Australia takes paedophile hunt online with 100 cyber detectives

Australia will employ 100 new cyber detectives to hunt down paedophiles and other online criminals who operate on the dark web.

Australia will employ 100 cyber detectives dedicated to keeping kids safe online as part of a $1.67 billion boost to the nation’s cyber security.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new strategy would protect essential infrastructure and services, Australian businesses that operate online and families.

“We need to protect you and your family from the dark web and the trolls and those who would seek to take advantage of the most vulnerable in our community, the elderly and others,” he said.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said the detectives would specifically help fight online paedophiles who had become more active during the coronavirus lockdown.

“The fact is at the moment we have seen a massive spike in the number of paedophiles online during the COVID-19 period. They are targeting kids because they know kids are at home,” he said.

Mr Dutton said the dark web was the “sewer of the internet” and a hot spot for paedophiles and other criminal syndicates.

“The stories we hear from our investigators are quite overwhelming, and the attacks now that we're seeing on all sorts of businesses but families as well … what should be a safe environment is not for many families.”

Australian Signals Directorate HQ.

The minister said the new cyber security strategy would help Australian authorities enforce the law online the same way they did in real life, with new powers allowing the Australian Federal Police to ask the Australian Signals Directorate for help in tracking servers used by international paedophile rings, terrorists and drug traffickers.

While there has been debate over the potential to exploit these new powers, Mr Dutton said only those committing crimes online should be concerned.

“If you’re a paedophile you should be worried about these powers … if you’re committing a serious offence in relation to trafficking of drugs, of ice, for example, that‘s being pedalled to children, you should be worried about these powers,” he said.

“If you’re part of the Australian community, the 99 per cent of people that aren’t involved in those activities, then I don’t think you have anything to concern yourself with.

“The reality is people are trying their best to groom kids online and terrorists are swapping information … people are trading gun parts on the dark web and it cannot be a lawless space.”