There has been a “shocking” increase in the reports of children tricked into sharing sexual images of themselves by abusers intent on extorting money or further imagery from their victims.
Sextortion is a form of blackmail in which a child is tricked into sending sexual images of themselves to abusers, who then threaten to share the pictures with friends, family or more widely on the internet if they are not paid money.
The Internet Watch Foundation says criminal gangs are finding ‘safe havens’ to harbour abuse imagery in EU countries.
As new data shows EU servers are being targeted by criminals to host this imagery, EU legislators must pass vital new legislation to get a grip on the worsening situation and prevent the abuse of EU servers by criminals profiting off child sexual abuse imagery, writes Susie Hargreaves.
This will help to ensure the online safety of children and young people who use its national digital learning platform, Glow, to access a range of educational services.
The IWF welcomes the Government's commitment to keeping children safe online
Innovations in detecting and removing child sexual abuse material have been made possible by a grant from Nominet.
SS8 will be allowed to use the IWF’s Hash List in software that is used by law enforcement agencies around the world.
Safety tech firm Image Analyzer has become part of the Internet Watch Foundation’s (IWF) community of Members working to protect children online.
NCA report estimates that up to 830,000 adults in the UK are a sexual threat to children
IWF analysts have also discovered an online “manual” dedicated to helping offenders refine their prompts and train AI to return more and more realistic results.
