Cybercrime is a growing global challenge and contraband content can pose a particular threat to children. 

Problem

Digital evidence is vital to investigations into child sexual exploitation. However, these investigations often take months due to delays caused by backlogs of devices waiting to be searched and the amount of detailed work required to search each device.

Solution

Cyacomb is a spin-out company from Edinburgh Napier University that has been set-up in response to this threat. The company has received  to date £14.5 million of investment for its products which detect illegal content.

Enabling Rapid Police Response

Ground-breaking tools can rigorously scan digital content at scale, finding and flagging harmful content while protecting database security and user privacy. Using cutting edge block level hashing technology, it replaces slow MD5 scans, detecting indecent images of children or terrorist material in seconds. Cyacomb Forensics enables law enforcement to evidence up to 100x faster than traditional methods, saving time while on scene. 

Protecting Children Faster

More recently, through a partnership with Internet Watch Foundation, Cyacomb has built the IWF Contraband Filter. This innovative Cyacomb tool is empowering law enforcement agencies worldwide to quickly identify illegal files on suspect devices in a matter of seconds, with a secure matching capability of 1.7 million files.