3 Westhill Students Aim To Raise Awareness About Cybersecurity

STAMFORD, CT — In an age of increasing technology, cybersecurity has never been more important.

Reports of scams targeting the young and old have become commonplace, evidenced by the more than $10 billion in losses from cybercrimes that were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2022, according to the FBI's annual Internet Crime Report that was released earlier this year in conjunction with the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

Those aged 20 and under made 15,782 cybercrime-related complaints and suffered a total loss of $210.5 million in 2022, the report said.

People 60 and over made 88,262 complaints and experienced an eye-opening total loss of $3.1 billion.

When Rohan Sahu, Jake Davidson and Vadaanya Paliwal — three rising seniors at Westhill High School — found out that a close friend's grandmother fell victim to a scam last spring, the trio jumped into action and formed CyberAware, an organization dedicated to educating young students and senior citizens about the importance of staying safe online and identifying scams when they occur.

"We saw all of these attacks and we just wanted to do our part in helping," Sahu said, noting that even some of his friends have been scammed and hacked on social media in the past.

"We realized with us in school, and with senior citizens — we're all not really educated enough as we should be on cybersecurity," Davidson added. "It's something we can prevent. That's why we thought it was so important for us to reach out and educate people. There's nowhere close to enough information on this topic and there are no required classes at Westhill or at pretty much any school, or for seniors."

Since CyberAware was formed last year, Sahu, Davidson and Paliwal have made educational presentations to various schools and organizations across Stamford, including at Turn of River Middle School; Bicultural Hebrew Academy; Atria Senior Living; The Residence; Boys and Girls Club Yerwood Center; Boys and Girls Club of Stamford; and the Senior Center at the Stamford Government Center.

The presentations are about 40 minutes long and cover a variety of topics related to staying safe on social media and electronic devices, and knowing how to spot a scam and what to do about it.

"We'll talk about the most common types of scams they'll see. We'll show them exactly what it looks like, what the hackers do, what they want, and then we tell them how they can prevent it," Davidson said. "For example, the most popular scam that happens to seniors is the family impersonation scam. We tell them exactly how hackers can get their information and how they'll message them pretending to be a family member, and we'll talk about what to do when they're caught in it, what not to do, and how to prove if it's a scam or not."

One of the most important messages the group tries to impart to others is to not be ashamed if they're caught up in a scam or cybercrime.

All three of the students have an interest in cybersecurity and helping people, so starting CyberAware came naturally to them.

The reaction from those they've helped has been overwhelmingly positive, Sahu said, noting they've likely impacted over 1,000 people so far.

The group has been asked by the different organizations to come back and present again in the future.

"It's been really good. We've had a lot of fun doing it," Sahu said.

The goal of CyberAware is to extend beyond Stamford's borders.

"We do want to expand to other cities. We do firmly believe this is an important topic that should be incorporated into high school or schools in general and their curriculum," Paliwal said.

CyberAware is actively looking for other high school volunteers both in Stamford and elsewhere around Connecticut. The group will train volunteers and give them the materials they need for their own presentations.

"For me, I want to make this a countrywide movement. We could provide a platform for other kids so they can bring these presentations to other schools or elderly homes," Paliwal added.

For more information and to contact CyberAware for presentations or volunteer opportunities, visit their website or follow them on Instagram @cyberawareofficial.