Cracking Down on Cybercrime

The Justice Department will be expanding its National Security division to address ever growing cybercrime.

Cybercrime Marks a Change in Landscape

According to assistant attorney general for national security John Carlin, the division will now be taking on threats to the country from state-sponsored economic espionage and cybercrime. Carlin said the changes reflect “the threat landscape we face is ever-changing and evolving.”

Every Day

“I think it’s happening every day and they are intruding into businesses all over the country,” Carlin said. But the challenge is getting perpetrators into U.S. courtrooms to face the charges, especially when they scattered throughout the world. Investigators are able to track the intrusions as well as identify who is at the keyboard. And this new unity will work closely with other in government to get cooperation from foreign governments. One case of massive malware hack shows this. According to Carlin, Ukrainian law enforcement officials served two search warrants for the U.S. even as Ukraine was under attack from Russia.

Leading the Efforts

Leading the effort against cybercrime will be Mary McCord, the former criminal division chief at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. She will oversee the National Security Cyber Specialists Network. This group of prosecutors located in each of the U.S. attorney’s offices focus on cyberthreats to the national security. The team will also include Luke Dembosky, who will act as deputy assistant attorney general. Prior to this he served as a representative for the Justice Department in Russia. It’s believed that many computer malware hackers operate out of Russia. Anita Singh previously worked as director for intelligence programs on the National Security Council staff at the White House. She will now serve as chief of staff of the National Security Division.

Source: USA Today, Justice division takes on economic spying, cybercrime, October 21, 2013

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