CEO Jeremy Samide Interviewed on How to Protect Your Data

CEO Jeremy Samide Interviewed on How to Protect Your Data

Jeremy Samide in conversation with CFRA's John Budden, on how to prevent theft of, or irreparable damage to, one's data and private information that can result from an internet invasion.

Thorn Spotlight Fights Worldwide Human Trafficking

A nonprofit organization, Thorn leverages new technologies to bolster the fight against human trafficking. With the support of tech leaders, the organization has developed a number of key initiatives to increase communication among law enforcement agencies and improve detection techniques. One of the organization’s key technologies, Spotlight, collects massive amounts of data and processes it for use by law enforcement. Spotlight connects women and children to the resources they need and helps to make sex trafficking investigations more effective.

Each day, more than 10,000 escort ads are posted in the United States, and some of these represent women bought and sold for sex. Spotlight sifts through this information to provide intelligence and leads on suspected human trafficking cases. The web-based tool is available to all law enforcement agencies free of charge.

Spotlight works by employing machine-learning algorithms to connect seemingly disparate sources of data. Through the tool, officers can identify potential cases and better understand the history and geographic reach of uncovered trafficking organizations.

A Look at the Thorn Industry Hash Sharing Platform

Thorn mobilizes cutting-edge technologies and leading technologists in the fight against human trafficking. One of the organization’s major achievements is its Industry Hash Sharing Platform, which it developed in 2012. Since 2014, the technology has been used by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Before Thorn created its hash-sharing technology, image-sharing platforms screened independently for child sexual abuse images and did not share intelligence with each other. Content removal was thus a redundant and terribly inefficient process.

To connect these platforms to identify content faster and report it more quickly, Thorn cooperated with Google, Facebook, and other technology industry leaders. The cloud-based hash-sharing tool is the first collaborative initiative in the industry that helps everyone find, report, and remove images of child abuse from digital networks more efficiently. Participating companies can use verified hashes shared by other participants to scan their own platforms and identify content immediately.

Individuals can learn more about this initiative and other tools created by Thorn at WeAreThorn.org.

Jeremy Samide @ BGF's The Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security Conference, Sep 25