Europol takes down Italian Darknet service used to share child porn

Hidden network also used to sell cybercrime, fraud and hacking services

Europol has helped to close a Darknet hidden web service used by cybercriminals to share material depicting the sexual abuse of children, in addition to selling services used for fraud, computer hacking and drugs.

Operating in conjunction with Italian law enforcement agencies, the Europol European Cybercrime Centre [EC3] worked for two years to tackle the network in what was dubbed Operation Babylon. The network was finally shut down when the Italian Darknet administrator's house was raided and 14,000 Bitcoin wallets were seized.

The operation was completed shortly after the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) took part in a global operation to close down Darkode.com, a dark web hacking forum used by Lizard Squad and other cybercrime groups.

Operation Babylon started two years ago when the Italian postal and communications police uncovered a hidden service within the Darknet that was facilitating the exchange of child sexual abuse material.

The network was also soliciting crime by hosting sellers of illegal commodities such as weapons, passport and identity documents, counterfeit and cloned credit cards, hacking services and drugs. The administrator of the Darknet hidden server earned a fee from each of the transactions made using the network.

Italian State Police, Europol and undercover agents from Italy's National Centre for the Fight against Child Pornography Online (CNCPO) all played a role in the investigation into the hidden service, which culminated in the raid on the home in Campania, Italy on 29 July.

EC3 provided support and co-ordination during the operation, the exchange and sharing of vital information and intelligence, and on-the-spot technical support during the raid. The investigation into the network will continue with analysis of the seized content.

Europol recently established a Europe-wide unit with the aim of searching for and removing ISIS social media accounts used to recruit new members.