OSINT Training Log: Empowering Brazil's LEOs for Child Protection

Key law enforcement officers in Brazil undertook a crucial training initiative with OSINT Industries, enhancing the OSINT capabilities of those fighting on- and off-line child abuse.

Mission Objective: Equipping Officers with OSINT Skills for Child Safety

September 2023. In a dynamic co-working space in Curitiba, Paraná, 13 officers from Brazil’s law enforcement organizations came together with OSINT Industries to conduct a vital OSINT training initiative. Officers participated from forces across Brazil: from state forces like Polícia Civil do Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul, Polícia Civil do Estado de Santa Catarina, Polícia Civil PR - and the Polícia Federal. 

Titled ‘OSINT Training: Online Child Safety & Digital Investigations’, this OSINT Training course equipped officers with iPhones and Starlink technology; this intensive journey  strengthened their Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) skills and methodologies for protecting the most vulnerable.

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Challenge: OSINT Can Fight Child Exploitation

‘An estimated 500,000 children and adolescents are forced into commercial sexual exploitation (CSEC) in Brazil – an invisible and partially normalised problem.’ - The Freedom Fund [Source: FreedomFund.org]

Since 2020, Brazilian law enforcement faces a twofold crisis in child protection. Brazil already struggled with a 64% increase in reports of sexual violence against children before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since, social and economic inequalities worsened by the country’s recent economic crisis have combined with the effects of lockdown policies to cause an explosion in child exploitation, both online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and physical attacks. Just the first four months of 2021 saw a 33% growth in CSAM webpages.

The role of AI reflects a particularly digital problem. Analysis by Human Rights Watch found that LAION-5B, a data set used to train popular AI tools, had scraped identifiable photos of Brazilian children. Human Rights Watch reports malicious actors have used those LAION-trained AI tools to generate ‘deepfake’ CSAM.

“The photos [scraped] span the entirety of childhood…  intimate moments of babies being born into the gloved hands of doctors, young children blowing out candles on their birthday cake or dancing in their underwear at home, students giving a presentation at school, and teenagers posing for photos at their high school’s carnival…’ - Human Rights Watch [Source: Human Rights Watch]

Meanwhile, less Brazilian victims than ever are contacting support services, with the country’s national hotline receiving a record low in calls since 2020. This doesn’t indicate a drop in instances of harm, but only a drop in vital victim referrals from schools and other institutions.

This means more children are suffering, and more children are suffering in silence.

Our OSINT Training course ‘OSINT Training: Online Child Safety & Digital Investigations’ is designed to provide officers with advanced investigative techniques in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). The skills these officers learned are the digital antidote to a digital problem. Through OSINT training for child protection, they discovered why open-source investigative techniques are essential to effectively prevent threats to children in modern Brazil.

OSINT Training: ‘Online Child Safety & Digital Investigations’

Course: ‘Online Child Safety & Digital Investigations’

Duration: 3 Days

Equipment: iPhones and Starlink

• iPhones’ robust encryption and privacy protections make them the best hardware for sensitive investigations. Most OSINT tools are optimized for iOS (including OSINT Industries). iPhones smoothly integrate with cloud and live communication services, and most officers can use them without extra training.
• Starlink provides satellite-based high-speed Internet connectivity, ideal for live-monitoring and intelligence-gathering when fieldwork may be required. Much of Brazil is dependent on Starlink, as it covers remote or rural areas without traditional internet infrastructure.

(Although temporarily unavailable in Brazil in late-2024 due to legal issues, Starlink access has since been reinstated countrywide.)

Skills Developed:

This course covers a range of OSINT topics tailored for child protection. By analyzing publicly available data from social media, blogs, forums, websites, and other OSINF sources, investigators can trace CSAM distribution, dismantle offender networks, and identify at-risk children. To this end, Brazil’s top law enforcement officers received training in only the most applicable skills.

• Fundamentals of OSINT: Officers learned essential OSINT skills to start their journey (or recap the basics), like how to identify valuable open data sources, apply effective research methods, understand ethical considerations, and make the most of OSINT tools to protect vulnerable kids.
• Digital Footprint Analysis for Offender Tracking: Traces left by online activity — ‘digital footprints’ - are the evidence that forms the core of a successful offender profile. Officers learned how to piece together suspicious social media posts, website visits, and communication metadata to identify those patterns specific to child exploitation cases, including indications of grooming tactics and common anonymization techniques used by offenders. 
• Social Media Intelligence (SOCMINT): Social media platforms are an online predator’s playground. Poor moderation and a lack of corporate responsibility make monitoring and infiltrating social media often the crux of a modern child protection operation. It’s vital officers are trained in parsing social media data, tracking interactions and collating intelligence from platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok with the help of OSINT tools.
• Dark Web Intelligence: Most CSAM and child abuse offending originates on the dark web before it goes ‘clear’ on the open Internet. Officers were trained in how to safely navigate the shadows. Training was delivered on using encrypted communication channels, and maintaining investigator anonymity to avoid detection by bad actors while in pursuit. 
• OSINT Tools for Evidence Gathering: Officers were introduced to a variety of advanced OSINT tools that could be used to gather and analyze data, including OSINT Industries. Training emphasized how OSINT tools allow officers to collect intel with built-in compliance checks and robust data reporting, preserving the chain of custody for future legal proceedings.
• Cybersecurity Best Practices: Officers learned how to build a stronger Operational Security (OpSec) foundation. Officers received training in securing their own devices and networks using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks), encryption, and more.

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Exercises: Practical Application of OSINT in Child Protection

Our training, as always, focuses primarily on practical applications and real-world scenarios.

As training progressed, officers were presented with real-world scenarios based on actual child exploitation cases; tasked with conducting simulated OSINT investigations, they  solidified their ability to implement their nascent OSINT skills and apply new investigation techniques in real-time.

This was also the time to address best practices for preserving digital evidence: the OSINT chain-of-custody. Making sure evidence is admissible in court is paramount in child exploitation cases. For this reason, officers learned how to use capabilities within OSINT tools - like OSINT Industries’ export process - to document the collection process, maintain evidential integrity, and follow foolproof and challenge-proof ethical guidelines when gathering critical data. Officers learned how to handle data that could change the course of an investigation, and change a child’s life.

• Real-World Case Simulations. Officers worked through simulated cases. This allowed them to refine in a controlled, supportive environment the OSINT techniques they had learned in a real-life context, simulating the process of investigating online predators, identifying potential victims, and gathering necessary (and admissible) evidence for prosecution. 
• Collaborative Investigations. Collaboration and teamwork are essential for OSINT. Officers from different regions and forces worked together, sharing information and developing interdepartmental connections that will last into the future. This element of training highlighted the importance of inter-agency cooperation in child protection cases (as predators often operate across jurisdictions) - and the value of networking for OSINT practitioners.

#OSINT4Good: More Than Just a Slogan

For us, #OSINT4Good isn’t just a corporate slogan. We want to translate it into real world impact. For that reason, this training program was provided to Brazil’s law enforcement officers free of charge.

OSINT Industries already offers free platform and API access to law enforcement, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, but we wanted to do more.

OSINT Industries commitment to the #OSINT4Good movement means that we recognize that child exploitation is a global issue, and the digitisation of our world is only making it worse. Especially in the developing world, those on the frontlines like Brazil’s law enforcement officers face significant financial and logistical challenges in accessing the latest investigative tools and techniques; we want to level the playing field. By offering this training at no cost to law enforcement professionals working on child protection cases, we are ensuring that no officer is left without the OSINT training and resources they need to protect the most vulnerable.

The officers who attended the Curitiba training program have already begun applying their newly acquired OSINT skills to real-world investigations, and we are proud to support them in making Brazil a safer place for children. They’re proof that OSINT can change the world.

Training Evaluation:

Going forward with a toolkit of OSINT techniques to uncover information crucial for child safeguarding - geographical data analysis, online behavior tracking, and digital footprint mapping - these Brazilian officers excelled in their course. They’re already making a difference in the real world with their practical skills.

All 13 officers demonstrated an impressive grasp of cutting-edge open-source intelligence skills when identifying threats, and showed they can intervene effectively and sensitively where needed. They left our OSINT Training course with actionable practical knowledge that genuinely enhanced their child protection work. Brazil’s most vulnerable are safer as a result.

Curious about OSINT Training? Explore the OSINT Industries Academy.