Entering 2020, cyberstalking and online harassment were already an emerging crisis.
Then COVID-19 hit.
Potential victims - and those seeking to stalk them - flowed online in record numbers in the wake of stay-at-home quarantine measures. Much like the surge in reports of online child sexual abuse, the conditions are equally ideal for a rise in cyberstalking.
Put another way, the likelihood that you or someone you know will be cybertalked just went up.
With this new online reality in mind, we’ve highlighted 4 ways to keep you and those you care about safer.
#1: GET ON THE SAME PAGE
If someone asked you to define cyberstalking, what would you say?
When I pose this question to audiences, there is rarely any consensus. Typically, people respond with:
Tracking someone’s location
Making online threats
Hacking into someone’s accounts
Harassment on social media and many more.
These answers are not necessarily wrong. They simply focus on examples of cyberstalking rather than the definition. Folks almost never provide an actual definition but can usually come up with an accurate example or two. And this got me thinking - does this even matter?
I think it does.
Without a definition, we are relying on the “I know it when I see it” method. That may work some of the time, but ultimately means some people may look at a situation and see cyberstalking where others do not. This type of inconsistency is dangerous.
When we overlook or misread signs of cyberstalking, people suffer. Victims don’t seek help. Their support system - friends, partners, colleagues or family - fail to recognize the danger. The cyberstalker isn’t held accountable and the abuse continues.
Today, more than ever, we need to get on the same page.
So, while there isn’t a single universal stalking definition used by everyone, I really like the one from the The Stalking Prevention Awareness Resource Center (SPARC):
Stalking: A pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.
This definition makes it clear that, whether the pattern of behavior happens online or offline, the key is that a reasonable person would feel fear as a result.
One small edit to this definition gets us to cyberstalking:
Cyberstalking: A pattern of behavior directed at a specific person, using the Internet or other electronic means, that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.
These definitions provide a lens through which we can consistently view a situation; make an informed assessment and take action.
#2: SPOT CYBERSTALKING BEHAVIOR
As important as they are, definitions can only take us so far. A pattern of behavior that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear? That definition is spot on, but incredibly broad. It’s when we label these behaviors, that the definition comes into focus.
In reality, there’s not a lot of originality when it comes to cyberstalking. The same abusive behaviors show up over and over. This makes cyberstalking easier to spot. When strung together - as the list below illustrates - these behaviors can form a pattern that would make anyone feel unsafe.
CYBERSTALKING BEHAVIOR TOP 10 LIST:
THREATS: To inflict harm (physical/emotional/legal/financial/reputational), harm family or friends, self-harm, follow, humiliate, destroy property, spread rumors, post intimate images and more.
UNWANTED CONTACT: Messages, friend/follow requests, comments or tags on social media; emails; text messages; phone calls; contact via messaging app (whatsapp, kik, etc.), etc.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCOUNT ACCESS: Gaining access to online accounts or apps (email, social media, shopping, banking, rideshare, entertainment, maps, etc.) to intimidate, make changes, steal/delete information or engage in behaviors on this list.
UNAUTHORIZED DEVICE ACCESS: Gaining access to devices (smartphone, tablet, computer, smartwatch, wifi, smart speakers, home security systems, etc.) to intimidate, make changes, steal/delete information or engage in behaviors on this list.
IMPERSONATION: Inflicting reputational harm by hijacking a victim’s actual accounts or creating false accounts in the victim's name.
MONITORING: Outside Job: Keeping tabs on the victim by collecting publicly available online information about the victim; following the online/social media activity of the victim (or their friends/family); joining a victim’s online groups; etc. Inside Job: Using unauthorized access to the victim’s accounts/devices to spy on them.
IMAGE-BASED ABUSE (aka Revenge Porn): Publishing intimate images or videos of the victim without their consent.
LOCATION TRACKING: Accomplished through social media monitoring, “safe” apps (find my phone, family sharing; find my friends, etc.), malicious apps/spyware installed on a victim’s device, tracking devices, etc.
PRIVACY VIOLATION(S): Doxing (publishing identifying information -- name, address, whereabouts, contact information, etc. -- of the victim online); sharing personal/private/intimate information online; image-based abuse, etc.
INDIRECT ONLINE ATTACKS: Social media posts about the victim; making false online complaints (personal or professional); tricking 3rd parties (businesses, strangers, etc.) into contacting the victim online or in-person (at their home or work); spreading rumors online; signing the victim up for accounts/services; triggering repeated security alert emails and notifications by attempting to access a victim’s online accounts; etc.
#3: LEARN FROM REAL LIFE VICTIMS
How cyberstalking plays out in real life is a powerful teacher.
This is how stalkers actually string together these abusive behaviors to harm their targets:
EXAMPLE 1: Loren Okamura
Okamura, based in Hawaii, tormented a woman and her father in Utah for over a year by sending more than 500 people to their house for unwanted services including food deliveries, repairs, tow trucks, locksmiths, plumbers and prostitutes.
He posted her name, address and picture online.
He sent her extensive and repeated texts and voicemails, including an email telling her she should “sleep with one eye open and keep looking over her shoulder and “should just kill yourself and do your family a favor.”
She knew Okamura personally and had previously visited him in Hawaii.
Abusive Behavior Recap: threats by email; impersonation; doxing (publishing the victim’s contact information), unwanted and repeated contact via text messages and voicemails.
EXAMPLE 2: Pritkumar Patel
Patel befriended four minor females on social media, persuading them to send sexually explicit photographs of themselves to him. When the girls broke off communication, he threatened to post the photos of them online and share them with their friends, classmates, and family members.
He admitted to threatening and harassing the girls on social media, by text messaging and calling them.
He also threatened to create Instagram accounts in the girls’ names and use those accounts to post the pictures online. He followed through on his threats by posting a sexually explicit picture of a 13-year-old girl from Indiana, on an Instagram account he created using her name.
Abusive Behavior Recap: impersonation; unwanted contact on social media; threats via social media; image-based abuse (aka revenge porn).
EXAMPLE 3: Tristan Rowe
Rowe terrorized a victim from hundreds of miles away by sending disturbing text messages to the victim, threatening to buy an assault rifle, to kill the victim, and to bomb the victim’s school. This cyberstalking campaign went on for four years.
He illegally accessed online accounts belonging to the victim, her friends and family members and also obtained unauthorized access to the computer systems of the victim’s former high school.
Rowe also subjected the victim (including her friends and family members) to multiple incidences of “swatting”, which involves deceiving an emergency service into sending a police or emergency service response team to another person’s address.
Abusive Behavior Recap: threats by text message; unauthorized access to online accounts (hacking); targeting friends and family; unwanted contact and swatting.
When I read these, 4 things jumped out to me:
One: When attackers go to extremes, they make the news. In reality, cyberstalking is often much more subtle. Remember, we’re talking about a pattern of behavior (2 or more acts) directed at a specific person, using the Internet or other electronic means, that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. A couple of threatening social posts targeting a victim can just as easily qualify.
Two: The stalker in two of the examples did not know the victims personally, but that is actually less common. In fact, 80% of victims know their stalker. When trying to identify a stalker, look for someone with a personal connection to the victim, like an intimate partner, friend, colleague or family member.
Three: Independent crimes often occur within a cyberstalking campaign. In most states, many of the abusive acts from the examples -- image-based abuse, doxing, swatting, impersonation, unwanted contact (harassment) and making threats online -- are against the law. If cyberstalking is present, victims should likely be reporting other crimes as well.
Four: Cyberstalking can be a drawn out process, which is especially painful for victims. In two of the examples, the abuse went on for 1 and 4 years respectively. We need to shorten that timeline whenever possible. This starts by acting early to report criminal acts and saving evidence.
#4: RECOGNIZE RED FLAGS
Recognizing the signs of cyberstalking acts as an early warning system and is critical to mitigating the harm.
That being said, identifying these red flags can be tricky, especially early on. What looks like an isolated, maybe even minor, act of monitoring or unwanted contact can be easily overlooked or dismissed.
- A random comment on an Instagram post one day.
- A few calls from a blocked number the next.
- A security alert from an email provider.
When we zoom out, we see these incidents are connected. In other words, it quickly becomes a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person, using the Internet or other electronic means, that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.
Some red flags that may signal cyberstalking is at play:
A “feeling” of being watched, tracked or monitored (trust your instincts!)
Random friend or follow requests from strangers on social media
Fraud Alerts and/or security notifications from online account(s)
Uptick in calls, messages or emails from blocked or unknown sources
Isolating Behavior: the victim begins to isolate themselves online - posting less, interacting less, etc. - because they feel unsafe
Phone, device or computer acting strangely - shutting off, freezing, running hot or the battery drains quickly (could be signs the phone is compromised)
The suspected cyberstalker has or had access to the victim’s devices, online accounts or wifi
THE PAYOFF
At the end of the day, we hope you can use this article to limit and prevent harm by:
Recognizing when behavior crosses the line
Acting early to prevent future harm
Knowing when to alert law enforcement, an employer, a school or community members
Starting to pay attention and collect evidence
Alerting someone who is unaware they are being targeted
If you have any questions or are interested in our work, please feel free to reach us here.
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