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!