Since its introduction to the public in the early 1980’s, the internet has opened doors to
the common people in ways that were never imagined. Information of every kind was readily
available to anyone who possessed the ability to access the internet. Tools of learning were being
shared like never before. People were connecting with their fellow man across the globe, and yet
those connections were also new vulnerabilities. We had opened Pandora’s Box, and now we
would have to deal with the evils that sprang forth from it. Those most unfamiliar with
technology and the dangers it presents are the ones in the greatest need of training. The greatest
AI technologies, while they can help to defend us from malicious attacks, are not unbeatable.
The greatest defense we can give to our most vulnerable citizens is knowledge in how to best
defend themselves, but until that training can be given, more immediate defenses are needed, and
can be found in the form of AI.
With every invention that increases our ease of access to our information in ways
designed to make our lives easier and more enjoyable, it becomes easier for the unscrupulous to
take advantage and take whatever they please, whether it be money, information, or even
identities. Our own “ease of access” advances have made it incredibly easy for cyber criminals to
attack us. Even more concerning, studies are showing that those most at risk of being attacked
and taken advantage of are our most vulnerable citizens: our children. Now that it has become
commonplace for parents to provide entertaining technology to their children at younger and
younger ages, there has been an increase in cyber attacks on children as well.
In 2022, a Sri Lankan study found that that “28% of children had experienced some kind
of online violence against them”1. More than one out of every four children are experiencing
1 Pasha, S.A., Ali, S. & Jeljeli, R. Artificial Intelligence Implementation to Counteract
Cybercrimes Against Children in Pakistan. Hu Arenas (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-
022-00312-8
online violence. Just as in nature predators will target the weak and vulnerable first, our most
vulnerable are being targeted too. To make matters worse, most parents and schools give very
little focus to training their children in how to keep themselves safe online.
Cyber attacks have existed ever since the internet was first created, and they have grown
alongside it both in scope and in creativity. Throughout the world, our critical infrastructures are
increasingly transitioned over into the digital world. Agriculture, commerce, utilities, and travel
are increasingly being digitized, and as they switch over, cyber criminals have found ways to
exploit them. One of the most common examples is the use of ransomware. Upon its successful
delivery, ransomware will launch an attack on the systems in question that will completely freeze
all the program’s functions until the criminal’s demands are met.
When Ransomware was first utilized in 1989, its reach and effect were limited by the
small number of programs in use. Now that we have digitized almost every portion of our lives,
the opportunity for attacks from programs like ransomware has increased exponentially, both in
the public sector and the private sector.
Despite the increased risks of cyber-attacks, studies are also showing that students across
the board continue to underestimate the dangers. Surprisingly, in the studies that have been
conducted, the group that is shown to be the most unaware of the danger is high school students.
Middle school students had a deeper understanding of the dangers possible through cyber-attack,
but even they were deemed unprepared to protect themselves from cyber threats.2
2 Antunes, Má, Carina Silva, and Frederico Marques. "An Integrated Cybernetic Awareness
Strategy to Assess Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviours in School Context."7Applied
Sciences711, no. 23 (2021): 11269, https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?
url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/integrated-cybernetic-awareness-strategy-
assess/docview/2608081656/se-2.
Our middle school and high school students are the people that spend most of their time
in cyber-space, and yet they are the ones least prepared to deal with the threats found there.
Obviously, the best solution would be to train our younger generations in how to deal with cyber
threats, but this solution will also take time, and the danger is already being faced daily by our
young people. To fully protect our youth, we need a stop-gap solution to give us more time. That
temporary solution may have already been discovered, in the form of AI.
We first must decide whether to trust AI, as it is oftentimes seen as unreliable and
invasive. Can we really trust a computer program with a reputation for unreliability to protect our
children?
In short, yes. There are many AI programs already in use by a variety of organizations
that have proven themselves to be extremely effective at their assigned tasks. The primary thing
that hampers the effectiveness of the programs is user error. AI programs only truly become
unreliable when the operator codes in an error or gives the program false information, and they
only become invasive when the user desires the program to become invasive.
A program known as Spotlight has helped to prove the reliability of AI monitoring
programs, as “Spotlight has helped to detect and solve more than 14,874 cases of online child
trafficking during the past 4 years.”3 Spotlights users have been directing it to learn from
previous cases of child trafficking, so that it can apply those past experiences to its current tasks,
making it much more reliable and less invasive into the lives of people who might not be
involved in trafficking.
3 Pasha, S.A., Ali, S. & Jeljeli, R. Artificial Intelligence Implementation to Counteract
Cybercrimes Against Children in Pakistan.7Hu Arenas7(2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-
022-00312-8
Following Spotlight’s example, several corporations and government agencies are also
using predictive analysis to sift through large amounts of data to streamline their own processes
as well. By utilizing the AI’s ability to sort extreme amounts of data, they have made their own
efficiency increase as well. While the AI they are using is not perfect, it is still an effective
measure that can be implemented to supplement the cyber defenses around our children.
Our students are still at risk, and our most effective measure to protect them is to inform
and arm them against potential dangers. Until that lengthy task can be accomplished, the use of
AI programs may prove to be an effective stop-gap effort. The war of cybersecurity is ever
evolving, and the only thing that can truly defend us is up to date knowledge. For those that
might be incapable of obtaining that knowledge, or might struggle with it, other measures such
as AI can help defend them.
Bibliography
Antunes, Má, Carina Silva, and Frederico Marques. "An Integrated Cybernetic Awareness
Strategy to Assess Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviours in School Context."BApplied
SciencesB11, no. 23 (2021): 11269, https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?
url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/integrated-cybernetic-awareness-
strategy-assess/docview/2608081656/se-2.
Firdaus R, Xue Y, Gang L, Sibt E Ali M. Artificial Intelligence and Human Psychology in
Online Transaction Fraud. Front Psychol. 2022 Oct 11;13:947234. doi:
10.3389/fpsyg.2022.947234. PMID: 36304851; PMCID: PMC9595200.
Pasha, S.A., Ali, S. & Jeljeli, R. Artificial Intelligence Implementation to Counteract
Cybercrimes Against Children in Pakistan.BHu ArenasB(2022).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-022-00312-8
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