Europol has established and led the Stop Child Abuse – Trace An Object initiative since 2017, enabling people to provide information that can help cases of child sexual abuse by recognizing objects linked to the investigations. Law enforcement agencies from 19 countries have arrested 25 suspects linked to a criminal ring that was distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generated using artificial intelligence (AI). This week, Microsoft also named multiple threat actors linked to a global cybercrime gang (tracked as Storm-2139), who are accused of creating malicious tools designed to bypass generative AI guardrails to generate illicit content including celebrity deepfakes. In November 2024, authorities arrested the main suspect, a Danish national, for distributing AI-generated content created through an online platform. Those who wanted to use the suspects' service could obtain a password to access the platform after making a symbolic online payment to watch AI-generated content featuring children being abused. Australian Federal Police also launched its own version of the Stop Child Abuse initiative in March 2021, focusing on the Asia Pacific region. Operation Cumberland, coordinated by Danish law enforcement and supported by Europol, resulted in the seizure of 173 electronic devices and the identification of 273 suspected members tied to the criminal network. The initiative helped identify 30 victims until November 2023, allowing law enforcement agents to arrest six offenders, who were prosecuted based on information provided by almost 28,000 tips.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Fri, 28 Feb 2025 18:00:11 +0000