Independent research firm sued by Apple now wants to help vet the phone maker's child sexual abuse scanning system

Now, Apple's software that looks at phones for evidence of child pornography has created a new need for security research, according to Apple. Other large tech companies, such as Facebook and Microsoft, scan their servers for child porn using a software product called PhotoDNA, developed by Microsoft and Dartmouth professor Hani Farid. The software relies on a database of known child pornography maintained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. If a photo on a company server matches the database, it is flagged and authorities are notified. Companies have employed that system on their servers, and not on devices owned by their customers.