CyberDIVA

The R&D Foundation

Engineering Next-Generation Digital Safety through Empirical Research and AI Innovation.

CyberDIVA addresses the growing threat of online violence against women and girls by focusing on the dark web — an area often overlooked in traditional research and enforcement strategies. While surface-level abuse receives increasing attention, encrypted and anonymous networks continue to enable harassment, exploitation and coordinated harm with limited oversight.

CyberDIVA provides a practical response by combining advanced digital forensics, AI-enabled detection and specialist safeguarding workflows to strengthen cyber policing capacity and protect vulnerable communities.

The platform you are currently using — the CyberDIVA application — is the core output of this R&D programme, transforming research into an operational toolkit designed to prevent cyber violence against women and girls.

1. Empirical Dark-Web Forensics

Research Corpus: Misogyny on Tor
Four high-risk forums identified and harvested for analysis.

Dataset Impact

CyberDIVA has established one of the largest UK research corpora focused on misogynistic and gender-targeted abuse across Tor-based forums. Total dataset indexed: 844,255 posts.

  • Dark-Web Mapping

    Network typologies & exploit methods

  • ML Experimentation

    Training custom safety models

  • Threat-Matrix

    Behavioral pattern modelling

  • Gender Clustering

    Specific behavioral analytics

Complements Forensic Pathways’ wider capability of >65 million indexed dark-web URLs (Innovate UK LEADS-Engine platform).

2. AI-Enabled Detection Prototype

We have developed an operational alpha prototype integrating Large Language Models (including Google Gemini) with semantic search infrastructure.

Investigator-led interrogation GUI
Natural-language querying (844k+ posts)
Persona-based analytical profiling
Semantic clustering pipeline
Early PII-detection module
Heatmap & behavioral surfacing
3. Operational Integration
Collaborating with West Midlands Police to bridge research and practice.
  • 1
    6 co-developed operational case studies
  • 2
    Simulation exercises and SOP templates
  • 3
    Minimum 40% female participation target in training
  • 4
    Safeguarding workflow integration
4. Policy & Regulation
Direct alignment with the Online Safety Act 2023.
Regulatory Guidance
Open-Licensed Toolkit
Victim Protocols
Policy Translation

Supporting regulatory compliance while addressing rising online misogyny and harmful influencer ecosystems.

Systemic Impact

Economic Cost

£66–74bn

Annual cost of domestic abuse in UK

Social Reality

1 in 3

Women report online abuse

Corpus Size

844k+

Indexed Dark-Web posts

Wider Context

65m+

URLs via LEADS-Engine Forensic Pathways

Expected R&D Outputs

Dark-Web Mapping Report

Evidence synthesis of gendered threat networks.

AI Detection Prototype

Operational demonstrator integrating forensic tagging and AI reasoning.

Threat Matrix & Heatmap Visualisations

Behavioural and typology mapping tools.

Enhanced CyberDIVA Toolkit

Playbooks, referral workflows, safeguarding protocols.

Specialist Training Materials

Capacity-building package for policing and practitioners.

A UK-First Innovation

CyberDIVA represents a landmark integration of digital forensics, AI detection, and safeguarding workflows, positioning the West Midlands as a leading hub for cyber safety innovation.

Built Upon

CyberKali & Innovate UK LEADS-Engine