Gurgaon police cyber security intern develops tool to detect, block explicit images online

The tool, still in its beta stage of development, can help parents monitor what their wards see online on their computers and smartphones

A student who was part of the Gurgaon police’s cyber security internship programme has developed a tool to identify explicit images, which can help check the spread of such images on the internet. The tool, which is in the beta stage of development, can help parents monitor the content being seen by their wards on mobile phones and computers.

Vipul Yadav, the student who developed the tool during his time in the cyber security internship programme with the Gurgaon police.

Vipul Yadav, of Motla Kalan village in Rewari district, developed the tool during his participation in the cyber security programme organised by the Gurgaon police, which concluded on Friday. The tool has been developed by training neural networks to identify different parts of the body.

“I have used 150 images of body parts to make the tool aware about issues concerning nudity and pornography,” said Yadav, a student of Delhi Technological University, formerly known as Delhi College of Engineering.

The tool has been developed by integrating the software language Python with machine language to enable it to identify and remain alert to the use of nude or pornographic images. “This tool is in the beta stage and needs to be fine-tuned. The code and information related to the project is open source,” said Yadav. Once the software detects an explicit image, it blurs or blocks it.

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar expressed interest in the software and said it was important to curb the spread of such images.

“The research and tools developed during the cyber internship programme must have expanded the students’ vision and given them the hunger to do more as the field of cyber security is very layered,” said Khirwar, who on Friday felicitated 101 interns who had participated in the programme.

The internship programme was coordinated by cyber security expert Rakshit Tandon who said that the knowledge of interns and their dedication to learning is increasing every year.

“The work done by students and the cooperation accorded by the police has been exceptional and it has helped in great learning,” he said.

Pankhuri Kumar, ACP (cyber crime), said that experiences and the learning at this programme had been exceptional and the department will continue to expand its horizon.