A Florida man has claimed that the child abuse images found on his computer were the result of his cat walking across the keyboard. He claims that over a thousand images were downloaded as a result of his cat jumping on the keyboard when he left the room. This "my cat is a porn fiend" mitigation appears to be a new variant of the well known "dog ate my homework" ruse.

While those of us fortunate enough to co-habit with felines have often experienced cat typing (there is even software to prevent it), no cat has yet been prosecuted for downloading illegal material or computer misuse. Indeed, most security experts agree that cats share many of the characteristics of White Hat hackers, and are experts at physical penetration testing.

Humans however are far more likely to attempt to access inappropriate material, either by accident or design. Effective web filtering should help protect users and organisations alike from the dangers of child pornography, regardless of species.

The defendant is being held on a $250,000 bail bond. His cat was unavailable for comment.

• Full story in The Guardian
• Detect Cat Typing with Pawsense

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