Supporting Survivors and Creating Safer Digital Spaces

By Paige Hanson, Chief of Cyber Safety Education

We are continuing our celebration of Women’s History Month this March by sharing the incredible work accomplished by one of our nonprofit partners, the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV). The theme of this year’s Women’s History Month is “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope,” which is exactly what the NNEDV does.

NNEDV is a membership and advocacy organization comprised of state domestic violence coalitions, allied organizations, and supportive individuals all working to create a social, political, and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists. It offers programs and initiatives that address both the causes and consequences of domestic violence and provides training, technical assistance, and resources to local communities.

An often-overlooked facet of domestic violence is technology abuse—particularly the use of software like stalkerware to track domestic partners or monitor their online behavior, providing more opportunity for harassment. Last year, we provided a $75,000 grant to NNEDV’s Safety Net, a truly innovative and comprehensive program that “focuses on the intersection of technology and domestic and sexual violence and works to address how it impacts the safety, privacy, accessibility, and civil rights of victims.” As part of our support, I was thrilled to be able to keynote two trainings last fall to hundreds of staff members of NNEDV member organizations.

In addition to our trainings, with our financial support, NNEDV’s Safety Net Project made great strides in tackling online abuse in 2021. Here’s a glimpse of the impact:

• Provided 66 trainings, reaching over 7,700 advocates, legal professionals, law enforcement, technologists, educators, and others working with survivors of abuse 
• Presented two national webinars with the University of Texas Medical Branch and Safe Alliance
• Released Tech Abuse in the Pandemic and Beyond, a report on technology abuse during the pandemic
• Provided nearly 1,100 hours of technical assistance to programs and those working with survivors to share how technology can be used against survivors as well as how to protect them
• Co-sponsored Safety’s Net’s 9th annual Tech Summit in July, in partnership with NortonLifeLock and other tech companies. At the summit, NNEDV provided critical content around technology abuse. Over 630 advocates, legal professionals, privacy experts, and technologists from 43 states, three territories, and six countries attended.

NNEDV will continue to provide healing and promote hope for the many women experiencing domestic violence, and NortonLifeLock will continue to support NNEDV in this important work. NortonLifeLock is also proud to be a founding member of the Coalition Against Stalkerware, which was formed to help keep malicious technology like Stalkerware and Creepware out of the hands of abusers.

Survivors of violence against women can be helped all year round, not just in March. To help NNEDV get more resources into the hands of survivors donate today and if you or someone you know are experiencing abuse, harassment, or harm, or think that you might be, call the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit NNEDV’s website for resources.