Online grooming is not a new threat; however, the methods predators use to contact and target children and teens are constantly evolving. ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection, through its Digipadresinitiative, analyzes how online harassment and grooming now often originate in everyday virtual spaces—such as multiplayer video game platforms, community servers, and direct messaging applications—and not exclusively on traditional social networks. Understanding what grooming is and how it has evolved in recent years can help families identify warning signs without assuming that every friendship formed online is dangerous.

Grooming is a process by which an adult deliberately establishes a relationship with a child or adolescent, often lying about their true identity or age, to gain their trust before exploiting or abusing them. Although this crime can occur in both physical and digital environments, the internet has completely changed the ease with which abusers can contact minors and the difficulty adults face in detecting what is happening.

Online grooming can begin in any space where a child or teenager interacts with others: multiplayer video games, social media, messaging apps, live chat rooms, or online communities built around shared interests. From their home, a single abuser can contact dozens or even hundreds of children and teenagers.

The incorporation of new digital tools, including artificial intelligence, makes it easier for online predators to create highly convincing fake identities, perfecting their fictitious profiles to match the tastes and language of their victims. However, Digipadres warns that, despite technological advances, the underlying psychological strategy remains unchanged: abusers continue to exploit the natural need for friendship, attention, understanding, and a sense of belonging that children and teenagers experience.

“Unlike offline harassment, which is restricted by geographical barriers and limited opportunities for physical contact, the internet allows an abuser to simultaneously contact dozens or hundreds of minors from their home, taking advantage of the dynamism and immediacy of the digital environment. Despite the emergence of new technologies, the best protection strategy for mothers, fathers, and caregivers remains the same: maintain open communication, promote healthy digital habits, and constantly monitor children,” says Mario Micucci, Cybersecurity Researcher at ESET Latin America.

The risk is grows; children must be protected

In the initial stages of grooming, contact rarely begins with explicit sexual content or threats. Instead, it follows a gradual pattern of manipulation:

• Simulated genuine interest: They show unusual interest in the child’s hobbies, favorite games, or everyday situations.
• Building trust: They provide constant emotional support, validation, and compliments to quickly establish an emotional bond.
• Migration to private channels: They encourage the shift of interactions from public or group chats to private messages or encrypted messaging applications.
• Demand for secrecy: They ask the minor to keep the relationship strictly confidential from their parents, teachers, or friends.
• Gradual introduction of personal/sexual topics: Once a bond of trust is established, they gradually introduce intimate conversations.
• Manipulation and emotional pressure: They resort to guilt, coercion, or threats if the victim tries to distance themselves or end the conversation.

Faced with this constantly evolving dynamic, the specialist emphasizes that assuming any friendship formed online is inherently dangerous is not the solution. Instead, active and conscious guidance from responsible adults is essential.

To mitigate the risks of grooming, ESET recommends prioritizing the following preventative measures:

1. Maintain open and continuous communication: Basic measures, such as parental controls and clear rules about technology use, can help, but should never replace open communication. Foster an environment of trust so that children can express doubts, concerns, or uncomfortable situations without fear of judgment or punishment.
2. Promote healthy digital habits: Teach privacy guidelines, the importance of not sharing sensitive information, and the proper configuration of digital accounts.
3. Constant involvement: Actively participate in the virtual environments frequented by children, understanding the dynamics of their favorite games and platforms.

“New apps, artificial intelligence tools, and online communities will continue to transform the digital environment, making it impossible to anticipate every new platform or trend. Instead of trying to keep up with every technological change, mothers, fathers, and caregivers can focus on what is most important and lasting: helping children and adolescents develop the confidence needed to recognize manipulation attempts, question suspicious behavior, and know that they can always ask for help. These are skills that will remain useful no matter what the internet looks like in five or ten years,” emphasizes Micucci from ESET.

Digipadres is an ESET initiative, based on SaferKidsOnline, designed to support and raise awareness among mothers, fathers, teachers, and caregivers about the safe and responsible use of technology by children and adolescents. Through educational content, practical guides, and current research, it provides key tools to protect minors in the digital ecosystem.

To learn more, visit: https://digipadres.com/novedades/147-la-evolucion-del-grooming-en-linea-como-los-agresores-en-linea-captan-a-ninos-y-adolescentes.

More news from ESET and cybersecurity at: https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/

ESET invites you to learn more about cybersecurity in Venezuela by visiting: https://www.eset.com/ve/, and following them on social media @eset_ve. Also on Instagram @esetla) and Facebook (ESET).

Information and image provided by ESET and Comstat Rowland

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WhatsApp began rolling out to some beta users a new feature that allows them to hide their “Online” connection status within the instant messaging app.

The CEO of Meta Platforms, Mark Zuckerberg, announced last August the arrival of new functions to the app. Among these, the possibility of selecting who can and who cannot see when a user is connected was announced.

Now, several specialized portals have confirmed the deployment of this new feature among certain participants in the beta of the instant messaging application for Android, in versions 2.22.20.9 and 2.22.20.7.

Thanks to it, users will be able to configure from the app Settings which contacts they give access to, both at the time of their last connection and whether they are online or not.

Both permissions go hand in hand, and it is the user’s decision to create a list with those contacts to whom they want to grant this permission to further protect their privacy.

K. Tovar

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Source: Xataka Android

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WhatsApp implemented new privacy options on the platform, among which is the function that allows you to hide the “online” status from other contacts when using the application, as well as silently leave groups.

The company has spent months developing new features focused on having greater control over conversations in different beta versions of the instant messaging platform.

Last May, this portal anticipated that in the beta version for Desktop an option had been introduced to exclusively notify the administrator or administrators of a group when a member of the group chat left it.

Months later, in July, it was verified in a screenshot of WhatsApp beta for iOS that in a future update it would be possible to limit who could see the connection status, within the Last Seen Settings section.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, confirmed through his personal profile on Facebook the official implementation of these functions, which will soon be available to all users. “We will continue to create new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and confidential as face-to-face conversations”.

Also this month, users will have the opportunity to choose who can see when they are “online.” To keep your online presence private, the company introduced the ability to select who can and cannot see when you’re online and using the app.

K. Tovar

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Source: Adsl

La entrada WhatsApp will allow users to hide the status “online” apareció primero en Bitfinance.

WhatsApp is working to integrate a new feature that will allow users to hide that they are online from other contacts when they are using the application.

Currently, in the privacy options of the social network, you can choose who can see the time of the last connection, the profile picture, the information or the statuses, which have a duration of 24 hours.

However, until now it is not possible to hide the status, so that all users can see if one of their contacts is inside the application and, therefore, online.

As specialized media recently indicated the company is working to incorporate a feature that it has been developing for months to maintain privacy.

According to a screenshot of WhatsApp beta for iOS, in a future update it will be possible to limit who can see the connection status within the Last Seen Settings section.

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Source: dpa

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Spain and Germany announced an agreement to initiate the pilot test to analyze the viability of a “decentralized and cross-border digital identity ecosystem based on the principles of self-sufficient identity“, which will contribute to the creation of the European Digital Identity.

The Secretaries of State for Digitization of Germany, Dorothee Bär and of Spain, Carme Artigas, reported, in a digital meeting with journalists, that the idea is that other countries of the community join the agreement and both officials are taking steps to achieve this. target.

The agreement contemplates the formation of a joint work team that will be in charge of analyzing the technical, regulatory and operational challenges of the project, in addition to presenting the results and progress made regularly.

The specific cases that could be used in the pilot test have not yet been identified. But some examples would be the completion of procedures to make reservations in a hotel, the certification or confirmation of having a valid driver’s license when renting a car or to open a bank account.

Data security

Germany and Spain share the same vision on digital identity, so they have managed to sign the agreement: According to Bar: “Spain is leading the development of sovereign and decentralized identification systems”.

Artigas stressed that “the collaboration that we are initiating today with Germany towards a digital identity is an essential step on the European path towards data sovereignty. People must have the power of their data and their identity.”

The purpose of the European Community to create a Common European Identity will allow citizens to safely share their own identity data without losing control over it.

The European Union has been working on the creation of a “kind of Community digital wallet”. That is a virtual card which allows citizens to carry out online operations that currently require the introduction of a DNI or other official document. This wallet would facilitate management in the public and private sectors and should be operational by September 2022, according to estimates from Brussels.

M. Rodríguez

Source: elpais.com

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Sony announced the arrival of online multiplayer Among Us on PlayStation at the end of the year, along with new previews for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and the announcement of the underwater adventure Subnautica: Below Zero.

The game was initially released as a multiplayer for phones, although it is currently available for PC and Nintendo Switch as well.

The title developed by Innersloth allows you to play online games with up to ten players, crew members of a spaceship whose objective is to discover and accuse the impostors before they destroy the entire crew. The players are identified by a name and also by a color, different for each one.

The company has also shown a new preview of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a new adventure from the popular platform franchise built for the new generation of consoles (PS5) and the new DualSense controller, which will arrive on June 11.

The title will also have accessibility options, such as a speed mode that allows modifying the game speed, and of which the company will share more details later along with the rest of the features.

K. Tovar

Source: dpa

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