RIT Teams With Rochester Area-School Districts to Research Cybercrime

Twenty percent of children ages 10 to 17 are sexually solicited over the Internet each year. Adolescents are increasingly learning from each other how to operate information technology gadgets in ways that can be harmful—to both themselves and others.

Rochester Institute of Technology’s cybercrime expert, Sam McQuade, believes it’s time to take action.

RIT is teaming with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Information Systems Security Association, InfraGard and more than 20 area school districts, including the Diocese of Rochester, to conduct research designed to determine the extent of cyber offense and victimization by and among primary and secondary school students.

The initiative will officially launch during a kickoff event from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 9 in RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano College Auditorium. Four individuals are scheduled to speak:

• Sam McQuade, graduate program coordinator at RIT’s Center for Multidisciplinary Studies and author of the book Understanding and Managing Cybercrime.
  
• Chris Manaseri, superintendent of the Brighton Central School District.
  
• Ed Suk, executive director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Rochester branch.
  
• Allen Scalise, president of the Rochester chapter of the Information Systems Security Association.

A question and answer session will follow the formal presentations.

The following school districts have joined the K-12 education initiative: Brighton Central School District, Diocese of Rochester Catholic Schools, East Irondequoit Central School District, Fairport Central School District, Greece Central School District, Hilton Central School District, Honeoye Falls-Lima School District, Monroe 1 BOCES, Monroe 2 BOCES, Penfield Central School District, Perry Central School District, Pittsford Central School District, Rush-Henrietta Central School District, Spencerport Central School District, Wayne Central School District, Webster Central School District, West Irondequoit Central School District and Wheatland-Chili School District.

The event begins the first Information Systems Security Association Rochester Security Summit, which will consist of six different seminars that will occur throughout October as part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Other session topics include:

• The Parental Role in Internet Safety & Security Education: 6-8 p.m., Oct. 11 at Honeoye Falls-Lima Middle School Auditorium.
  
• What’s Happening in Junior & Senior High?: 7-9 p.m., Oct. 12 at Brighton High School Room 262.
  
• The Employer & Community Role in Internet Safety & Security Education: 7-9 p.m., Oct. 16 at Eastridge High School Auditorium.
  
• The School Role in Internet Safety and Security Education: 6-8 p.m., Oct. 17 at Hilton High School Auditorium.
  
• Getting Kids Off to College: 6-8 p.m., Oct. 26, BOCES 2 Conference Room Seven.

For more information on the Rochester Security Summit, visit www.rochestersecurity.org.