What are commercial disguised websites?
Since 2011, we have been monitoring commercial child sexual abuse websites which display child sexual abuse imagery only when accessed by a ‘digital pathway’ of links from other websites. When the pathway is not followed, or the website is accessed directly through a browser, legal (usually pornographic) content is displayed. This means it is more difficult to locate and investigate the criminal imagery.
- In 2023, we uncovered 5,781 websites using a “digital pathway” to hide child sexual abuse imagery.
- Of the 8,076 commercial websites overall, 39% (3,128) were also using a digital pathway. This is up from 11% in 2022.
Disguised websites have also continued to exploit Top-Level Domain hopping to avoid detection and remain online.