Global Emancipation Network Introduces Minerva, a Human Trafficking Investigation Platform Powered by Splunk, to Facilitate Collaboration across Public, Private and Nonprofit Sectors
Press Release – SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)—Splunk Inc., first in delivering “aha” moments from machine data, today announced its participation in launching a new technology platform from Global Emancipation Network aimed at fighting human trafficking with data analytics from Splunk technology. The human trafficking investigation platform Minerva uses advanced data analytics to enable information-sharing and collaboration across local and federal law enforcement, government agencies, nonprofit and commercial organizations and academic institutions. Minerva is powered by Splunk® Enterprise and funded in part by Splunk Pledge, a Splunk4Good initiative where Splunk is committing to donate $100 million over a 10-year period to nonprofit and higher education organizations making a difference to society. Watch the Global Emancipation Network video to learn more about how Splunk supports the Global Emancipation Network to use data analytics and intelligence to fight against human trafficking and exploitation.
“My life mission and that of Global Emancipation Network is to completely eradicate human trafficking with a weapon not yet used properly in the fight: data and analytics,” said Sherrie Caltagirone, founder and executive director, Global Emancipation Network. “By arming law enforcement and its allies with newly-accessible critical information, we are going to disrupt this heinous multi-billion dollar black market industry which affects millions of lives. Thank you to Splunk for its endless support of our mission through technology, community and collaboration.”
Global Emancipation Network grants Minerva access to organizations with valid counter-trafficking missions in order to host and explore millions of trafficking-related data records and use customized search, alerting, geolocation and other platform capabilities. Using Splunk Enterprise and third-party integrated technologies, Minerva protects case-sensitive information and monitors usage patterns to help keep user information private, safe and secure. Leading public, private and nonprofit organizations have already been accepted to the platform as early users.
“The Global Emancipation Network is a powerful example of how, through the power of data, we can solve the world’s most complex and notoriously opaque problems,” said Doug Merritt, President and CEO, Splunk. “The Global Emancipation Network is making a worldwide impact, and Splunk is proud to support their efforts to eradicate human trafficking through technology.”
Minerva is equipped with data-processing capabilities to extract and organize information from a variety of data sources. Capabilities include:
- Advertisement analysis: Analyzes advertisements from the deep and open web, where most trafficking cases originate, and extracts data such as user, location, account and other identifying information.
- Image processing tools: Processes images of victims to reduce the time users spend analyzing photographs and manually linking them to advertisements. Minerva integrates image analysis tools to tag photographs with characteristics to expedite database search, and reverse image search to identify similar images.
- Text analysis tools and natural language processing: Extracts text in images from advertisements and flags correlations with missing persons reports and other valuable information.
- Multi-tenant system informing trend analysis: Allows all Minerva users to store their information securely on the same database at the same time, enabling secure, multi-agency collaboration on shared investigations.
Unlike many private organizations and governments that attempt to disrupt human trafficking, Global Emancipation Network makes Minerva available free of charge to qualified organizations with valid human trafficking investigation programs so that users can leverage insights to support their own efforts. Visit the Global Emancipation Network website to learn more and apply for Minerva access.
To apply for a free Splunk Enterprise license and learn more about Splunk’s commitment to research, education and positive social impact, visit the Splunk Pledge website.
About Splunk Inc.
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