What is Cyberstalking and How to Combat it?
Cyberstalking is a form of digital abuse where individuals use the internet, social media, email, and other electronic communication tools to stalk, harass, or intimidate another person. It typically involves repeated and unwanted attention, monitoring, or threats directed at a specific person, causing them to fear for their safety. This behavior can include monitoring social media activity, sending threatening messages, hacking into personal accounts, and using GPS tracking. Thank you to Steele Fortress for providing us with these important digital tips to educate the digital community and raise awareness on the digital measures survivors can take to protect themselves against cyberstalking and abuse. North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic’s domestic violence attorneys provide free domestic violence legal aid to survivors of domestic violence living in north suburban Cook County and Lake County. Learn more about cyberstalking below.
- Social Media Surveillance: Abusers monitor the victim's social media profiles to gather personal information and track their movements.
- Email and Messaging Harassment: Abusers flood the victim with unwanted messages through email and messaging platforms to intimidate or manipulate them.
- Hacking and Unauthorized Access: Abusers gain unauthorized access to the victim’s online accounts to steal information or impersonate them.
- GPS Tracking: Abusers use location tracking apps on devices to monitor the victim’s physical location.
- Cyberbullying and Public Shaming: Abusers post defamatory content or spread false rumors about the victim online.
- Exploiting Children and Custody Issues: Abusers use digital communication to interact with children and gather information about the other parent.
- Creating Fake Accounts: Abusers create and use fake profiles to harass the victim.
- Impersonation and Identity Theft: Abusers use the victim’s personal information to impersonate them online.
Identifying the signs of cyberstalking is crucial to recognizing when your online safety and privacy may be at risk. Here are some common indicators to look out for:
- Unexpected Contact: Receiving frequent, unwanted messages or emails, especially if they contain harassment or threats.
- Suspicious Social Media Activity: Observing interactions from unknown or suspicious profiles, such as liking old posts or sending friend requests.
- Increased Digital Monitoring: Sensing that your online activities are being tracked, such as someone knowing private conversations or actions.
- Compromised Accounts: Experiencing repeated unauthorized access to online accounts, including email, social media, and banking accounts
- Unexplained Technological Issues: Experiencing unusual behavior on personal devices, such as unexpected shutdowns, slow performance, or new apps appearing without consent.
- Location Tracking: Realizing that your physical location is being monitored through GPS or other means, without your knowledge or consent.
- False Information: Finding false or defamatory content about yourself posted online by someone else.
- Technological Harassment: Receiving harassing or threatening messages via text, email, or social media from known or unknown individuals.
- Physical Stalking: Noticing that someone seems aware of your whereabouts or activities despite not having shared this information.
Social Media Surveillance: “My ex-boyfriend consistently comments on my social media posts, even though we aren't friends on any platforms. He references private conversations I've had with friends and knows details about my daily activities. I later discovered that he had created multiple fake profiles to monitor my online presence and gather personal information.”
Unauthorized Access: “I began receiving threatening emails from an unknown sender. The sender had detailed information about my daily schedule and personal life. After investigation, I learned that my former spouse had hacked into my email account and was using the information to intimidate me during our divorce proceedings.”
Location Tracking: “I realized that my estranged husband always seemed to know my whereabouts, despite my efforts to keep my location private. I later discovered that he had installed a GPS tracking device on my car and had gained access to my phone’s location services without my consent.”
Enhancing your digital security to protect your digital devices and online accounts is crucial to those at risk of cyberstalking. Below are some digital tips to protect yourself and your digital safety:
Update Software Regularly: Ensure your operating systems, apps and antivirus software are always up to date. These updates often contain security patches that guard against potential vulnerabilities.
Use Strong, Unique Password: Avoid simple, easily guessable passwords. Create strong passwords that use a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. Use different passwords for different accounts to prevent a single breach from compromising multiple accounts.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Enhance your security by enabling two-factor authentication. Enabling two-factor authentication adds a second layer of protection by requiring a second form of verification (like a code sent via text message) in addition to your password. Activate two-factor authentication on all accounts that offer it.
Be Cautious with Public Wi-Fi: Avoid accessing sensitive information while on public Wi-Fi networks. If you need to use public Wi-Fi, consider using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt your connection.
Check Privacy Settings: Review and adjust the privacy settings on your social media accounts to limit the amount of personal information visible to others. Consider making your profiles private or restricting who can view your posts.
Monitor Account Activity: Regularly inspect your online accounts for any unusual activity or unauthorized logins. Many services offer login alerts to notify you of suspicious activity.
Ensuring that your privacy settings on all your online platforms are optimized, can significantly reduce the risk of cyberstalking. Here are a few tips to ensure you make the most of these settings:
Social Media:
Facebook: Using Facebook’s privacy settings, you can limit who can see your friend’s list, posts, and personal information. Features like “Review posts you’re tagged in” all you to approve tags before they appear on your profile. Learn More HERE.
Instagram: Instagram privacy settings allow you to set your account to private so that only approved followers can see your posts and stories. Learn more HERE.
X (formally known as Twitter): X allows you to protect your post and repost so that only your followers can see your posts. You can also disable location tagging and limit who can send you direct messages. Learn more HERE.
Threads: Usings Threads privacy settings, you can private your profile, limiting you content to only your followers. Learn more HERE.
Email Accounts:
Activate spam filters and mark suspicious emails as spam. Be cautious of phishing attempts, and refrain from clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown sources.
Mobile Devices:
Location Services: Disable location services for apps that don’t need it and only share your location with trusted individuals.
App Permissions: Regularly check and update the permissions granted to your apps, removing any that seem unnecessary or intrusive.
Messaging Apps: Choose apps with end-to-end encryption, like Signal or WhatsApp, to ensure that only you and the person you're communicating with can read the messages.
Browsing Privacy:
Use private browsing modes to prevent leaving traces of your online activities and regularly clear your browsing history and cookies.
By following these digital safety practices, you can greatly reduce the risk of cyberstalking and protect your personal information. Maintaining digital hygiene is an ongoing effort, and staying vigilant is essential for ensuring your online safety.
Keeping and documenting evidence of cyberstalking is a major aspect of building a strong case against your abuser if you need and wish to take legal action. Proper collection of evidence allows authorities to understand the severity of the situation and provides the proof needed to pursue charges or secure protective measures. Below are some steps to help you in collecting and documenting of cyberstalking:
Keep Detailed Records:
Logs: Maintain a detailed log of all cyberstalking incidents, including dates, times, description of the events, and actions you took in responses.
Screenshots: Take screenshots of threatening messages, emails, social media posts, and other relevant interactions, ensuring timestamps and usernames are visible.
Downloads: Save copies of emails, chat logs, and other digital communications containing harassment or threats.
Preserve Digital Evidence:
Emails and Messages: Save all related emails and messages in a dedicated folder. Do not delete any communications, even if they seem insignificant.
Social Media Posts: Document any public or private posts by the stalker, including direct messages, comments, and posts on your or their profile.
Voicemails and Calls: Record and save any threatening voicemails or phone calls using built-in smartphone features or apps.
Use Secure Storage:
Cloud Services: Securely store your digital evidence in the cloud using services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or a secure USB drive. Ensure the storage service has strong encryption and security measures.
Backup Copies: Create multiple backups of your evidence and store them in different locations to ensure access even if one copy is lost or compromised.
It's essential to maintain a thorough record of all cyberstalking incidents, including screenshots, emails, and messages. This documentation can be valuable as evidence when seeking legal protection or pursuing criminal charges.
How Can I Seek Legal Help if Someone is Cyberstalking Me?
If you are experiencing cyberstalking, you are not alone, legal help is available. North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic (NSLAC) provides free legal assistance to survivors of domestic violence, including legal support and assistance with orders of protection (for people with a pre-existing relationship), civil no-contact orders (typically used in cases of sexual assault) or stalking no-contact orders (where there might not be a romantic or family relationship, but someone is still fearing for their safety and emotional well-being).
If you or someone you know needs free domestic violence legal aid, please contact NSLAC at 847-737-4042 or email info@nslegalaid.org. If this is an emergency, please call 911 immediately.
Together We Can Break the Cycle:
The North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic is here to support survivors with free legal aid services, empowering them to take control of their digital safety and well-being. It is important that we continue the conversation of what is and isn’t a healthy relationship. Cyberstalking is a pervasive and harmful form of digital abuse that can have serious consequences for victims. By understanding the tactics used by abusers and implementing strong digital security measures, individuals can better protect themselves.
We encourage you to share the information found in this blog and help raise awareness about the dangers of digital abuse. Through our collective commitment, we can build a future where every individual can live free from fear of their safety.