HPE professionals combat tech-facilitated domestic abuse in national task force

[BELovattUK]

As a global company, HPE strives to be a ‘Force for Good’. From our commitment to sustainability, giving back to the communities that we are part of, and advancing the way people live and work, our teams work tirelessly to impact their world for good.

A year ago, in early 2021 – two friends Connor McEnroy, Data Analytics Global Security at HPE, and Clare Kearney, Training Manager at Safe Ireland, discussed the rise in the use of technology-facilitated abuse throughout the pandemic whilst on a camping trip in Ireland. This fireside chat sparked an idea that would grow into the formation of a national task force with the aim of helping to protect the women and children of Ireland from abuse facilitated through technology.

Technology-facilitated abuse is a form of domestic violence that provides abusers a pervasive way to control, coerce, stalk, and harass their victims and can involve perpetrators’ misuse of devices (such as phones, devices, and computers), accounts (such as email), and platforms (such as social media) to control, abuse, track and intimidate their victims/survivors. This abuse can be individualized, such as the perpetrator using threats that have specific meaning for the victim/survivors but may be invisible or hard to spot by outsiders.

Joanne O’Connor, Annie Hennelly and Connor McEnroyDetermined to bring about a solution to the problems they discussed, Connor arranged for a meeting of minds introducing Clare to Annie Hennelly, Global Security Manager Threat Detection, and Joanne O’Connor, Talent Manager from HPE Galway, Ireland and founder of Cyber Awareness Ireland (CAI). The team instantly began to put together a plan of how they could help.

Tapping into internal resources from the Employee Resource Group Women in Security (WiS) and industry contacts Joanne held from her involvement with ‘Cyber Ireland’ the National Cyber Security Cluster Organisation in Ireland– the task force was born. The Task Force was assembled from members of the Cyber Awareness industry in Ireland. It includes cyber security experts, academic researchers with expertise in technology abuse, gender-based violence, and cyberpsychology, and also members of academic institutions and government bodies. The task force meets the need that was identified, which is a gap in national support and education on the topic of technology-facilitated abuse.

Cyber Awareness Ireland (CAI) is a national body that research develops and curates Cyber Security Awareness research and messaging in Ireland. CAI has an ambitious program to cultivate original research in cybersecurity awareness by framing its survey work at national scales, leveraging Ireland's population as a living laboratory to investigate the behavioral dimensions of cybercrime victimization and prevention.

With the Executive Sponsorship from Daniel Frye, Enterprise CISO, and Maeve Culloty, HPE Ireland Managing Director, the team developed a bespoke cyber security training course for Safe Ireland to be able to guide and educate service users to arm themselves with online cyber safety training and privacy knowledge.

Safe Ireland is a national organization responsible for tackling domestic violence in Ireland. The task force has committed to a twelve-month collaboration and aims to provide Safe Ireland with the expertise, knowledge, and training that the cyber security industry in Ireland has to offer and the NCSA-TF has committed to delivering across five key areas:

1. Cyber Security Awareness Maturity and Research
2. Frontline Worker Training on Technology Facilitated Abuse
3. Children & Families Program for Survivors
4. Cyber Security Awareness Raising & Policy Development
5. Accredited Frontline Worker Certification Program

The HPE training will be provided pro-bono through the Safe Ireland website and is set to go live in October 2022.

An incredible example of what can be achieved through collaboration and hard work, this group of like-minded professionals have come together and offered their time and expertise to help close the knowledge gaps that abusers exploit, helping to keep the women and children of Ireland safe.

One other aspect of the deliverables from the National Task Force was a collaborative national awareness campaign between Cyber Skills, Cyber Awareness Ireland, and Safe Ireland. The campaign comprised of large billboards placed across Cork City in Ireland that highlighted three areas of technology abuse:

Incessant contact: More commonly known as ‘blowing up your phone’ to keep tabs on you with an expectation of an immediate or prompt reply.

Location-sharing: Constant demands to share your location or remote tracking of your movements.

Financial Abuse: Restricting your access to online money or making you unduly accountable for essential purchases.

The campaign has received national coverage from mainstream media with articles in the Irish Examiner.

The power and impact of large technology companies like HPE collaborating with national bodies, government entities, and public services can unleash untold value and have a lasting positive impact on wider society.