Laura
Laura Sang Hee Scherling, EdD, is a director and lecturer at Columbia University. She teaches in the Tech, Policy, and Innovation concentration. Scherling is the founder of the Cyber Care Institute and co-founder of Civic Art Lab. The Future of Hacking: The Rise of Cybercrime and the Fight to Keep Us Safe (Bloomsbury, 2025) is her fourth book. Her previous books include Ethics in Design and Communication (Bloomsbury) , Digital Transformation in Design (transcript), and Product Design, Technology, and Social Change (Intellect). She is a contributor to Tech Policy Press. Scherling is passionate about tech ethics, and cybersecurity awareness.
Sessions
This research examines emerging cybersecurity awareness resources for older adults who are increasingly victims of financial scams and social engineering. This presentation draws from interviews with the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). It also presents preliminary findings from the cybersecurity awareness initiative, the Cybercare Institute, recently introduced to four organizations in New York City. The workshop teaches older adults about basic definitions in cybersecurity, cyber hygiene, and how older adults can protect their identity through the ITRC. The workshop materials developed are “open source” with the aim for further adoption and improved support for older victims of cybercrime.
This talk examines the rise of scam compounds and some of the rapidly changing features of these criminal operations, where fraudulent activities occur at scale. A report last year by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime found that cyber-enabled fraud has intensified, resulting in billions of dollars in losses, with many of these crimes led by groups in Southeast Asia. The UN has estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are being trafficked and forced to work in a combination of scam centers and online operations. At the same time that cyber crime syndicates are rapidly evolving their use of technologies, they have also become more mobile and can relocate a compound after completing a “life cycle of operations.”