About

Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC)

training & technology

Zero Abuse Project is committed to protecting children from abuse and exploitation, and this commitment is reflected in our current projects aimed at supporting law enforcement and ICAC investigators. These projects include:

Upcoming FREE ICAC Trainings

Advanced Child Exploitation Search Warrants

**Only available to ICAC Task Force members and affiliates registered with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.** This FREE course addresses child exploitation investigations from initial discovery of exploitative material to the search warrant service. Participants will discuss sources of ICAC investigations; identify elements of probable cause development; practice search warrant service preparation and execution; learn about scene management, interviews, evidence collection; and identify key components of post-search warrant debriefing.

Live Stream Platforms/Server Search Warrants

**Only available to ICAC Task Force members and affiliates registered with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.** This FREE webinar examines best practices in search warrant drafting, including common pitfalls and exigency considerations. It also addresses selection of appropriate legal process, reviewing search warrants for potential defects, and working with service providers to obtain data.

Digital Forensics Series: Vehicle Forensics

Only available to ICAC Task Force members and affiliates registered with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.This FREE webinar addresses the unique forensic evidence from vehicles that can be used in the investigation of technology-facilitated crimes against children. It includes practical methods for recovering the forensic artifacts found in a typical vehicle’s 75 computer systems.

The Importance of the Forensic Interview in Technology-Facilitated Crimes

**Only available to ICAC Task Force members and affiliates registered with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.** This FREE experiential 2.5 day course teaches ICAC investigators about technology-facilitated crimes and the importance of the forensic interviewer gathering information about a child's involvement in virtual contexts while ensuring admissibility.

Social Media and the Forensic Interview

Only available to ICAC Task Force members and affiliates registered with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.This FREE webinar addresses the unique forensic evidence from vehicles that can be used in the investigation of technology-facilitated crimes against children. It includes practical methods for recovering the forensic artifacts found in a typical vehicle’s 75 computer systems.

Social Media and the Forensic Interview

Only available to ICAC Task Force members and affiliates registered with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program.This FREE webinar addresses the unique forensic evidence from vehicles that can be used in the investigation of technology-facilitated crimes against children. It includes practical methods for recovering the forensic artifacts found in a typical vehicle’s 75 computer systems.

specialized training

ICAC Task Force National Training Program

Zero Abuse’s Specialized Forensics and Technology Training Project provides ICAC investigators and prosecutors with skill-based training on forensics and emerging technologies related to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation. The Project includes in-person courses on topics such as CyberTip triage, cryptocurrency investigations, and forensic interviewing.  Zero Abuse also offers technical assistance to support to ICAC Task Forces and affiliates as they investigate technology-facilitated crime.

Advanced ExPeriential TRAINING

Strengthening ICAC Technological Investigative Capacity

The COVID-19 pandemic increased technology-facilitated crimes against children, presenting challenges for investigators and prosecutors who lack training and access to innovative methods and technologies. Zero Abuse draws on its subject matter expertise and network to combat this surge in crimes against children. Zero Abuse/s Advanced Experiential Child Exploitation Training Project provides investigators, forensic examiners, and prosecutors with advanced, skill-based training on child exploitation search warrants, cloud forensics, and suspect interrogation methods. The Project also includes an on-demand portal for law enforcement to access legal process, search warrant templates, and other resources related to child exploitation investigations.

tools & technologies

NOVA Tool

Zero Abuse is developing a cutting-edge tool to tackle the rising online sexual exploitation of children. Nexus for Open-source Virtual Assistance (NOVA) will integrate and streamline numerous social media and open-source intelligence tools into a user-friendly interface accessible to any law enforcement officer. 

NOVA will identify relevant online information such as social media profiles, physical addresses, phone numbers, known associates, and more, enabling swift and efficient investigations. Zero Abuse is optimizing the tool for mobile devices, allowing for easy deployment while on patrol. This innovative solution will equip law enforcement with the knowledge, tools, and methods they need to combat child sexual abuse material, exploitation, and trafficking.

Click to watch NOVA trailer

ICAC Instructors

coming soon

ICAC Trainings

ICAC Task Force National Training Program

CyberTip Triage and Open-Source Intelligence:

  • Practical techniques to help ICAC investigators navigate their immense CyberTip workloads
  • Highlight OSINT methods to quickly identify high-risk suspects with imminent access to children
  • Include real-world child exploitation case studies to ensure course realism and immediate relevance to participants
  • Participants will apply new skills in practical training scenarios involving simulated CyberTip processing, triage, and related OSINT challenges

Cryptocurrency and Dark Web Investigations:

  • In-depth exploration of cryptocurrency; digital assets, the Dark Web; and the role of peer-to-peer platforms in CSAM production and distribution
  • Examine the use of cryptography to protect digital records of transactions and anonymize perpetrators of child exploitation.
  • Explore current trends in exchange mediums with no central authority, as well as tools and countermeasures for investigators
  • Review high-profile Dark Web cases involving lucrative international child sexual abuse rings and pay-per-view livestreams of child sexual abuse and torture
  • Customized virtual wallets and sample Dark Web profiles will be established for participants’ use to demystify cryptocurrency technologies and equip attendees with tailored, real-world training experiences that can be directly applied to investigations

The Importance of Forensic Interviewing in Technology-Facilitated Crimes:

  • Unique dynamics of technology-facilitated crimes, including perpetrators’ grooming and manipulation tactics, and the role of polyvictimization

  • How forensic interviewers can explore a child’s involvement in relevant virtual contexts and gather information about the use of digital devices without compromising the admissibility of the child’s statement

  • Explore the introduction of digital and other forms of evidence in the forensic interview

  • Participants will work in small teams to develop case strategies; conduct a mock forensic interview; and present their case plans to faculty

More details to come!

Search Warrants and Digital Evidence Seizure:

  • 3-part series
  • Address every step of the investigative process, from the development of probable cause through the service and execution of search warrants
  • Teach participants how to develop and lead a model planning meeting to identify potential case hurdles or legal roadblocks
  • Address suspect identification, risk identification, and potential factors necessitating expedited service of search warrants
  • Address seizure of remotely stored data and best practices when using law enforcement portals to serve legal process and collect evidence

Virtual Reality and the Metaverse:

  • 2-part series
  • Explore emerging technologies including virtual reality, blended realities, the Metaverse, and their implications for child exploitation investigators
  • Examine investigative and prosecutorial countermeasures to crimes perpetrated in virtual settings
  • Explore investigative challenges related to the disturbing emergence of simulated child abuse imagery

Digital Forensics:

  • 3-part series
  • Mobile Phone Forensics – practical methods for recovering encrypted data and otherwise navigating the wealth of information available on mobile devices
  • Vehicle Forensics – practical methods for recovering the forensic artifacts found in a typical vehicle’s 75 computer systems
  • Video Forensics – promising approaches such as tracking the origin of video images and following the digital trails and artifacts perpetrators leave across social media platforms

Forensic Interviews in Technology-Facilitated Crimes:

  • 3-part series
  • Social Media and the Forensic Interview – Social media risk factors, its efficacy as a grooming and manipulation tool, and the ways social media can be used to corroborate or refute allegations 
  • Online Child Sex Trafficking and the Forensic Interview – How virtual environments contribute to the selection, grooming, and facilitation of child sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation
  • Sextortion and the Forensic Interview – How children and youth are vulnerable to systemic disinhibition and desensitization by offenders, how sextortion creates barriers to disclosure, and the importance of using a neutral information-gathering approach in response to allegations

 

More details to come!

Strengthening ICAC Technical Capacity

  • Legal process categories and strategy, and what information can be requested from service providers and social media platforms
  • Packaging, transporting, and storing seized digital evidence, and maintaining accurate chain of custody logs
  • Filing legal process and conducting post-search warrant execution meetings with prosecutors
  • Development of a risk assessment plan to determine whether children are present at the residence or if the suspect has access to children, and quickly establish a priority level for a case
  • Considerations when serving Child Exploitation search warrant with an emphasis on Officer Safety

  • Virtually-simulated crime scene where participants will collect items of evidentiary value, identify items that may serve as corroborating evidence, and execute a search warrant
  • Explore the value of both suspect and victim cloud-based data and the numerous locations where cloud data is stored
  • Examine investigative methods to access data stored in the cloud, even if investigators do not have access to the cell phone or other device
  • Address cutting-edge cloud forensic techniques, such as leveraging artificial intelligence to rapidly detect high-value individual offenders and identify child victims and their locations
  • Review the background operations of devices that upload data without user knowledge, such as GPS locations, Google searches, chat conversations, etc.
  • Participants will apply digital forensic methods to cloud accounts in immersive, case-based scenarios
  • Modeled after Zero Abuse’s ChildFirst forensic interviewing protocol
  • Necessary given that offender confessions lessen the need for children to testify, reduce a child’s self-blame, increase familial support, impact jury decisions, and impact offender accountability
  • Development of a phased interviewing model to address the unique dynamics of sexual offense perpetration against children and identify special techniques to effectively elicit information from suspects
  • Provide concrete guidance for interrogating child exploitation suspects with flexibility to adapt interrogations to the distinctive characteristics of each offender
  • Experiential course to teach participants the Protocol and then practice conducting suspect interrogations using the Protocol

Secure, access-controlled repository of child exploitation-specific legal process, search warrant templates, and other resources, such as:

  • Subpoenas
  • Search warrants
  • Letters of preservation
    Admonition and waiver of rights
  • Consent to search forms (cloud accounts, social media, mobile devices, etc.)
  • Seized property receipts
  • Request for forensic examination
  • Threat assessments
  • Voluntary statement forms
  • Pretrial motions for admissibility of digital evidence
  • Terms and conditions of probation for child exploitation offenders
  • Sample Operational Plan
  • Risk Assessment Matrix

The documents provided in our portal are sensitive and intended for law enforcement use only. If you are a law enforcement investigator and would like to request a copy of any of these documents, please complete the following information. Our team will review your request and contact you shortly.

ICAC Portal Form

What You Can Find

Legal Documents

Subpoenas, search warrants, letters of preservation, admonition and waiver of rights, consent to search forms, seized property receipts, and pretrial motions for admissibility of digital evidence are all legal documents we can help identify. These documents are specific to legal proceedings and are used in the investigation and prosecution of child exploitation cases.

Investigative Tools

Threat assessments, voluntary statement forms, and request for forensic examination documents are investigative tools used in child exploitation cases. These tools are designed to gather evidence and information to aid in the investigation and prosecution of these cases.

Child Protection Measures

Terms and conditions of probation for child exploitation offenders could be categorized under child protection measures, which would include other measures aimed at protecting children from exploitation. These measures would include things like sex offender registration requirements and other legal provisions aimed at preventing offenders from reoffending and protecting potential victims.