At the beginning of the month we hosted our second annual event to discuss how we can better collaborate to tackle industry wide issues surrounding child sexual exploitation.

Last week I had the pleasure of taking part in a panel event at Copenhagen’s Sustainable Brands event to talk with industry peers about how companies can help interrupt and end the demand for commercial child sexual exploitation. This included discussions around both sex trafficking and child sexual abuse.

The rise of social media channels has normalised image sharing online. In fact, The NetClean Report suggests that more self-produced material of a sexual nature is being shared on social media networks than ever before. This week the NSPCC revealed findings that indicated 1,400 annual calls have been made to counsellors about sharing naked pictures and videos online.

Technical advances have unreservedly transformed our lives. Technology has changed the way we communicate, travel, learn and even find love. The internet alone has given rise to a worldwide community and a forum for the mass exchange of information. It’s a place people can turn to for inspiration, idea sharing and keeping in contact with friends, regardless of their location. In turn, we perceive it as a force for good, offering overwhelming opportunity for collaboration and education.

Every year, in the first week of July, the major political event – Almedalen Week – takes place in Sweden.

Anonymisation technologies continue to be a crucial challenge for police and digital investigators when it comes to identifying offenders who have produced and circulated child sexual abuse material.

Last week, the NSPCC released its annual ‘How safe are our children? 2016’ report. The report suggests that the Internet used in eight cases of child sex abuse every day. However, we feel that this latest number from the NSPCC is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the actual volume of child sexual abuse cases that have occurred online and go unreported to the police.

Often ‘insider threats’ are thought of as the typically unwitting evasion of security protocols by employees taking steps to improve productivity. This can be anything from storing private data using Dropbox or forwarding confidential details to a personal email account, without any thought for data security.

The public, and in many cases even decision-makers in businesses and public authority organisations, are unaware of the extent of the problem of child sexual abuse material happening in our society and local communities. This view is backed by 8 in 10 police officers in our global survey.

While we are beginning to see more public awareness on the issues surrounding child sexual abuse, the case against offenders remains weak. Police forces and investigators around the world have voiced their opinions, saying that sentences for child sexual abuse crime are too lenient, and that the legal system is not efficient in stopping child sexual abuse crime

In my last blog we looked at the benefits of victim identification. Organisations like Project VIC, of which Griffeye is a founding partner, are working with police and forensic investigators, Europol and Interpol to analyse images and videos in order to track down individuals involved in child sexual abuse cases.

The number of children at risk from sexual exploitation is on the rise, yet many investigators do not have the time to give priority to the work that is needed to identify victims.

Online child sexual exploitation is a growing concern around the world and the issue is becoming more severe than ever before. It has never been easier for perpetrators to make contact with innocent children, to share images of abuse and encourage others to commit these hideous crimes.

In the world of child sexual abuse, the waters are always muddied. With new methods of criminal activity arising and a vast array of technological advances to thwart them, it’s a field that is always evolving.

The fact that adults with sexual interest in children would choose to approach these young victims on social media is not a new concept. What has changed in recent years is the quantity of social platforms and how easy, quick and ‘private’ it has become to share images and videos via mobile phones and tablet computers.