Protect & Prevent - The Impact of Advanced Technology on the Underground Crime of CSAM

CSAM (Child S*x Abuse Materials, formerly known as "child p*rn") is one of the most prolific underground crimes of our generation. Most people don’t understand it, and many people don’t want to look at it or acknowledge it. The reality is that it is truly horrific, traumatic and for most of us it is downright disgusting. But we cannot look the other way. A child’s whole life is at stake.

CSAM happens when a pedophile (or groups of pedophiles) either seduces a minor into sending self-generated images of nudity or illicit sexual poses, or a child is violated by a predator/pedophile and the event is memorialized by photos, videos, or recorded live streaming. After the initial violation is recorded, the images are often shared over and over in large scale pedophile rings around the world. The young victim experiences re-victimization over and over as the images are shared, and they often feel helpless as it is nearly impossible to get the images back.

During this week’s podcast we will explore how underground pedophile rings operated in the Dark Net and Bulletproof Hosting sites and Peer to Peer Networks. We will look at a recent news release about how CSAM administrators and participants used crypto currency to pay for tokens to subscribe to a CSAM ring with over 1.8 MILLION participants. We will also discover how law enforcement was able to work with block chain technology, and Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange to identify 1400 of the participants and arrest and bring down 79 suspects.

Technology is not good or bad. It is how it is used. Pedophiles are getting more and more sophisticated and so is law enforcement. Congratulations to law enforcement as they work to capture these criminals.