KUALA LUMPUR: Cybercriminals are evading authorities by exploiting advanced encryption technology, especially those related to online marketplaces that traffic in child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
This worrying threat is not only a great concern to Malaysian authorities, but it has also been flagged by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Confronted with the growing threat, Malaysia has forged alliances with the FBI and other international crime-fighting allies to leverage real-time coordination of operations to shut down priority and high-impact targets.
The FBI told the New Straits Times that Malaysia, like many other countries, is confronting increasingly sophisticated criminals who can exploit software, networks and cryptocurrency to conceal their identities.
"General trends in Malaysia are similar to those in other countries, where criminals are becoming more adept at using encryption to communicate, anonymising software to access websites, using cryptocurrency to purchase CSAM and virtual private networks to host criminal marketplaces trafficking in CSAM.
"These measures obscure the identities of these globally distributed criminals and make it more difficult for law enforcement to investigate," the agency said.
The misuse of technologies has also raised alarm about another troubling global trend — sextortion of children and teenagers.
"Sextortion occurs when someone threatens to publicly distribute a victim's private and sensitive material, unless they provide criminals with images of a sexual nature, sexual favours or money.
"Once a criminal convinces underage victims to provide compromising images, they often threaten to involve the victims' friends and family, causing the victim to harm themselves or, in extreme cases, commit suicide," the agency said, emphasising the critical need to educate the public on this form of blackmail.
The NST has in the past few days exposed the widespread presence of pornographic content on social media, including CSAM.
The growing demand for such content and the lack of safeguards on these platforms have heightened parents' concerns about their children's safety.
Investigations also revealed numerous local accounts offering explicit material, including storyline-driven content rivalling international pornographic productions.
This surge in content is pushing Malaysia into becoming a hub for explicit material and posing a serious danger to children navigating these platforms.
Meanwhile, the FBI said it is taking steps to effectively curb crimes against children through the Violent Crimes Against Children International Task Force (VCACITF), which was established specifically to fight such crimes on an international level.
The Malaysian police, the US agency said, were among the 90 law enforcement agencies, organisations and individuals from approximately 60 countries that are part of the task force.
The VCACITF, it added, provides the FBI with a unique capability for real-time coordination of operational activities and investigations against priority and high-impact targets.
"Since the inception of the VCACITF in 2004, the FBI has continued to build a robust and effective capability to pursue and advance priority initiatives and investigations beyond national borders.
"Offenders are effectively capitalising on technological developments to avoid law enforcement detection while engaging in increasingly larger, more sophisticated and violent child sexual exploitation conspiracies.
"The effective detection and investigation of these activities rely on cooperation and coordination with our foreign partners.
"In early 2023, the FBI provided training to Malaysian law enforcement on handling cybertips from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), besides the effective methods to conduct CSAM investigations and victim identification," said the FBI.
Malaysia has had three representatives in the VCACITF since 2018, and one of them is current Bukit Aman Sexual, Women and Child Investigations Division (D11) Senior Assistant Commissioner Siti Kamsiah Hassan.