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#childpredator | Child Sexual Exploitation Investigation Leads to One Arrest in Whitfield County | #parenting | #parenting | #kids
[ad_1] On Tuesday, September 22, 2020, the GBI arrested Zachary Moore, 20, of Dalton, and charged him with three counts of Possession of Child Pornography, Creation of Child Pornography, Child […] View full post on National Cyber Security
Altercation with manager at Gator’s Dockside in The Villages leads to arrest | #coronavirus | #scams | #covid19
A physical altercation with a manager at a Gator’s Dockside restaurant in The Villages led to a man’s arrest. Barry Sheffield, 59, of Leesburg, at about 8:45 p.m. Monday was […] View full post on National Cyber Security
#deepweb | Raphael Varane Brace Leads Real Madrid to Easy 3-0 Win vs. Getafe | Bleacher Report
Source: National Cyber Security – Produced By Gregory Evans Quality Sport Images/Getty Images Raphael Varane scored twice as Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-0 in their first La Liga match of 2020 on Saturday at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez. Los Blancos took the lead on 34 minutes after goalkeeper David Soria failed to punch Ferland Mendy’s cross clear, […] View full post on AmIHackerProof.com
Bitcoin money trail leads cops to ‘world’s largest’ child abuse site – Naked Security
Source: National Cyber Security – Produced By Gregory Evans
US, British and South Korean police announced on Wednesday that they have taken down Welcome To Video: a Darknet market that had what the US Department of Justice (DOJ) says is the world’s most voluminous offerings of child abuse imagery.
The DOJ called this the largest market for child sexual abuse videos, and that this is one of the largest seizures of this type of contraband. The 8 terabytes worth of child sexual abuse videos, which are now being analyzed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), comprise over 250,000 unique videos, 45% of which contain new images that weren’t previously known to exist.
The global crackdown, which has so far led to the arrest of 337 alleged users and the indictment of the website’s admin, has led to the rescue of at least 23 victims living in the US, Spain and the UK. The DOJ says that the minors were actively being abused by site users.
The admin of Welcome to Video, who was indicted on Wednesday, is Jong Woo Son, 23, a South Korean national who was previously charged and convicted in South Korea. He’s now serving his sentence in South Korea.
The global dragnet has scooped up 337 alleged site users who’ve been arrested and charged worldwide: throughout the US, the UK, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia. About 92 individuals’ home and businesses in the US have been searched.
Five search warrants issued in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area have led to the arrests of eight people suspected of both conspiring with Jong Woo Son and of being website users themselves. The DOJ says that two suspected users committed suicide after the search warrants were executed.
The bust
According to the indictment, on 5 March 2018, a global police force – including agents from the UK, the Korean National Police in South Korea, the US Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI), and the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – arrested Jong Woo Son and seized the server that he used to operate the market.
Welcome To Video specialized in exclusively selling child sexual exploitation videos. The site, which operated from June 2015 to March 2018, had a message on its landing page explicitly warning users to “not upload adult porn.” As of 8 February 2018, Welcome to Video indicated on its download page that users had downloaded files more than a million times.
The material documented abuse of pre-pubescent children, toddlers and infants as young as six months.
Bitcoin doesn’t hide “these disgusting organizations”
The indictment alleges that police tracked Bitcoin payments to the Darknet website by tracing the flow of funds on the blockchain.
A forfeiture complaint identifies blockchain wallets allegedly used by 24 suspects in five countries to promote the site and to pay for child abuse. The complaint is looking to claw back that money and return it to the victims.
Users purchased the videos by using points that they earned in a number of ways: by uploading child abuse videos, referring new customers, paying 0.03 Bitcoin (worth approximately US $352.59 as of the time the market was seized) for a six-month “VIP” account that gave them unlimited downloads, and/or by purchasing points incrementally.
IRS-CI Chief Don Fort said in the DOJ’s news release that it was “sophisticated tracing” of transactions between the site and those customer accounts that enabled agents to crack the criminal ring:
Through the sophisticated tracing of bitcoin transactions, IRS-CI special agents were able to determine the location of the Darknet server, identify the administrator of the website and ultimately track down the website server’s physical location in South Korea.
Fort said that it doesn’t matter whether illicit proceeds are virtual or tangible: police can and will track down “these disgusting organizations” and bring them to justice, he said.
Stripping cryptocurrency’s privacy protections
As we’ve previously explained, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and even Monero, which was designed for privacy, rely on blockchains: cryptographically protected, decentralized transaction ledgers.
The robustness of those blockchains relies, in part, on transparency: there are thousands of copies of both the Bitcoin and Monero blockchains in existence, and every copy carefully details every single transaction ever made in that currency.
Changing the history enshrined in those blockchains is effectively impossible. If you’ve ever spent a bitcoin or a monero, then the proof that it happened is etched indelibly into that currency’s blockchain, forever.
Bitcoin users are pseudonymous – their activity is public but their real name is hidden – protected by one or more wallet IDs.
Bitcoin users can be exposed if any one of a wallet’s transactions can be linked to a real identity.
In the case of Welcome To Video, there were a number of links to Son’s real identity. One such link was multiple instances of unconcealed IP addresses that showed that Son was running the server out of his own home. He also used his name, his cell phone number and his email account at a Bitcoin exchange account.
The charges against Welcome To Video’s admin
Besides the charges that led to his conviction in South Korea, Jong Woo Son was indicted on Wednesday in the US on nine charges relating to money laundering and to producing, advertising and distributing child abuse imagery.
HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs, calling the crimes “unthinkable”, said that technology has enabled them to stay tucked away. However, the criminals who do this can and will be tracked down, she said:
Sadly, advances in technology have enabled child predators to hide behind the dark web and cryptocurrency to further their criminal activity. However, today’s indictment sends a strong message to criminals that no matter how sophisticated the technology or how widespread the network, child exploitation will not be tolerated in the United States. Our entire justice system will stop at nothing to prevent these heinous crimes, safeguard our children, and bring justice to all.
The post Bitcoin money trail leads cops to ‘world’s largest’ child abuse site – Naked Security appeared first on National Cyber Security.
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Computer #hacking #investigation #leads to #huge #cache of #child porn
Source: National Cyber Security – Produced By Gregory Evans
A Parkville man was sentenced Wednesday to federal prison after pleading guilty to computer hacking and child pornography charges.
Jacob Raines, 38, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to six years in prison.
Raines pleaded guilty in May to charges of computer intrusion and using a computer to view child pornography over the internet.
The computer intrusion charge involved Raines using a remote server to copy proprietary source code files and file folders from his former employer.
When serving a search warrant in that case, investigators found thousands of sexually explicit images and videos of children, including toddlers and infants.
His attorney on Wednesday argued for a sentence of four years in prison, while prosecutors asked for seven years.
The post Computer #hacking #investigation #leads to #huge #cache of #child porn appeared first on National Cyber Security Ventures.
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Second Major Ethereum Hack In a Week Leads to $34 Million Theft
Source: National Cyber Security – Produced By Gregory Evans
While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have enjoyed meteoric popularity over the past several months, there are still many potential investors who remain skeptical. And one of the reasons for this skepticism is the ongoing concern about cryptocurrency security. Now that a second major hack of Ethereum has taken place…
The post Second Major Ethereum Hack In a Week Leads to $34 Million Theft appeared first on National Cyber Security Ventures.
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Changing Technology Leads Evolving Cybersecurity Strategy
Source: National Cyber Security – Produced By Gregory Evans
Dr. Jacob Shively, assistant professor of government at the University of West Florida, recently received a GROW Institute grant from the UWF Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to begin to look at the implications of technology and security policy. “My larger area of interest is national security and foreign…
The post Changing Technology Leads Evolving Cybersecurity Strategy appeared first on National Cyber Security Ventures.
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Child wandering in parking lot leads to child abuse charge for grandma
FLORHAM PARK – A Livingston grandmother faces a child abuse charge after police say her grandson got out of a vehicle and was found in a parking lot.
Borough police initially responded to the parking lot at 25 Hanover Road at about 12:35 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 to investigate a report of a 4-year-old juvenile found wandering the parking lot, police reported.
Officer Thomas Belli determined that the child was left in the vehicle while his grandmother was at a dentist appointment in a nearby building, police said.
Officer Jared Orgel responded to the dentist’s office and located the child’s grandmother, Dawn M.
The post Child wandering in parking lot leads to child abuse charge for grandma appeared first on Parent Security Online.
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School shooting threat leads to arrest
An after-school altercation allegedly led to a threat of a shooting at a Winnipeg high school and has resulted in one person in police custody.
Seven Oaks School Division superintendent Brian O’Leary said West Kildonan Collegiate had a police presence on Tuesday, a day after alleged online threats were made that a shooting would take place at the high school.
O’Leary said the incident was sparked after school hours on Monday in a “minor altercation between a few students.” O’Leary said one individual made anonymous threats toward the school online and some time late Monday or in the early-morning hours Tuesday an arrest was made.
The post School shooting threat leads to arrest appeared first on Parent Security Online.
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Supreme Court Nominee Leads Ceremony for School Where He Tutors
Judge Merrick Garland told graduating 5th graders from the elementary school where he has tutored for 18 years that they can achieve their dreams through hard work.
View full post on The School Law Blog – Education Week
#pso #htcs #b4inc
The post Supreme Court Nominee Leads Ceremony for School Where He Tutors appeared first on Parent Security Online.
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