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 A worldwide child pornography ring has been unveiled in U.S. that traded illicit images over the Internet using sophisticated encryption, international media outlets reported.

Investigators said an estimated 600 people used a private, members-only Internet bulletin board called Dreamboard to access the graphic images. Federal prosecutors have filed charges against 72 people in what they described as the largest prosecution ever of an online child pornography operation.

A total of 62 of those charged have been arrested on five continents, including 43 in the U.S., where the ring based its Internet bulletin board, authorities said. Dreamboard has now been shut down, federal officials say.

"The members of this criminal network shared a demented dream to create the preeminent online community for the promotion of child sexual exploitation but for the children they victimized, this was nothing short of a nightmare," said Holder.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said dozens of children, in the U.S. and overseas, have been brought to safety after they were identified in the more than 27,000 images uploaded to the Internet bulletin board, NBC News reported. In addition to the U.S., arrests were made in Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Kenya, The Netherlands, the Philippines, Qatar, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland.