Employees looking at child porn in office, says cyber-crime expert

An international cyber-crime expert today warned that thousands of employees in London could be accessing child abuse images on work computers.

Christian Berg also attacked this week’s Government proposals on tackling illicit web images of children, saying its plan was “not the right path”.

Mr Berg’s firm NetClean makes digital products used by law enforcement agencies and private companies around the world to hunt out illegal images.

Based on his company’s activity helping organisations in over 50 countries Mr Berg said about one in every 1,000 employees accesses child abuse images at work. He told the Evening Standard: “These people are addicted. It might be that they have a wife and a kid at home and think they can’t sit there viewing it so they use a work machine.”

On Tuesday ministers reached an agreement with internet firms to clamp down on images of child abuse on the web. Under the deal the Internet Watch Foundation, an independent charity, will actively seek out illegal web content and also given increased funding from the private sector.

Meanwhile ISP providers will ensure when a person attempts to access a web page with illicit images that a warning flashes up — known as blocking.

But Mr Berg said the moves would have a minimal impact as most of the illegal content is not found on the so-called surface web. Instead the images are passed on the “darknet” — impenetrable private networks where connections are only made between trusted parties.

Mr Berg said: “Obviously its a good thing to block, but to suggest that blocking is a solution and to focus on it, that’s not the right path to go down.

“The real answer is that it is about giving law enforcement agencies the resources to deal with the crime.”