Internet Watch Foundation & StreamShield Networks Join Forces To Help Stamp-Out Online Child Abuse
Publication date: Tuesday, 01 February 2005
London, February 01, 2005 –StreamShield Networks™ – the leader in real-time, high performance Internet content security solutions today announces a new partnership by becoming a funding member of the Internet Watch Foundation. ISPs can now simply and cost-effectively prevent their subscribers from accessing illegal child abuse websites over their network, thus helping to prevent access to abusive images of children that contravene the Protection of Children Act 1978.
As a member and through an agreement with the IWF, StreamShield’s Content Security Gateway (CSG), a carrier-class product designed for deployment within the ISP’s network, now incorporates the IWF’s Child Abuse URL List – a constantly updated database of websites around the world which have been assessed and confirmed as containing potentially illegal abusive images of children which would be an offence to view in the UK.
The StreamShield CSG incorporates unique ultra high-speed scanning technology that is designed to monitor up to 250,000 web page requests every second, check target site against the IWF list, and decide whether to allow or block access depending on the result. As a result, ISPs now have a single product solution for preventing access to unacceptable websites without having to make significant and costly changes to their network infrastructure.
Peter Robbins, CEO of the Internet Watch Foundation, comments: “Security measures installed to check all web traffic before it reaches the end user certainly contributes to a reduction in inadvertent exposure to potentially illegal content. By filtering, blocking & managing content, it allows the individual or organization to be in control of their own online environment. By becoming a member of the IWF, StreamShield Networks has acknowledged the importance of the work we do and how working in partnership will be complementary to the security services it provides to its clients.”
Andrew Radley, Director of Product Management at StreamShield Networks adds; “Our aim is to make the Internet safer without forcing consumers and businesses to purchase and deploy significant amounts of software and equipment within their own networks. By deploying our product solution within their own networks, ISPs can make a major contribution to stopping child abuse on the Internet.”
The Internet Watch Foundation
Working in partnership with all the major UK communication service providers, the government, police, software and other internet related companies, the IWF provides the only authorised ‘hotline’ for the public to report their inadvertent exposure to potentially illegal online content, specifically child abuse images and criminally obscene and racist content and it provides a ‘notice and take down’ service to CSPs in the UK so they can remove potentially illegal content from their servers. As a result of these arrangements less than 1% of potentially illegal content is apparently hosted in the UK. The IWF also continues to work closely with foreign hotlines and law enforcement agencies at home and abroad to help them remove potentially illegal content and trace offenders.
About StreamShield Networks:
StreamShield Networks is the leader in real-time, high performance Internet content security solutions. The company’s products and services identify and block threats – such as viruses, worms, other forms of malware, spam, pornography and inappropriate content – in the Internet before the content reaches any users and harms their computer systems.
The company enables service providers, carriers and mobile operators to offer clean and safe Internet services to their residential and business customers which can be tailored to their own individual preferences and requirements.
StreamShield overcomes the performance and scalability limitations of current software and network appliance technologies (which are designed for customer premises rather than deployment in the Internet) through a unique, patent-pending silicon-accelerated content security engine called StreamScan™. Based on a massively parallel architecture, StreamScan can monitor network traffic and check for multiple threats simultaneously in real-time at multi-gigabit speeds regardless of protocol or application.
StreamShield Networks is an independent subsidiary within the Detica Group of companies.
About the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF):
The IWF is the only authorised organisation in the UK which provides an internet ‘hotline’ for the public to report their exposure to illegal content online.
We aim to minimise the availability of potentially illegal Internet content that specifically;
• child abuse images hosted anywhere in the world
• criminally obscene content hosted in the UK.
• criminally racist content hosted in the UK.
We work in partnership with UK Government Departments such as the Home Office and the Department of Trade and Industry to influence initiatives and programmes developed to combat online abuse.
This dialogue goes beyond the UK and Europe, to ensure greater awareness of global issues and responsibilities. We are funded by the EU and the UK Internet industry including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Mobile Operators & manufacturers, Content Service Providers (CSPs) and telecommunications & software companies.
Through the hotline reporting system, we help ISPs to combat abuse of their services by operating a ‘notice and take down’ service which alerts them to any illegal content found on their system and we assess material reported to us and pass on any relevant details to Law Enforcement Agencies.
As a result, the amount of illegal content hosted in the UK has been reduced from 18% in 1997 to less than 1% in 2004. As the number of people using the internet and the diversity of content available continues to grow, the mechanisms of dealing with illegal content must be better known and understood.
In partnership with many organisations, we strive to create continued awareness of the role and purpose of the IWF and aim to foster trust and reassurance in the Internet for current and future users.
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StreamShield, StreamShield Networks, the StreamShield logo and StreamScan are trademarks or registered trademarks of StreamShield Networks, for use in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owner.
For further information please visit www.streamshield.com.
Press contacts
Nicky Savvas
StreamShield Networks
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Neil Jessiman
CompanyCare Communications
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