two-year span, girl who was obsessive
ing being harassed online tention," Whalen said. "This association. cyberbullying reports in- about her social media ac-
or by text message than social media acceptance That change partly came creased significantly, from counts because a group of
boys, according to the Na- — it just makes sense to me along with broader cyber- 11.5% to 15.3%. girls excluded her if she did
tional Center for Education that it's more predominant bullying laws, which have Broken down by gender, not get enough likes or fol-
Statistics. amongst girls." been adopted in states like 21% of girls in middle and lows in any given week. She
The U.S. Department of Edu- Many school systems that Texas and California in re- high school reported be- went so far as to painstak-
cation's research and data once had a hands-off ap- cent years. ing bullied online or by ingly create fake profiles
arm this month released its proach to dealing with off- The survey showed about text message in the 2016- just to meet her quota.
latest survey, which shows campus student behavior 20%, or one in five students, 17 school year, compared "Most of the time — if not
an uptick in online abuse, are now making cyberbul- reported being bullied, with less than 7% of boys. almost all the time — it's
though the overall num- lying rules, outlining punish- ranging from rumors or be- That's up from the previous about what's going on with
ber of students who report ments such as suspension ing excluded to threats survey in 2014-15, the first other girls," Paul said. "It's this
being bullied stayed the or expulsion, according to and physical attacks in the time cyberbullying data longing to be accepted by
same. Bryan Joffe, director of ed- 2016-17 school year. That's was collected this specifi- their female peers specifi-
"There's just some pressure ucation and youth devel- unchanged from the previ- cally. Back then, about 16% cally and feeling broken if
in that competitive atmo- opment at AASA, a nation- ous survey done in 2014-15. of girls between 12 and 18 they don't."q

British cyber expert to be sentenced for creating malware

and accused him of creat- ops malware attacks and and the U.S. Probation Of-
ing malware to steal bank- works to stop them, but fice are sealed.
ing passwords — charges that does not diminish the Hutchins was indicted on
for which he will be sen- seriousness of what he did, 10 charges for developing
tenced Friday. prosecutors said. While his two pieces of malware and
"It is this darker side of case was pending, pros- lying to the FBI. Prosecutors
Hutchins' life that brings him ecutors barred Hutchins said Hutchins conspired to
before the Court for sen- from returning home, so he distribute the malware —
tencing in this case," prose- worked as a cybersecurity UPAS Kit and Kronos — from
cutors said in a filing ahead consultant in California. 2012 to 2015 and that he
of his sentencing hearing in "Like a man who spent years sold Kronos to someone in
federal court in Milwaukee. robbing banks, and then Wisconsin. He also "person-
The filing makes no sen- one day came to realize ally delivered" the software
tencing recommendation, that was wrong, and even to someone in California,
only that it "should be suf- worked to design better se- prosecutors said. Hutchins
This Monday, May 15, 2017, file photo shows Marcus Hutchins,
a British cybersecurity expert during an interview in Ilfracombe, ficient, though not greater curity systems, he deserves initially pleaded not guilty
England. than necessary." Prosecu- credit for his epiphany. But to all charges and was
Associated Press tors note Hutchins accept- he still bears responsibility scheduled to go on trial this
ed responsibility for his ac- for what he did," prosecu- month. As part of the plea
By IVAN MORENO oper was about to catch tions during a plea deal in tors said. deal, Hutchins pleaded
Associated Press up to him. April , and they also gave Hutchins, who was arrested guilty to two charges for
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Just as FBI agents had been in- him credit for his role in in Las Vegas on Aug. 2, creating Kronos — and an
Marcus Hutchins was hailed vestigating the 25-year-old finding a "kill switch" to the 2017 as he was about to updated version of UPAS —
as a hero for helping stop a British cybersecurity wun- WannaCry virus . board a flight to England, and conspiring to distribute
worldwide computer virus derkind for years. Less than He faces up to 10 years in also faces deportation. it. In exchange, prosecutors
in May 2017, his criminal two months after his claim prison. Presentencing documents dismissed the other eight
past as a malware devel- to fame, they arrested him Hutchins no longer devel- from Hutchins' attorneys charges.q