Youth worker pretended to be a girl and used Instagram to groom boys
- A youth worker from Southampton posed as a 16-year-old girl online and used Instagram to groom more than 70 young boys.
- He was investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA) which found his online alias ‘Lizzielemon’ to identify his victims on Instagram, MyLol and Love Crush.
- His crimes were then moved onto other platforms Discord, Skype and Google Hangouts.
- The youth worker engaged in sexualised conversations with his victims as if they were in a fantasy online world.
- Victims would be told that ‘Lizzielemon’ was from Bristol or Birmingham and that he had a fetish for dominating boys in school uniform and sports kits and engaging in teacher/student role play.
- The NCA has said that anyone being pressured or coerced into sending sexual images or videos online to remove themselves from the conversation, report the matter and talk to a trusted adult.
- For more please visit the ITV News website.
Google rolls out passkey technology
- Google is rolling out its passkey technology to Google accounts from Thursday.
- The passkey is designed to replace passwords completely by enabling authentication using fingerprint ID, facial ID or a pin on your device.
- A cryptographic private key is stored on the user’s device and the corresponding public key is uploaded to Google.
- When a user signs in the device must solve a unique challenge using the private key to generate a signature. The signature is then verified for the user to access their account.
- Google are rolling out the technology to mark World Password Day.
- Apple has started using passkeys in iOS16 and the latest MacOS release and Microsoft has been using it through the Authenticator app.
- For more please visit the Guardian’s website.
Funding cuts for free period products in NI schools
- The funding schools get from the Department of Education to provide free period products has been reduced by more than 40%.
- Funding for a three-year-scheme to address “period dignity” in schools was approved in 2021 in relation to a law to provide free period products to everyone in Northern Ireland that needed them.
- The scheme for schools also includes training for teachers in schools to support them discussing issues around periods with pupils.
- Jackie Bartley, the principal of St Genevieve’s High School in Belfast has said the cuts would put “more demand on families”.
- For more on this please see the BBC News website.
