The Digital War on Women: Sexualized Deepfakes, Weaponized Data and Stalkerware That Monitors Victims Online

2024 #ShareTheMicInCyber Fellow Pavlina Pavlova published an op-ed with Ms. about the topic of her recent report with New America about how cyberattacks and data weaponization can caused harms along gendered lines. In her piece, she argues that without a proper understanding about how technology can facilitate real-life harms to women, we risk preventing women from fully participating in democratic processes.

We still lack gender-disaggregated data sets and testimonies to fully illustrate the breadth and depth of how data exploitation affects people based on gender as a variable factor. However, recent research shows that the stakes for women in the digital age are high. Women’s experiences online are in many respects different from men’s, and our responses to technology and the law that governs it must reflect this reality.

Her full report, Gendered Harms of Data Weaponization, is published with New America.