Bringing light to the elusive cyber-world investigators call “The Dark Web” is a back-and-forth technological battle between those searching for or trafficking child pornography and the law enforcement agencies trying to make arrests and shut them down.
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Lake County cyber investigators are working with federal agencies, including the FBI, to share the knowledge and costs involved in waging that battle, and officials are reporting that the cooperation has begun to result in an increase in local and national arrests.
“I can work with cyber investigators all over the country. It’s a good resource,” said Mary Stanton, chief of the Cyber Crimes Division in the Lake County state’s attorney’s office.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have helped develop a national network for investigators to cooperate while working in an arena that recognizes neither national nor international borders.
“The Dark Web, or under web, in my mind, is a place people go to share or obtain information they don’t want others to know they obtain,” said Detective Christopher Covelli, a cyber crimes investigator with the Lake County sheriff’s office. “Some people use these programs and sites for legal reasons, but obviously a lot are used for illegal reasons. It’s a place for terrorists and pedophiles.”
In Lake County, the state’s attorney’s and sheriff’s offices handle the lion’s share of child pornography and solicitation investigations due to their access to forensic equipment and other resources, although local police departments participate in arrests and sometimes in investigations.
Many of those who navigate the Dark Web utilize masked IP addresses that can be so sophisticated the user’s information is relayed overseas and back through a series of connections that makes identification very difficult, officials said.
But local authorities said an arrest in Vernon Hills last week illustrates how nationwide efforts can help combat those tools and result in arrests.
Last year, the server of a site called “The Playpen” was uncovered in North Carolina and taken over by the FBI for several months, according to national reports and local investigators.
As a result, thousands of users who were downloading and trading what authorities have described as extremely graphic child pornography pictures and videos were allegedly identified.
Stanton said the FBI notified the Vernon Hills Police Department that one of those users was tracked to a residence in the village.
Richard Evans, 39, was charged with possession of child pornography, a felony that can result in a prison sentence of up to seven years upon conviction. Stanton said Evans, who is accused of possessing videos obtained from the Playpen site, has been released from custody after paying 10 percent of a $250,000 bail, with a court date scheduled later this month.
Additional arrests have been made in Lake County on charges of possession or manufacturing child pornography over the past few months, following information given to local investigators from agencies such as the Illinois Attorney General’s Office with assistance from federal agencies, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
If local investigators uncover pictures or videos they believe to be child porn, Stanton said the Center for Missing and Exploited Children can help by identifying the victims and confirm if they are minors.
Dean Kharasch, an investigator in the state’s attorney’s office, said those who use the Dark Web utilize “download anonymizers” that can inaccurately reflect an IP address from foreign countries when law enforcement tries to identify them.
“They are encrypted and unencrypted and you may still get no IP address on the seventh relay you get,” he said of the devices, which investigators acknowledge have legitimate privacy protection uses, but make fighting exploitation of minors more difficult.
And some who start out looking for child porn, later begin distributing or searching for live victims, Kharasch said.
“Collecting is like stage one,” he said. “We’ve found abused kids in homes (while executing search warrants in child pornography cases).”
He advised all parents to be constantly vigilant about the devices and apps their children are using as well as adults they may be associating with.
Once arrested, suspects often acknowledge that attraction to minors is an impulse they can’t control, investigators said.
“Most say they can’t help themselves,” Kharasch said. “But some say that sex between adults and children shouldn’t be a crime.”
Covelli, who has participated in many child solicitation and pornography investigations, said few are overly surprised when they are caught, realizing that the odds catch up with many suspects eventually.
Covelli said that despite the devastating effects that an arrest on child pornography or solicitation charges has on one’s life, he’s rarely seen a suspect break down during an arrest.
“I think most of them have prepared themselves mentally for the reality of it, to some extent,” he said.
Similar to the cyber wars against terrorists and corporate or government hacking, federal agencies are constantly upgrading equipment in an attempt to match and trump the technology used by offenders.
“You have to stay current with the trends,” Covelli said. “Hundreds of mobile apps come out every month.”
But staying current is an expensive proposition, which is another reason why local departments are working with federal agencies.
Covelli and Stanton both said federal grants are used to purchase and upgrade the equipment needed to perform the forensic analyses on phones and computer hard drives that uncover illegal images and activity.
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Covelli said the sheriff’s office has made a priority of fighting child exploitation, and Department of Justice grants have helped fund equipment. Lake County investigators are also part of the national Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a cooperative effort that also helps share information and the costs to benefit the overall cause.
Also because of the expense, investigators from the sheriff’s and state’s attorney’s offices do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to the forensic work needed to uncover the evidence needed for convictions.
This can take a toll on investigators, who often view disturbing photographs and videos involving children — images most people would never see in their lifetimes — repeatedly as part of their jobs.
“It is very traumatic over long periods of time, that’s why it’s nice to have a second person to work with,” Kharasch said.
“When you are working on these things, sometimes you kind of have to check out from reality and remember that what you are doing is for the greater good of children,” Covelli said. “You can’t take it home. It’s important that we decompress.”
Counseling and support is offered from both local and regional sources, and investigators sometimes take advantage of it to avoid situations that can be comparable to post-traumatic stress, Kharasch said.
While authorities fight the cyber battle over child pornographers and child solicitation, local investigators said parents need to get into the trenches when it comes to careful scrutiny of what their children are involved in as they obtain computer devices.
Children can be manipulated into sexting and other activities, Kharasch and Covelli said. Covelli said anywhere the potential for online communication exists, from social media platforms to chat rooms for games accessed through video consoles, “predators will be there.”
“Kids are getting phones at younger and younger ages, and once they get that key to the Internet, predators know where to find them,” Covelli said. “Checking your child’s phone is an important thing all parents need to do. If you see an app you don’t recognize, click and see what it is. Be searching for pictures and videos.”
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has resources available for parents and others with concerns about online safety for children. Its website can be accessed at ncmec.org or www.missingkids.com.
Twitter @jimnewton5