IWF scoops top tech gong

Published:  Fri 21 Oct 2016

“Innovation of the Year 2016” – IWF’s Image Hash List is praised at industry awards.

The Internet Watch Foundation's (IWF) new Image Hash List has won a top technology award at the CloudHosting Awards.

It won Innovation of the Year 2016. The Image Hash List can stop the upload, storage and sharing of child sexual abuse images online. And its official global release is today (Friday, 21 October).

The pioneering technology, which has the potential to eliminate millions of images of victims' sexual abuse from the internet, is already being used by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo.

How it works

If people can upload, download, view or host images on your services, you could benefit from the IWF Image Hash List so watch this animation which explains more.

It starts with a team of expert IWF analysts who comprehensively assess, and categorise hundreds of child sexual abuse images every day.

Each image is then given a unique digital fingerprint – the DNA of the photograph. Organisations can then deploy a customised hash list, and search their image library for matching images, automatically. Even if photos have been altered.

To read more about this, and how easy it is for companies to use, click here.

We’re now able to roll this out to companies globally, so contact us at [email protected] and be part of an award-winning solution.

 

Ends

 

Notes to editors:

Contact:

Emma Hardy, Director of External Relations [email protected] +44 (0) 1223 203030 or +44 (0) 7929 553679.

What we do:

We make the internet a safer place. We help victims of child sexual abuse worldwide by identifying and removing online images and videos of their abuse. We search for child sexual abuse images and videos and offer a place for the public to report them anonymously. We then have them removed. We’re a not for profit organisation and are supported by the global internet industry and the European Commission.

 

For more information please visit www.iwf.org.uk.

The IWF is part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, working with Childnet International and the South West Grid for Learning to promote the safe and responsible use of technology.

Vital partnership enhances ThreatLocker ability to tackle child sexual abuse imagery

Vital partnership enhances ThreatLocker ability to tackle child sexual abuse imagery

As a new Member of the Internet Watch Foundation, Threatlocker reinforces its mission to disrupt cybercrime and support child protection online.

30 September 2025 News
‘Disturbing’ AI-generated child sexual abuse images found on hidden chatbot website that simulates indecent fantasies

‘Disturbing’ AI-generated child sexual abuse images found on hidden chatbot website that simulates indecent fantasies

Internet watchdog says this is the first time it has identified imagery of child sexual abuse linked to AI chatbots.

22 September 2025 News
Child sexual extortion cases in the UK soar with warnings ‘ruthless’ criminals are still putting children and young people at risk

Child sexual extortion cases in the UK soar with warnings ‘ruthless’ criminals are still putting children and young people at risk

Charities warn threat of sexual extortion (or sextortion) against children ‘not diminishing’ as new data show sextortion cases soar 72% in a year

1 September 2025 News