Apple AirDrop assaults on the rise as criminals ‘cyber flash’ strangers with lewd images

“As technology infiltrates every aspect of our lives, criminals and creeps are figuring out creative ways to abuse it,” CBS Philly reports. “One such way is called ‘cyber-flashing.'”
“Cyber-flashing is the act of sending lewd pictures to unsuspecting victims,” CBS Philly reports. “It’s such an issue in New York that laws are being created to help prosecute the digital sexual harassment. In Philadelphia, police say cyber-flashing is happening as well.”
“The AirDrop feature on Apple products is an easy way to share positive memories with loved ones but its very easy to send and receive digital messages from strangers nearby using the tool. It’s popular for its ease of use and quality for many people,” CBS Philly reports. “Unfortunately, that ease of sharing has led to cyber-flashing. An experiment found that it was incredibly easy to send pictures to strangers on a short walk through City Hall. While some folks rejected the request to accept sent items, others allowed the photos to be sent through. Some people didn’t even realize they had the AirDrop feature on.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Note to parents, make sure your kids’ AirDrop settings are set to “Receiving Off.”
Choose who can see your device and send you content in AirDrop:
Go to Settings > General > AirDrop and chose:
• Receiving Off
• Contacts Only
• Everyone
You can also set your AirDrop options in Control Center:
1. On iPhone X or later, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open Control Center. On iPhone 8 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Press firmly or touch and hold the network settings card in the upper-left corner.
3. Tap AirDrop AirDrop icon and choose one of these options:
• Receiving Off
• Contacts Only
• Everyone
If you see “Receiving Off” and can’t tap to change it, go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Allowed Apps and make sure that AirDrop is turned on.
SEE ALSO:
How to prevent creeps from using Apple’s AirDrop to ‘cyber flash’ – August 22, 2017
How to share content with AirDrop on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch – March 3, 2017