Cyber Safety Overview

This year, 2020, is quite different for so many reasons; notably, Covid 19. Covid-19 has moved people indoors, requiring us to perform work and school from home for most of the calendar year. Some businesses have managed to thrive during 2020, including the mobile phone and PC business. Yes, the PC (personal computer) is popular again, and PC usage continues to increase. This is good news for companies that make PC’s, PC hardware, software and peripherals. “Customers are using Windows PCs to stay productive, connect and learn in this time. In fact, over 4 trillion minutes are being spent on Windows 10 a month, a 75% increase year on year,” Panos Panay, Microsoft’s chief product officer, wrote in a blog post on Monday. Windows had nearly 87% share of the PC operating system market in April, according to NetMarketShare, and in March, Microsoft said it had reached 1 billion active Windows 10 devices. Cell phone usage is also on the rise. User’s are spending more time logging into their social media and are spending longer on social media with each use. Internet technology has impacted our lives since its inception. Each device provides another opportunity for exposure to harmful cyber […]

Bullying Differences and Similarities

I am aware that some people have a difficult time making a distinction between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, so let us discuss these aggression types and add clarification. I confess to being born in the late 70’s. When I was in grade school, the coolest advance in technology was the Boom Box (Google it) Walkie Talkie or the portable cassette player with earphones. Pictures were taken on portable cameras, either using a polaroid camera or captured on a roll of film. Cell phones did not exist and call waiting had not been invented yet. The number of kids per class were approximately 25, there were a few hundred kids on campus and the number of bullies on campus seemed quite minimal. The school-yard bully seemed like a kid’s worst nightmare. This type of bully generally victimized others by teasing, threatening, belittling, committing acts of physical violence, vandalizing, taking personal items by force or coercion. We will call this bully, the Traditional Bully. The Traditional Bully would usually carry out these aggressions on school property, buses, bus stops or school sponsored events. The number of victims that the Traditional Bully would interact with was limited to those within a physical proximity […]