“Saving Lives with Determination”

ATII was launched back in 2019 with a unique mission to disrupt the operations, economics, and anonymity of human trafficking as a financial crime (#FollowMoneyFightSlavery). The organization made an early decision to target how Human Trafficking, Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and Child Exploitation were occurring and the use of cryptocurrency as a payment facilitator. Larry Cameron, CISO, Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative, passionate human trafficking and child exploitation advocate with a subject matter expertise in various technical disciplines, was welcomed because of his immense experience. This allowed him to evolve, integrate and become a creative driving force within the organization and significantly advanced ATII’s capabilities around blockchain forensics and cryptocurrency asset tracing.

Larry, together with Aaron Kahler, the CEO & Founder of ATII, co-founded the Anti-Human Trafficking Cryptocurrency Consortium (ATCC). “I have expanded on the disciplines in which we deploy actionable intelligence. Some of the cutting edge capabilities I brought to #TeamATII include: Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), Threat Intelligence, Digital Forensics, Darkweb Intelligence, Data Analytics and Location Intelligence,” he explains. “Through my leadership, expertise and operational task forces we are able to provide meaningful data/technology/investigation products, services and support to a variety of organizations.”

ATII works with multiple financial institutions like banks and cryptocurrency exchanges/bitcoin ATM providers. They provide multiple tools that seamlessly integrate Anti-Human Trafficking Programs within their compliance, KYC, AML, BSA, Risk Management, and Data Analytics Platforms. Their High-Risk Human Trafficking Dataset includes business and independent identifiers like names, businesses, emails, phones, addresses, websites that can match up with their customer base. This allows them to get red flags that trigger an Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) process so they can investigate with more context. “We also provide them with training and red flag typologies so we can ensure proper integration and that it is effective.”

“ATII is aspiring to pioneer a change in the existing approach that industries (i.e., Financial, law enforcement, retail, legal, hospitality) employ in the prevention, detection, and reporting of human trafficking & child exploitation.”

ATII is aspiring to pioneer a change in the existing approach that industries (i.e., Financial, law enforcement, retail, legal, hospitality) employ in the prevention, detection, and reporting of human trafficking & child exploitation. “I believe that having an anti-human trafficking program that includes data & technology-driven operations (amongst other things, i.e., policies, training, best practices) and a uniquely collaborative and information sharing initiative focused on the issue is the sweet spot in which we can “achieve justice and save lives,” adds Larry. “The industry response that ATII has received and direct feedback I have personally been given from subject matter experts in the space make it clear that we are making an impact to those organizations leveraging our data, tools, and approach.”

The biggest achievements for the non-profit have been their work towards protecting the vulnerable and focusing on many facets of anti-human trafficking and anti-child exploitation. “There is not a better feeling when you have a successful operation; it’s such an adrenalin rush. Positive feedback from our law enforcement partners provides lots of motivation to keep doing what we are doing. It’s about time that we start working on this issue at scale and take a large chunk out of it. One off arrests are not making a large impact so we need to innovate and figure out ways to do this in bulk,” explains Larry.

ATII is continually expanding its presence and systems to combat Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation. One of their current initiatives is Project Hades which is their Darkweb Intelligence Platform. ATII performs evidence collection from the Darkweb that helps them track and deanonymize people committing these crimes. They collect 20,000+ bitcoin addresses and discover at least 1000 new dark websites every week or two, so there is always an abundance of data to work with. “We also integrate with 10 different blockchain forensics, analytics and abuse databases just by clicking a button. We just added image hashing and exif data collection which allows us to do further link analysis,” says Larry. “All of these functions speed up the investigation process and provides additional insights for our investigations. Stay tuned for our next platform, codenamed Medusa.”

Posted in CLF | Most Inspiring Leaders Magazine 2021, Larry Cameron, CISO of   Anti-Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative Profile