DFA

DIGITAL FORENSICS AUXILIARY

Saving children from exploitation through digital forensics

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ABOUT

"Children’s talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives."
- Maya Angelou

THE PROBLEM

We were all children once. As Maya Angelou stated, it is the children’s “ignorance of the alternatives” that makes them thrive. It is their innocence. Childhood is a period of carefree innocence and total dependence upon those around us. It is also a time of rapid learning. We acquired knowledge and experience which would inevitably define our adult identity.

Today in many third world countries around the world that childhood and carefree innocence is taken away everyday. It is stolen and traded for money by those who are supposed to be the children’s protectors and providers. The extent of the negative effect of their stolen innocence is still unknown to us. Stolen innocence occurs when children are subjected to online sexual exploitation for profit. This phenomena known as Cyber Sex Trafficking, is one of the darkest sides of internet proliferation worldwide. Disturbingly, the perpetrators who steal and sell the child’s innocence are often their parents, relatives or friends, simply, people they trust.

OUR SOLUTION

We present an opportunity to reduce, if not eliminate the number of children who will be sexually exploited online. Our mission is primarily focused on assisting law enforcement agencies in third-world countries by donating our years of training and expertise in the proper handling and processing of digital forensic evidence. This knowledge leads to the creation of a credible threat to pedophiles and sexual perverts worldwide, who are primarily responsible for fueling the demand that drives the sexual exploitation of children. The only thing that stands between pedophiles and children is the threat of arrest, prosecution, conviction and finally incarceration. Good digital forensic evidence will increase the rate of conviction and incarceration.

CALL TO ACTION nika

A school teacher takes notice of Rosanna, a lethargic nine year old little girl who often falls asleep in class. She has woken her up on several occasions and had sent notes to her parents recommending that the little girl be given an opportunity to sleep well at night. The teacher also noted that her attendance records is below average. She wondered if the little girl is suffering from some kind of illness that keeps her from sleeping well. No response from the parents and the school nurse could not determine what could be keeping the little girl from getting a good night’s sleep.

The answer came weeks later when government social workers accompanied by the local police came to school to take Rosanna away. The social workers informed the teacher that Rosanna will be taken under protective custody and she will be housed at a protective shelter for children. It turns out that Rosanna is among the several children, in their economically challenged neighborhood, who has been identified by the police as one of the many victims who has been sexually exploited by her own mother and her mother’s boyfriend. She was made to perform various sexual acts with adults and other children in front of a webcam by those who are supposed to be her guardian/protectors. Her performances often took place during the hours when she should be sleeping, but scheduling of customers located in different time zones in Europe, USA, Canada and other far flung land, necessitates that she interrupts her sleep to perform.

This scenario is all too common in many economically depressed, drug infested areas in the Philippines and other countries. Often the parents, aunts and uncles, close relatives and those who the children trust to protect them, turns on them and monetize them by turning them into child sex performer.

Welcome to Cyber Sex Trafficking, it is the darkest of crimes that preys on the weakest of the weak. The explanation for this phenomena is often grounded in economics and survival. Social workers scratch their heads and wonder how parents can subject their own children to such exploitation. A variety of excuses/reasons have been put forward. Some professionals have verbalized that there is a lack in social programs and job opportunities and families need to eat, need to pay rent, need to buy medicine and basically sustain daily basic needs. May be religious leaders need to step in. We can think about costly government solutions, far reaching and sustaining campaigns to reduce poverty, for it seems to cause people to ignore basic conventions and corrode people’s sense of morality.

One thing is inescapable, children are being abused and exploited now because there is a demand for this sexual exploitation that is being driven by those who are thousands of miles away from these economically challenged areas. The demand is coming from cities in advanced, rich countries where pedophiles and sexual perverts live. And the lure of easy money to be made in CST is too strong, and it causes many to form all sorts of rationalization that can provide them with an easy psychological refuge, all to the children’s detriment.

At DFA we believe that there is a role for anti-poverty campaigns to play in eradicating CST. At the same time, we believe that now is the time to act to reduce and/or eliminate the demand for this activity. Sustained anti-poverty and morality campaigns that are yet to be developed, that could address the dynamics of CST’s supply side, can eventually run concurrent with DFA’s efforts that is simply focused on reducing, if not eliminating the demand for the sexual exploitation of children.

If you believe that a child’s innocence should never be stolen for any reason whatsoever, come and join us. We are going to take the fight to pedophiles and sexual perverts worldwide, to those who fuel the demand for these unconscionable acts against Rosanna and other children in many parts of the world.


Alex Ilusorio
Founder

GOALS

How do we plan to spend the donated funds?

ESTABLISH & MAINTAIN A DIGITAL FORENSICS LABORATORY

Often as a result of lack of planning or lack of resources, law enforcement agencies in mostly poor or third world countries are under-resourced and are poorly trained in the type of crime which employs the use of digital devices (computers, lap tops, mobile phones, tablets, digital storage devices, etc.) to accomplish the illegal acts. In the crime of Cyber Sex Trafficking, the online sexual exploitation of children, the illegal acts commences and ends with the use of some type of digital device. As such, a digital forensics laboratory is the main tool that law enforcement must have to conduct the required forensics examinations (i.e. identify, collect, store and preserve digital evidence) of devices belonging to the perpetrators to secure the evidence of the crime that are necessary to support criminal prosecutions. DFA’s primary focus is the establishment of a fully functioning, state-of-the-art digital forensics laboratory for the use by law enforcement officers. In some countries, a functioning digital forensics laboratory is non-existent.

PROVIDE STATE-OF-THE-ART TRAINING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

If the digital forensics laboratory is the main tool in addressing Cyber Sex Trafficking, appropriate state-of-the-art training must be provided to law enforcement officers who will use the laboratory. DFA’s objective is to capacitate law enforcement officers in gathering the required evidence to support the ensuing criminal prosecutions. DFA’s fully trained, experienced and certified examiners will provide training, mentoring, and coaching on the internationally accepted forensic examination standards. Through these types of interfaces, DFA experts will capacitate and guide untrained or poorly trained law enforcement officers from poor countries, not only on the use of top-notch forensics equipment, but also on the current judicially approved/accepted standards in conducting digital forensics examinations.

MAINTAIN A CADRE OF CERTIFIED MENTORS

DFA will recruit and maintain a cadre of certified examiners who can deploy to foreign countries to be part of the training, mentoring, and coaching team who will interface with law enforcement officers. To become a fully certified digital forensics examiner, one must complete costly, intensive and highly specialized training. DFA’s objective is to recruit U.S.-based and fully certified examiner(s) who can deploy on a rotational basis to foreign countries. If pro-bono services from qualified/certified examiners are not available, DFA will hire and support the deployment of examiners who meets DFA’s stringent technical capability requirements.

CULTIVATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THIRD WORLD LAW ENFORCEMENT ORGANIZATION

By working hand in hand with Philippine and other international law enforcement agencies, DFA’s founder cultivated professional relationships with officers tasked with enforcing laws pertaining to Cyber Sex Trafficking (CST), the online sexual exploitation of children. Through these candid relationships, an accurate assessment of the needs and challenges faced by law enforcement involved in CST investigations resulted. By maintaining these types of relationships and through actual field/assessment visits, accurate pictures of the needs of a law enforcement unit that is tasked with combatting CST can be drawn. These assessments will be utilized by DFA to design the level of assistance to be offered to a particular country.

EDUCATE THE PUBLIC & EXPAND OUR NETWORK

DFA will shed the light on the dark crime of Cyber Sex Trafficking (CST) by not only educating the public of its existence, but also enlisting the public’s help in assisting law enforcement units in addressing CST. DFA will strive for widest possible social media exposure. To aid in reaching such exposure, DFA will expand its network by working with like-minded organizations who are concerned about the phenomena of exploitation of children in one form or another.

EXPANSION TO LOCATIONS IN NEED

Once successful in executing the “Pilot Project” in the Philippines, DFA will review the viability of turning over the management, maintenance, and operation of the fully functioning laboratory to third world authorities. DFA will replicate the process of establishing a similar laboratory in another under-resourced country that is plagued by the Cyber Sex Trafficking menace.

THE   PROJECT

We are planning to set up our first project in the Philippines.

FOUNDER'S EXPERIENCE


From 2014 to 2016 while working for a non-governmental organization in Cebu, Philippines, Alex Ilusorio, (Founder and President of DFA) was personally involved in numerous rescue operation conducted by law enforcement authorities of children who were participants in these sexual exploitation shows. His firsthand experience in Cebu galvanized his desire to rescue and/or prevent children from being exploited. He came to know how pervasive the problem is that it has become almost like a "cottage industry" in certain parts of Cebu. One that particularly haunts him was a nine-month old baby being shown in a horrific situation. These sexual exploitation shows are streamed through the internet for viewing in the comfort of the violators' offices or homes. Payments for these shows vary depending on the “complexity” of what is being requested. The payments for these shows are normally and conveniently accomplished through electronic money transfers (i.e. PayPal, Western Union, Xoom, Instagram, etc.).




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DFA'S PLAN

Due to very limited resources and lack of advance planning and law enforcement officers (LEO) in third world countries, which represent the supply side of CST, are not prepared to deal with this menace that has arrived in their jurisdictions. To aid LEOs in these countries, DFA will assist in establishing, developing and/or augmenting their non-existent or limited digital forensic examination capabilities.


In order to do so, DFA plans to establish facilities, donate the needed equipment, training, and expertise and collaborate with the LEOs in these countries to capacitate their ill- prepared personnel that are tasked with addressing all cyber-related crimes. The objective of DFA’s planned donation and collaboration is to assist in the creation of sustainable pools of qualified personnel who, not only could conduct digital forensic examinations that meets international standards, but also provide evidence to their counterparts worldwide to initiate the apprehension of the violators/pedophiles who are in the demand side locations.


With proper training and the right equipment, DFA will develop a cadre of internationally certified examiners who will be proficient in identifying, collecting, and preserving evidence. This same pool of certified forensic examiners will serve as the source of certified expert witnesses who could testify in any court proceedings worldwide, thereby promoting successful prosecutions in both the supply and the demand side of CST.



See the chart below from NCMEC. These numbers represent the general report numbers that are being sent to the Philippines. Note the numbers for the first half of the year 2017. There is no doubt that the Philippines is a good place to start our pilot project due to the number of potential cases there and Alex's firsthand experiences in knowing where the law enforcement weakness lies in addressing this problem.

*January 1 through June 29, 2017 only



1200

DONORS

500

VOLUNTEERS

3500

LIFE SAVED

200

INSTITUTION

OUR TEAM

Digital Forensics Auxiliary (DFA) was founded and is governed by criminal justice professionals from two very distinct and related disciplines. The first discipline is criminal investigation and the second is digital forensics science. We leverage our aggregate training and years of experience to support and execute DFA’s mission. The first discipline is represented by former U.S. federal and state law enforcement officers with extensive knowledge and wide breadth of experience in all facets of criminal investigation and evidence handling. Highly trained, very skilled,and currently certified digital forensic examiners who are sought after and well known in their field, represents the second discipline. Its human resource relative to knowledge and expertise in the identification, collection, and preservation of digital evidence places DFA amongst the top tiers of this field.

ALEXANDER ILUSORIO

Founder
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CESAR SOLIS

JEFF A. HANSEN

DANIEL LIBBY

JULIO DE GUZMAN

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