Welcome to Part 1 of our August 2024 Inspirational Interview with Mia Landsem, ethical hacker, digital investigator and author in Norway.
Mia Landsem is an award-winning Norwegian author, writer, speaker, and ethical hacker. She is currently working as a security consultant at Multiconsult. In her spare time, Mia has been working to fight image abuse and digital violence for many years, helping victims. Mia has written a best-selling children’s book about how to be safe online and has done hundreds of lectures about image-based abuse and digital safety.
She has won several prizes for her work in helping victims of online image abuse, hacking, and fraud: winner of “The Girl Award” (Plan International) in 2018 and “Influencer of the year”; finalist in “Bravest woman of the year” and “Årets Trønder” /”Trønder of the year”; and top 3 finalist (2021) in the international award “Cyber security woman of the year”. The jury leader of The Girl Award, Navjot Sandhu, described her as: “energetic and extremely brave. Superman and Batman come nowhere close, and this year’s winner is among the toughest there is. This is a winner we all want to be like.”
Part two of Mia’s interview will be published 5 August, 2024.
All photos are courtesy of Mia Landsem.
1. What were your personal motivations or reasons to join the movement to fight the illegal sharing of nude images online?
When I was young, several female friends of mine fell victim to illegal photo sharing. I also fell victim to the same thing when my ex-boyfriend had taken a picture without me realising it and shared it online as revenge. It was all over the web, and I tried to help myself, while also wanting to help others in the same situation.
2. For any of our readers who currently work in IT and are interested in pursuing work in digital investigating and tracking perpetrators who spread images online, what advice would you give to them on getting started?
I use investigative techniques within the law to try to find out who is spreading nude pictures of others online. You might look for clues of who the abuser is, like usernames or other digital evidence.
So, to start with, I would dig into forensics. Do not break the laws to track perpetrators if you are not working in the police. Look into a career in the police as a digital forensics expert. Also prepare that you might see things you want to unsee.
3. In many areas of the world, victim blaming is still extremely common when it comes to the illegal sharing of nude photos and can often impede action being taken against perpetrators. What can be done to educate society and begin to move the needle for attitude shifts regarding these crimes?
It’s time we put the blame where it belongs, on the abuser! As with everything else in the world, we must make sure to stop victim shaming, put responsibility on social media actors who make money on platforms that spread abuse material, and ensure good education for the youth. The media also has a long way to go, in not calling this “revenge porn” but calling it what it actually is: a digital sexual assault.
4. In your opinion, what are some effective steps governments should take in developing policies to protect women, but also in enforcing and tracking these crimes which happen over the internet?
The police need more resources, not fewer. In Norway, the police do not have the capacity to investigate many of the cases. We must also ensure that the laws are up-to-date and follow digitalization. Many parts of the laws are out of date and the penalties here in Norway are tragically low. Most people who spread nude pictures of others hardly get a prison sentence, the same with those who carry out physical sexual abuse. We must demand that companies and application owners take into account that abuse and misuse can occur on their applications, and have clear rules and steps for what to do when this happens to one of their users. If you are harassed on an app, it is often the person being harassed who is told to block and “ignore”. It’s wrong and we must put more responsibility on the tech giants who make money from this. We must have better national training in schools in digital judgment and security.
5. Your lectures on safer online practices have been attended by children and schools, parents and organisations. What are the best forms of defence each of these groups can take to best protect themselves from falling victim to their private images being shared?
I believe that you must seek out information and talk about digital security on a daily basis. Things we repeat and talk about are easier to remember. You must not be naive and think that it will never happen to you. Additionally, with a book I published, “Trygg på nett” (Safe Online), my goal was to tell children how to be safe online in a language and way they understood.
