YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre hosts Youth Cyber Summit

Ninety students from the Calgary French and International School took part in the second annual Youth Cyber Summit at the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre.

"Cyber safety is such an important part of our well-being," said Nicolas Liwanag, a Grade 9 student at the Calgary French and International School.

"You don't know all the time if you're talking to the correct person or if you can really trust that person."

Liwanag himself hasn't fallen victim to any cybersecurity issues, but says he knows many people in his grade and school who have.

"Just at a click or like a link or just one picture sent, that could mean your entire private information or any explicit content of yourself could be exposed to a public audience," he said.

Students from the school participated in three different workshops that taught the teenagers about the dangers of artificial intelligence, deepfakes, sextortion, child luring and sharing intimate photos online.

"It's an opportunity to bring youth together in a safe place where they can ask anything they want," said Tara Robinson, executive director at the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre.

"We just want these kids to understand how to protect themselves against something that we know that they're going to be confronted with."

Cpl. Heather Bangle with the Alberta Internet Child Exploitation Unit says the biggest threat to kids is sextortion, which AI and deepfakes will make more of an issue.

"I think if we don't get out in front of it, it's going to have a significant impact. There's just the capabilities of these deepfakes to just take someone's random picture off of their social media page and manipulate it and do what they want with it," she said.

Bangle's advice is for parents and educators to be "the first line of defence."

"Be sure that the kids know that if something happens online, tell someone. That's No. 1, is make sure they know that they can come to or have a safe adult that they can go talk to if something happens online," she said.

Chief Const. Mark Neufeld says cyber crimes are "huge" and by the time police get a report, the damage has been done.

"Any emphasis we can place on trying to educate kids, and the kids are smart when you give them the information they need to navigate the digital world safely," he said.

Neufeld wants parents and kids to understand if they fall victim to report it; don't delete the evidence.

He has seen instances where predators have reached out to eight-year-olds.

"Kids are not at fault here. It's just really important that as parents and as a community, people and decision-makers, we are treating the kids like they're victims, and we're supporting and believing them," he said.

This was the second year the YouthLink Calgary Police Interpretive Centre hosted the Youth Cyber Summit.

Victims of cyber crimes can report issues at https://www.cybertip.ca/en/.