IWF Deputy CEO Fred Langford awarded an Honorary Doctorate for his child protection work

29 Aug 2019 Becca Cawthorne

Fred Langford, IWF Deputy CEO, CTO and one of the founding Directors of the UK Safer Internet Centre, honoured for his child protection and cybersecurity work by the University of Suffolk

The University of Suffolk will honour IWF Deputy CEO, CTO, and one of the UK Safer Internet Centre founding directors, Fred Langford with an Honorary Doctorate at the University graduation ceremonies in October.

The university’s annual honorary awards recognise notable contributions to the educational or cultural sectors, in business, for academic distinction or for public service.

Fred was born and raised in Suffolk and will be recognised with an Honorary Doctorate for his work at the Internet Watch Foundation, a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, for over 15 years and for his leading role fighting online child sexual abuse images and videos worldwide.

Fred is an internationally respected expert on cybersecurity, internet policy, child protection, online crime prevention and effective regulation. He is also president of INHOPE, and a former Trustee of the Marie Collins Foundation and Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative.

IWF Deputy CEO, CTO and one of the founding UKSIC Directors Fred Langford, said: “I have worked for many years to protect the victims of online child sexual abuse and now have the opportunity to share what I’ve learned around the world to help others from many sectors, cultures and countries to develop their own responses to this horrendous crime.

“It is a privilege to have my work acknowledged in this way, especially from the University of Suffolk.”

Seven personalities working in the arts, sciences and charity sectors will receive honorary awards at the university’s ceremonies including internationally-acclaimed performers, local business leaders and one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry.

In 2018 IWF increased investment in training and welfare support for its world-class analysts, working under the leadership of Fred, helping them become even more effective in removing criminal pictures and videos. The charity also continually develops new technologies to help hunt out child sexual abuse material, prevent it from being shared, and ultimately protect many more child victims from the torture of knowing that images of their abuse are being shared again and again online.

Thanks to this outstanding job, last year, IWF analysts assessed a webpage every two minutes. Almost 230,000 reports were assessed, with an overwhelming 105,047 URLs confirmed as containing child sexual abuse material – a jump of 31 per cent on the previous year.

On ten occasions IWF provided law enforcement agencies with intelligence it believed could help rescue a child.

For more information about the important work the IWF do eliminating child sexual abuse imagery online, please visit www.iwf.org.uk.

The IWF is a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, working with Childnet International and the South West Grid for Learning to promote the safe and responsible use of technology for children and young people.