On 27th and 28th September, 2010, 21 prefectural police departments in Japan made a massive crackdown upon child prostitution and pornography. 18 suspects were arrested in this occasion for possessing pornography of children under 18 years old, with the intention of distributing over peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks.
This was the first time a raid of this scale specifically focused on child pornography sharing over P2P network was carried out. It was also the first time a P2P related crackdown was made since 30th November, 2009, when 11 were arrested for illegally distributing copyrighted works, such as films, music, animation, or video games, over the Share network.
NetAgent, with its unique P2P network investigation system, has recently estimated how many ‘collectors’ of child pornography are actually on the Share network. The result is following:

This report shows that over 20,000 people are actually using Share network to exchange child pornography. It means over 20% out of the estimated total of 100,000 Share users are the ‘collectors.’ It also shows that the deterrent effect of a massive crackdown upon those ‘collectors’ is rather limited. A more effective measure to protect the juveniles is urgently required of the society.
Because of the nature of anonymous P2P file sharing software, a user may inadvertently relay picture files or movie files which include child pornography. Also, one may be held responsible for the transmission of illegal files by another family member who is sharing the home PC.
Those of you who are in charge of companies or public offices should be aware of the potential risk of letting your employees or subordinates use P2P file sharing software at home. Supposing if one caught an ‘exposer’ virus on his PC, confidential files he had taken back home might leak out over P2P network where the retrieval would be virtually impossible. Or what would happen if he was arrested for illegally exchanging copyrighted works or child pornography? It might be detrimental to your business. You should promote their awareness of the risk of careless use of P2P file sharing.
We hope this article will help you consider efficient security measures.

Peer-to-Peer Investigation Service
NetAgent Co. Ltd. provides a unique service to spot your file, should it leak into peer-to-peer (P2P*) file sharing network. We could investigate over the P2P network and efficiently find out what you would want to know:
1) whether a certain file actually leaked or not
2) seriousness of the proliferation
(how many nodes on the network are actually possessing the file)
3) tendency of the incident
(whether it is on the outbreak or is settling down)
4) how it leaked out
(the IP address of the original sender)
* Peer-to-Peer (P2P): an architecture for multi-node intercommunication

What is P2P Investigation Service?
Our specially designed large scale crawling system is recording the status of the P2P network in high resolution, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and for years long. Combined with our unique decryption technology, it can show you the circulation status of a file in question on any given day.

Compatible Network
NetAgent is currently capable of investigating over most P2P file sharing applications widely in use in Japan: Winny, Share, LimeWire/Cabos, and Perfect Dark. Communications over anonymous P2P networks are predominantly encrypted, while we can decrypt them with our own technology for efficient investigation and reporting.

Investigation and Consulting
NetAgent has so far successfully dealt with more than 100 information bleach incidents involving P2P network. Based upon the broad experience, we can provide you with a reliable support in your decision making under crisis.

List of Available Services
1. Detailed report on information leakage incidents
2. Comprehensive search over P2P network
3. Acquisition of file holders’ IP addresses over P2P network
4. Assessment of crisis scale
5. Profiling on a file holder for risk assessment
6. Advice on how to communicate with the supervisory authorities
7. Advice on how to confirm the leaked information
8. Forensic investigation on suspect PC’s (optional)
* As we use a specially designed proprietary system, our service is free of ‘secondary disaster’ risk, which is inevitable when you use a publicly available P2P application program itself for ad hoc monitoring.

P2P Investigation by NetAgent
[World’s first practical Winny monitoring system]
We decrypted Winny and developed the Winny monitoring system, both on our own.
[Grasp the full picture of Winny network]
Continuous monitoring for accurate statistics of traffic bandwidth, exchanged files, etc.
[Dedicated system for Winny investigation]
We have massive capability for efficient investigation over Winny network.
[Service also available for Share, LimeWire/Cabos, Perfect Dark]
We provide similar investigation service not only for Winny but also most other anonymous P2P networks widely in use in Japan.