Sextortion: How Big a Problem Is It?

Authors

Benjamin Wittes, The Brookings Institution

Document Type

Lecture

Publication Date

9-21-2016

Publisher

Brookings Mountain West

Abstract

The word “sextortion” is a prosecutorial slang for a new kind of cybersecurity problem: the extortion of sexual conduct online by victims—often a great many of them—by means of threatening the release of sexually explicit images. A recent Brookings study reveals that sextortion is remarkably prevalent. We identified a large number of cases nationwide encompassing many thousands of victims. The justice department has identified sextortion as the most important and fastest-growing cyber threat to children, but many victims are also adult women. A discussion of recent research into a little-discussed cybersecurity threat: The ability to conduct sexual coercion at scale against very large numbers of victims and across state and international borders.

Keywords

Child pornography; Extortion; Sex

Disciplines

Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance

File Format

pdf

File Size

366 KB

Streaming Media

Language

English

Comments

Benjamin Wittes, Ph.D., is a senior fellow, governance studies, at the Brookings Institution.

Event sponsored by Brookings Mountain West.

Greenspun Auditorium, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Downloadable video is 1.1 GB in MP4 format

Attached file: 8 PowerPoint slides

Repository Citation

Wittes, B. (2016). Sextortion: How Big a Problem Is It?.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/brookings_lectures_events/107