What is cyber-flashing, how to combat it and how to report it if it happens to you?

Reports of cyber-flashing to British Transport Police (BTP) have almost doubled in a year, although campaigners say the number of women affected “will almost certainly be much higher”.

The number of women being sent sexually explicit images by strangers on trains is going “largely unreported” despite a spike in incidents, the new data revealed.

But what is cyber-flashing, how can you protect yourself against, and what should you do if you become a victim of it?

Here's everything you need to know:

What is cyber-flashing?

Cyber-flashing is when a person is sent an unsolicited sexual image on their device by a stranger nearby through AirDrop, a file-sharing function on iPhones.

Victims – often targeted on trains due to the technology’s short range – said it caused them to feel fearful on public transport.

If a person’s AirDrop settings are set to “Everyone”, it means someone outside of their contacts list can request to send them a file.

This can be done anonymously, as all that is shown on the receiving device is a preview of the picture and the name of the iPhone sending the file.