Trend Micro Becomes the First Internet Security Company to Partner with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to Remove Child Pornography from the Internet

Trend Micro Joins 67 US-Based Electronic Service Providers and 6 International Law Enforcement Agencies on Major URL Project to Prevent Re-victimization

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) today announced that Trend Micro has joined the organization's Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Project which works to reduce child pornography on the Internet.  Since 2007 NCMEC has collaborated with members of the Internet industry in an effort to reduce the availability of child pornography on the Internet.  The URL Project currently involves 67 U.S. based electronic service providers (ESP's) which represent 74% of the United States ESP market share and 6 international law enforcement agencies.  Trend Micro is the first security software company to partner with NCMEC on this initiative.    

"Trend Micro is a global leader in network antivirus and Internet content security software with millions of customers worldwide." said Ernie Allen, president of NCMEC.  "The involvement of Trend Micro in the URL Project is a major step forward in our effort to protect families from inadvertent access to child pornography and reduce the re-victimization that occurs every time the image is viewed."

As of December 2009, according to data compiled by NCMEC, 40% of children who have been identified by law enforcement as victims of child pornography are pre-pubescent and 5% are infants.  

Reports of URL's containing apparent child pornography are reported by the public and ESP's to the NCMEC CyberTipline.  NCMEC analysts review the Web page and generate a report that is provided to law enforcement.  If there is no law enforcement activity within seven days NCMEC will revisit the Web page to determine whether the child pornography images are still displayed and, if so, will add the Web page address to a daily URL list.  NCMEC applies certain specific criteria for Web pages to be included on the list which includes the "worst of the worst" child pornography content and the most extreme images of pre-pubescent children being sexually abused.  

The URL list is made available to ESP's who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NCMEC.  The URL Project is a voluntary program and ESP's use the list to ensure the content is not on their system.  Each day, an updated list of active URL's meeting the specific criteria for inclusion, are made available to the participating ESP's.  

Trend Micro is a global leader in Internet content security and focuses on securing the exchange of digital information for businesses and consumers.  The company owns one of the world's largest domain-reputation databases and is a pioneer in "reputation technologies" for blocking Web threats and spam in the Internet cloud.  Trend Micro will add the Web pages identified by NCMEC to their existing list to alert customers of the content.  Customers of Trend Micro products that include its Web reputation technology will have this added protection as well – they will be blocked from scam Web sites that may contain malicious software, or whose security has been compromised.

Trend Micro's Internet Safety for Kids and Families program is intended to raise awareness and provide education to parents, teachers, and youth so that young people can use the Internet safely.

"The sexual online exploitation of those who are most vulnerable and voiceless – our children – is egregious and deplorable. We applaud NCMEC's efforts in protecting our children and are humbled by this opportunity to play a role in their mission," said Lynette Owens, director of Trend Micro's Internet Safety for Kids & Families program. "We urge all who are part of the security industry to take a stand with us and join the NCMEC URL Initiative."

A full list of the other 67 companies and 6 international law enforcement agencies participating in the URL Project can be found on the NCMEC Web site www.missingkids.com.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.  Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children's hotline which has handled more than 2,447,000 calls.  It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 148,400 children.  The organization's CyberTipline has handled more than 829,800 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 32,826,400 pornography images and videos.  The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.  To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its Web site at www.missingkids.com.

SOURCE National Center for Missing & Exploited Children