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INFORMATION technology specialist Ravi Jayasundera aims to pull the plug on cybercriminals by staging free internet safety awareness sessions at schools in order to educate youngsters on how to better protect themselves and their families from hackers and predators.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the field, the Sri Lankan founder of Sysprove Consulting, a business process and strategic IT consultancy based in Bahrain, has worked with both government and private sector organisations on their strategic usage of IT and information security.
The 49-year-old British Computer Society (BCS) and Chartered Institute for IT member is passionate about assisting people on how to protect themselves online. Ravi said; “Sadly, children are often targeted online. Before there used to be one computer in a household, usually located in a common place, which made it easier for parents to monitor what their kids were doing. “Now, with smart phones and tablets, children have more access and sometimes don’t realise when they have stumbled on a predator or hacker.
“That is why I have devoted my time during the summer to prepare presentations for children.” When he isn’t busy helping clients such as King Hamad University Hospital, the Ministry of Education and BAPCO enhance their network, he performs extensive research on internet safety, holding workshops and lectures to empower various professionals with the necessary tools to use.
Ravi has also led lectures at the University of Strathclyde in the UK where he graduated with an MBA. His next step will be to visit various schools with lectures customised to cater to children of all ages.
He said: “I am planning on visiting schools to create awareness to children, teachers and parents. I’ve already conducted presentations for various professionals including the Bahrain British Business Forum and am adapting the awareness sessions to focus on kids.
“Each age group must be approached differently, just like in school. The awareness levels, types of tools used and web sites accessed by each age group is different. Hence the threats faced by each age group are also very diverse although there are some common themes.
“I am passionate about this as I am a father myself and have educated my teenage daughter Piyumi on how to protect herself online. I get calls from different friends as well when they have questions revolving around this topic.”
In his workshops, Ravi will cover the threats that children are exposed to and provide specific guidelines on how to prevent heinous acts from happening to them.
“I will teach them how to take precautionary measures or what to do if one is subject to an attack with follow-up activities. I will also cover guidelines for parents and teachers on how to treat each age group specifically, to look out for threats, how to keep in touch with technology and so on.”
Ravi believes his daughter Piyumi, 19, a former British School of Bahrain student who is now studying law at The Hague University, in the Netherlands, is better prepared for the future.
He said: “I feel she and some of her friends who I have helped understand the associated risks and the precautions to take, are better prepared. Although, often she informs me of new methods as well, calling me and asking whether I am aware of this new threat.
“Cyber safety must be a collective effort and sharing of information is key between various parties, as in parents, teachers, kids between friends and schools.
“This is due to the fact that the technologies are changing rapidly. One party cannot know or comprehend every new concept or tool, which is why sharing of information is vital. For example, online grooming is increasing.”
Online grooming is a term used to describe sneaky strangers befriending children in order to take advantage of them often for sexual purposes. Groomers may go to a social network used by young people and pretend to be one of them. They might attempt to gain trust by using fake profile pictures, pretending to have similar interests, offering gifts and saying nice things before luring victims into nightmare situations.
Ravi added: “While we as parents take care to protect children from physical threats, the threats through online channels can slip past us. It is vital for both parents and kids to be aware of these threats and to take precautions. Also, if someone becomes a victim of these predators they need to know what’s to be done.”
Another crime parents should be aware of is revenge porn. “Teens and even adults unfortunately fall prey to this,” he said. “It’s a serious issue. Kids take pictures and videos of friends and can use them to humiliate one another by putting them up on these sites.
“Even if you pay to get it down you cannot. There are some sites that even the government cannot bring down.
“Parents need to explain to their children not to share such pictures because cyber shaming and bullying is at large. It really is sad and can hurt.”
Ransomware is another thing that children and parents need to be aware of. This type of malware restricts access to a computer system as it infects it and demands are made on the user to pay a ransom to remove it.
He explained: “As I said, children don’t always know what they are downloading or installing. This goes for many adults too. This kind of malware can freeze your computer and unless you pay the criminal you will not have access to anything.
“I would suggest appointing a member of the family, perhaps one of the teens, as a family security advisor. It is their job to make sure mum, for example, has the right privacy settings on her social media accounts and that the computer’s virus software is updated.
“If you give a child this role then he or she will feel in control and responsible to read up and search on their own to protect their family, which also empowers them to educate themselves.”
Ravi believes that the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority in Bahrain is doing its best by offering various services and even a helpline for people to report abuses or crimes. However, he also has offered GulfWeekly readers some useful tips on how to take matters into their own hands and even prevent trouble from ever happening to begin with.
Follow these guidelines and it can be the start for safe surfing because unfortunately, this virtual world has no boundaries. The internet’s anonymity, speed and convenience allow criminals to commit a diverse range of illegal activities including leaking data from large-scale corporations to exploiting children and identity theft.
Ravi added: “IT has become an integral part of our life. Whether it is the use of IT systems at the workplace, or the use of social media or other tools at a personal level, our dependence on IT has grown over the years.
“While there are many benefits, IT has exposed us to a multitude of challenges as well. These include identify theft, credit card pilferages, hacking of personal devices, cyber bullying, etc. “The number of organisations and individuals falling prey to these trials is increasing by the day. Taking simple precautions can avert most of the adverse effects and allow users to benefit from the marvels of modern IT.”
For further details, contact Mr Jayasundera by emailing him on ravi@sysprove.com Fact file:
THE Kingdom of Bahrain State of the Nation Review of Internet Safety in 2010 by Prof. Julia Davidson, Kingston University and Dr Elena Martellozzo, Middlesex University on behalf of the TRA revealed:
