Daily Safeguarding Update - Safer Schools NI

EA confirms FIFA Ultimate Team trader accounts hacked

Electronic Arts (EA) has confirmed several FIFA Ultimate Team trader accounts have been hacked using phishing techniques.
Several high-profile traders had their accounts hacked and cleared of FIFA points and coins worth thousands.
EA has released a statement, confirming that individuals were able to exploit human error within their customer experience team and bypass two-factor authentication to gain access.
EA is implementing additional training for advisers, more steps for account ownership verification process, and updating customer experience software.
Full story, here.

According to a global coalition of factchecking organisations, YouTube is a major conduit of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide.
The coalition claims that YouTube is not doing enough to tackle the spread of falsehoods on its platform.
A letter signed by more than 80 groups including Full Fact in the UK reports that the platform is hosting content by groups which spread COVID-19 misinformation.
For more information on misinformation, check out our blog post.
Full story, here.

Among Us VR was announced in December 2021.
The game has players assume the role of crewmates to do tasks or the role of secret imposter, aiming to eliminate the crewmates.
Recent rumours suggest that the VR adaptation of the popular game will come in 2022.
There is no official release date confirmed by developer Innersloth just yet.
For more information on Among Us, check out our blog post.
Full story, here.

The children’s commissioner claims that local authorities should act as “pushy parents” for children in care.
Local authorities may even act to take children to school in areas of gang activity.
Dame Rachel de Souza says that numbers of children in care are unacceptable and “we need all those children in education”.
Local authorities need to ensure that children get in the right schools “…they have a right to be there”.
She had recently visited a children’s home where some girls were not attending school due to risk of being targeted by gangs.
Full story, here.

According to results from a Department of Education consultation, there has been overwhelming support to allow some children to delay starting school for a year.
The change would allow children born between 1 April and 1 July to defer starting pre-school and school for a year if their parents wished.
Northern Ireland has one of the youngest primary school starting ages in Europe.
Most respondents also suggest that children born prematurely, and children in care should also have the option to defer starting school.
The Department of Education will now bring forward a bill to change the law on school starting age in Northern Ireland.
Full story, here.