A spokesperson for Proxyware said in an email that the company is now working with five schools in Virginia. The move highlights a growing demand among U.S. schools and institutions for increased cyber protections amid the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence in recent years.
In the release, the company said its software has detected more than 192,000 cyber attacks against school-aged children in Virginia this calendar year.
“These attacks are not isolated or accidental," the news release said. "They are systemic targeted attempts to exploit children through ads, cookies, pixels, and user-generated content.”
According to a 2023 report by the child-monitoring software company Bark, which analyzed 5.6 billion messages across texts, email and various apps, 68 percent of tweens and 82 percent of teenagers either expressed or encountered violent messages that year. As well, 58 percent of tweens and 75 percent of teens encountered nudity or sexual content.
Recent research by the cybersecurity company Sophos also showed that schools, where large amounts of student and faculty data are collected, are particularly vulnerable to attacks because they often lack adequate infrastructure.
According to Proxyware's website, baseline cyber defenses no longer suffice in the current digital age.
“Traditional cybersecurity tools like firewalls, antivirus software, and website filters are not designed to stop these types of targeted attacks,” the news release said. “They focus on whether a website is ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but the Internet is far more complex. A trusted platform can still deliver harmful ads or host predatory content, leaving children vulnerable.”
According to the company's website, Proxyware’s software not only defends against bad actors online but eliminates attacks across the Internet. The technology uses “AI-generated personas that behave like children online,” detecting and terminating the threat at its source, the release said.
The company also offers educational materials detailing cyber safety measures for members of school communities, free of charge.
“Childhood innocence is not for sale,” Proxyware founder Chris Olson said in a public statement. “Proxyware’s expansion into Virginia K-12 schools is about ensuring every child has the right to learn and grow without being targeted by digital predators.”
