From game developer to fighting cybercrime

Caden Scott was ten years old when he started building games on Roblox. Curious about how the platform worked, he taught himself to program so he could create his own worlds and experiences. As he spent more time in the Roblox developer community, Caden began noticing allegations and evidence of the darker side of online platforms, including exploitation, extortion and other forms of digital harm affecting young users. “It was something that was really close to my heart,” he says. “I really wanted to do something about it.”

That concern led him to co-found a social venture with fellow developers and safety professionals. Initially focused on detecting and countering child exploitation on Roblox, the project expanded as professionals from trust and safety teams and law enforcement joined the effort.

That project has since evolved into the International Online Crime Coordination Center (IOC3), where Caden serves as Executive Director. Cybercrime is inherently international. Offenders, victims and digital evidence are often spread across multiple jurisdictions, which can slow investigations and complicate enforcement. IOC3 was created to help address that fragmentation.

The organisation operates as an intelligence and coordination hub, connecting victims, online platforms, analysts and law enforcement agencies so that serious incidents can be assessed and routed to the appropriate authorities.

Reports come from across the digital ecosystem, including platforms such as Roblox, Discord, X, Instagram, Snapchat and Telegram.

Reports submitted through IOC3’s channels are reviewed by analysts and shared with relevant partners. IOC3 also develops intelligence on organised online crime networks and emerging threats. They share findings with platform safety teams and law enforcement partners to help coordinate responses across jurisdictions globally. This includes working with organisations such as the DIA, FBI, and Interpol.

For Caden, the work can be confronting, but the impact keeps the team motivated. “It definitely has a psychological toll,” he says. “But what offsets that is knowing the work helps victims get justice and helps keep other people safe.”

Caden and the IOC3 team are confident that they have identified the individual believed to be responsible for the high-profile Manage My Health data breach in New Zealand. After seeing the incident discussed online, the team began analysing publicly available information and digital traces linked to the attack. Using open-source intelligence techniques and investigative workflows developed by IOC3, they quickly pieced together information pointing to the suspected perpetrator.

Within 24 hours, the team compiled an intelligence report outlining their findings and shared it with the relevant authorities, including New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs and international partners. “We saw the incident being discussed online and realised we might be able to help,” Caden says. “So we conducted an investigation, built an intelligence report and shared it with the relevant agencies.”

Alongside leading IOC3, Caden is developing Azonic, a start-up focused on criminal intelligence technology. The platform aims to use automation and AI to reduce the time analysts spend navigating investigative tools and gathering information, allowing them to focus more on analysing cases and building evidence. Working on IOC3 showed him how big this issue of information fragmentation is.

While Caden had already begun his entrepreneurial journey before university, he says studying Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland and engaging with the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) has helped shape his thinking.

Through CIE programmes and events, he has been able to test ideas, connect with mentors and speak with investors. “Just talking to people about an idea can refine it so much,” he says. “Sometimes the questions people ask force you to think about things you hadn’t considered.”

His advice to students who want to tackle big global problems is simple: start with something real, stay curious and talk to as many people as possible. “Look at the problems around you,” he says. “Think about what affects you directly, then talk to people, test your ideas and keep refining them.”