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NEXT SIGHT

use cases

Child protection, CSAM investigations & online safety intelligence

Specialist intelligence, tooling, and training for the people who protect children online — built on real cybercrime and child-exploitation casework.

Why this matters

Protecting children online is not optional work.

At Next Sight we are dedicated to protecting children online. We strongly believe that children are our future and that it is our responsibility to protect them from harm.

The digital world is vast and knows no boundaries. Online, our children are exposed to the darkest corners of humanity, and they do not have the knowledge or the tools to protect themselves. At Next Sight, with our specific access to the dark corners of the internet, years of experience in law enforcement and investigations, we are uniquely positioned to make a difference and protect our future. This work is delivered through our OSINT and HUMINT services, alongside law-enforcement partners and within our lawful, GDPR-aligned framework.

Capabilities

OSINT, dark-web and tradecraft capabilities for child-protection units.

Online sexual exploitation investigations

Lawful collection and analysis support for CSAM and grooming casework, derived from real cybercrime operations and Europol-led actions.

Dark-web & closed-community access

Specialist access to the closed and dark corners of the internet where offenders operate, with the OPSEC required to work safely without burning operations.

Identity resolution & link analysis

Resolve aliases across forums, marketplaces, and messaging platforms; map offender networks and infrastructure for investigators and prosecutors.

Secure handling of sensitive material

Hashing, compartmented review environments, and minimum-exposure workflows so analysts and officers are protected during difficult casework.

Threat-to-life & missing children support

Time-critical OSINT and HUMINT support for missing-children and threat-to-life cases, with clear escalation paths and reproducible artefacts.

Training for child-protection units

OSINT, OPSEC, and HUMINT training tailored to the legal, technical, and human realities of online child-safety work.

Our commitments

Discipline that protects children and the people who protect them.

Lawful, scoped, and oversight-friendly

Every engagement runs against the legal basis and policy of the requesting authority. We do not work around safeguards built to protect children, witnesses, or officers.

Defensible evidence

Artefacts carry provenance — source, timestamp, hash, method — so material survives challenge at trial and across jurisdictions.

Officer welfare

Minimum-exposure review, compartmented access, and disciplined OPSEC reduce the cumulative harm investigators carry from this work.

Human judgement at the centre

AI compresses volume; human investigators and analysts make the identifications and decisions. Children's safety is not delegated to a model.

Help for children & young people

Help for children and young people in distress.

The Help4U project, developed by Europol, offers support to children facing abuse, online threats, or distress.

Visit help4u-project.eu

Frequently asked

Child-protection questions, answered.

Why does Next Sight work on child protection?
We are dedicated to protecting children online. We believe children are our future and that it is our responsibility to protect them from harm. The digital world is vast and borderless, and children are exposed to the darkest corners of humanity without the knowledge or tools to protect themselves. With our specific access to the dark corners of the internet, years of experience in law enforcement and investigations, we are uniquely positioned to make a difference.
Who do you work with on child-protection cases?
Specialist law-enforcement units, prosecutors, national child-safety bodies, NGOs operating with a lawful mandate, and corporate trust & safety teams. Engagements are scoped to each authority's legal basis.
How do you handle CSAM and other sensitive material?
With hashing, compartmented review environments, least-privilege access, and minimum-exposure workflows. Material is never retained outside agreed scope, and reviewer welfare is treated as an operational requirement, not an afterthought.
Can you support time-critical cases such as missing children or threat-to-life?
Yes. We support time-critical OSINT and HUMINT work with clear escalation paths, fast turn-around, and reproducible artefacts that survive into prosecution.
Where can a child or young person in distress get help?
The Help4U project, developed by Europol, offers support to children facing abuse, online threats, or distress. Visit help4u-project.eu for direct help in multiple languages.
Are your tools and services GDPR and EU AI Act aligned?
Yes. Our products and services are designed to be GDPR-aligned and consistent with the EU AI Act, including human oversight, documented risk controls, and lawful-basis discipline.
What is CSAM and how do you support investigations involving it?
CSAM stands for child sexual abuse material. We support lawful investigations through hashing, compartmented review environments, minimum-exposure workflows, dark-web and closed-community access, and identity resolution — always within the requesting authority's legal basis.
How do you investigate online grooming, sextortion, and child exploitation?
With targeted OSINT and HUMINT collection across platforms where offenders operate, network and infrastructure mapping, and corroboration across independent sources. Outputs are sourced and reproducible so they hold up at trial and across jurisdictions.
Can NGOs and online-safety teams work with Next Sight?
Yes, where there is a lawful mandate. We work with specialist NGOs, national child-safety bodies, and corporate trust & safety teams alongside law-enforcement partners, with engagements scoped to each organisation's authority and remit.
How do you protect analysts handling traumatic material?
Through minimum-exposure review, compartmented access, hashing, and disciplined OPSEC — combined with realistic workload, rotation, and welfare practices. Officer welfare is treated as an operational requirement, not an afterthought.
Where can a child or young person in distress get help right now?
The Help4U project, developed by Europol, offers support to children facing abuse, online threats, or distress. Visit help4u-project.eu for direct help in multiple languages.
How do we get started?
Use the contact form to describe the legal basis, the decision the case needs to support, and the timeframe. We respond with a scoped proposal and the right specialist team.

Related

More on lawful child-protection intelligence.

Bring us into a child-protection case.

Tell us the legal basis, the decision the case needs to support, and the time pressure you are working under. We will respond with a scoped proposal.

Request a briefing