Warning: This article contains a discussion of child abuse that some readers may find disturbing.
A man who works as a ‘ethical hacker’ gave a disturbing demonstration of how easy it is for children to be targeted online.
Ryan Montgomery participated in a livestream presented by Adin Ross and shared by the finest Twitch plug on YouTube.
Ryan is an ethical hacker, which means that his job is to uncover holes in cyber security.
This might be with a corporation or government entity that wants to ensure its IT systems are secure.
However, it can also demonstrate how easy it is for people to be targeted online by someone with malicious intent, such as scammers or worse.
Unfortunately, Ryan’s actions fell squarely into the latter group, demonstrating how susceptible a child may be online.
So, how did he pull off this harrowing demonstration?
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Ryan began by searching for ‘teen chat’ in order to recreate the processes that a young person may take.
He created a phony login, ‘Ashley13fTX’, and signed in to several chat groups.
He used the false account to post ‘Hi, anyone want to chat?’ in the main chat group. His DM inbox was quickly flooded with messages from accounts he claimed were likely to be owned by adults.
He began using terminology like ‘asl’ – which means ‘age sex location’ – to learn more about the people he was contacting, as well as words to make him appear like a teenage female.
A 56-year-old man messaged, claiming to be ‘not married’.
When they questioned the man if he worried about their age, masquerading as a 13-year-old girl, he said, “If you don’t care about mine, I don’t care about yours.”
The man then questioned the imaginary girl’s appearance and weight.
He then questioned if she was a virgin before proposing to someone he thought was a youngster.
The website they were utilizing did not appear to allow them to transmit images, videos, or engage in video conversations.
However, they swiftly persuaded the man to switch to a different platform where this could happen, demonstrating that such a provision does not always safeguard someone.
Ryan has developed a reputation for supporting online safety, particularly among younger audiences.
He added that he and several others would sometimes converse with someone in this manner for months to gather proof.
They would then arrange to meet with them in a sting operation, confronting them with what they knew and contacting the cops.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak with someone in confidence about a child’s welfare, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and accepts calls from all over the United States, Canada, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
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