A screen shot of the Europol website
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Italian authorities have discovered a criminal organization that have been installing malware on the servers of businesses in an effort to spread child pornography.
The Italian Postal and Communications Police were first alerted to the criminal scheme when an elderly lady informed them that a link found on an online retail site had redirected her to a website containing child pornography.
Police have been monitoring the Web pages of the website, which appeared to be hosted on an Italian Web server, since early 2009.
In a joint investigation led by the Italian police and Europol, police eventually discovered that the Web server and many others worldwide were deliberately infected with malware.
The malware was used to hijack Web servers and redirect visitors to websites that display child pornotgraphy.
The Italian Police provided Europol with information on the malware-infected websites, which Europol then sent to all EU law enforcement agencies, as well as other European countries and agencies.
The investigation eventually showed that the owners of the affected Web servers — which were not properly secured — did not know about the malware, nor were they involved in the criminal activity.
Though authorities have not yet found the criminals responsible for the child porn distribution, they have pinpointed that the individuals originate from Eastern Europe and are working with affiliates around the world.
It is believed that these criminals are producing their own child pornography materials which they then commercially distribute through secure websites.
By following the money trail, Italian Police and Europol have tracked down the customers and end users of the material.
With the help of the servers’ owners, the operation has successfully cleared more than 1,000 web servers around the world.
Authorities are still working to uncover the criminals responsible for installing the malware.
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