With Google and Microsoft’s much-publicised efforts to clamp down on access to child abuse material from being available through a simple search online, the spotlight is on this crime worldwide.
While the Internet search engines have introduced new algorithms that will block child abuse images, videos and pathways that lead to illegal content, as well as stopping auto-complete features – which will prevent search engines from prompting child abuse search terms even if a person was not looking for them, there is a further level of prevention that can be taken by Internet service providers (ISPs).
NetClean offers ISPs a simple solution in the form of its WhiteBox product – available as an appliance or a cloud service.
Designed specifically for ISPs to block access to Web sites containing child sexual abuse material, NetClean WhiteBox is the most cost-effective way for ISPs to block access to Web sites containing child sexual abuse material, making it possible to implement Interpol’s worst of blocking in less than 15 minutes.
“Blocking access to child abuse sites is a vital step in the fight against this harmful industry and towards a safer world for our children,” explains Francois Els, GM at African Risk Mitigation, official distributor of the NetClean range of products across Africa. “ISPs are in the unique position of being able to stop these images before they come into a network or even the country, in some cases.”
He adds that since it is offered as a cloud service, NetClean WhiteBox has no installation needed and takes 15 minutes to get up and running following the 1-2-3-step guide. “It has no impact on the speed or quality of Internet provision, and needs no maintenance, upgrades or updates.”
The NetClean WhiteBox Cloud is a router based solution, hosted within the TeliaSonera International Carrier network, to be sure that the highest possible quality access to the Internet is available. The solution downloads lists of illegal URLs from Interpol, Internet Watch Foundation and other sources. The IP-addresses are resolved from the URLs which make up the “suspected list”.
When an ISP activates the service, a tunnel is created between the ISP and the NetClean WhiteBox Service and traffic to the suspected list is routed to the WhiteBox Cloud service. When a user tries to access a Web site which is on the suspected list, the traffic will be re-routed to the WhiteBox where the URL will be matched against the lists of illegal URLs.
If there is a match, the request will be blocked, otherwise, the request will be let through.
“Since Web sites like Facebook, Microsoft and others large providers clean their system before it enters the suspected list, these sites will never end up on the suspected list and hence no traffic to the major sites will be re-routed to the WhiteBox Service,” explains Els.
“The NetClean WhiteBox Cloud Service can use several block lists, and comes preconfigured with optional lists from Interpol and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). It can also retrieve domestic lists provided by customers or authorities within their region. A customisable block page is presented when an access is being blocked.”
Multinational companies, government agencies, Internet service providers and law enforcement professionals worldwide use NetClean’s solutions.
“The World Wide Web is just a small piece of the fight,” says Els. “Requests for illegal material can be logged with different sets of detailed information, where the basic setup logs the URLs with timestamps. Depending of the legislation of the country, the IP-addresses of the clients can be logged as well. This takes the fight against child sexual abuse to the next level, allowing law enforcement to get involved.”
