DOJ Gets Tough on Cybercrime
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US Department of Justice said law-enforcement agencies have arrested or convicted more than 150 individuals in a broad initiative against cybercrime.
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Blog: A recent court case provides a rare glimpse into how federal agents deal with encryption: By breaking into a suspect's home or office, implanting keystroke logging software, and watching what happens from afar.
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In what was billed as the biggest federal crackdown ever on Internet crime, the Justice Department announced Thursday it arrested or convicted more than 150 people across the country.
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Some years ago, I got a job doing network support for the District Attorneyâs office in a large city that shall remain nameless. When I arrived, the network was a mess! Malware was rampant, Internet and WAN connections were saturated, and users were constantly complaining about slow computers and network performance. Even so, my attempts to enforce a mindful security policy were met with fierce resistance. The attitude among the legal staff was, âThis is my computer and my network; youâre just a computer janitor.â
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US Attorney General John Ashcroft said the crackdown sent a message to &quot;those who steal over the Internet,&quot; with Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray adding the crackdown represented the
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(InfoWorld) - Criminals working with computer hackersÂ pose a rising threat to businesses and governments as those entities increase their dependence on IT systems, a top U.S. federal prosecutor said Thursday. "There's always this worry, and I think a legitimate worry, that terrorists will actually launch computer attacks on critical infrastructure," said Christopher Painter, principal deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Painter, who prosecuted famed hacker Kevin Mitnick before he signed a plea agreement, cited a case where a hacker in Australia fouled a fresh water supply in 2000 by hacking into a wireless connection and releasing tons of sewage. In the U.S. in 1997, a juvenile hacked into a computer phone and data system and turned off the runway lights at an airport in Worcester, Massachusetts, Painter said. "That obviously could have had pretty dire consequences," Painter said, who spoke about cybercrime at the Information Security Systems Association conference in London. Authorities have seen an increase in cases where hackers steal corporate data and then attempt to blackmail companies, Painter said. Others steal data and sell it to other criminals. In October 2004, the U.S. Secret Service busted the "Shadowcrew," a criminal group that stole credit card data and then sold it on a Web site, Painter said. The problem for law enforcement is that the bad guys are showing increased technical sophistication and often commit cybercrimes across borders, Painter said. But countries are coordinating more on investigations and takedowns, Painter said. Forty-five countries have joined the G8 24/7 High Tech Crime Network, a group of contacts that can offer immediate assistance to other countries on terrorist or criminal cases involving electronic evidence, Painter said. Painter cited a success this week whereÂ Moroccan authorities sentenced two people to prison for the Zotob and Mytob worms, which downed computers worldwide in August 2005. The U.S., Turkey, Morocco and Microsoft Corp. aided in that investigation, he said. But a difficulty with international investigations are countries with weak or no laws against computer crime, Painter said. "Any country that doesn't have good laws is going to be a weak link," he said. Â
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A summer-long effort targeting Internet crime has resulted in dozens of arrests and convictions on charges including use of "spam" e-mail to steal credit card numbers, computer hacking and online fraud, Justice Department officials said Thursday. -AP
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The US Department of Justice has targeted a group known as the Underground Network for its first criminal investigation into intellectual property piracy over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.
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In what it called an &quot;Information Age undercover investigation,&quot; the US Secret Service announced the arrest of 28 people from eight states and six countries allegedly involved in a global organized cybercrime ring.
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Companies and lawyers say the Justice Department is using coercive tactics as a bludgeon to force cooperation with corporate investigations.
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NEW YORK At first glance, it might seem like the simple extension of a standard tool in the fight against the bad guys. But in fact, wiretapping Internet phones to monitor criminals and terrorists is costly
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Federal agents armed with search warrants conducted raids in three states Wednesday as part of a nationwide crackdown on the theft of copyrighted materials through the Internet, the Justice Department announced.
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Pesky phishers impersonate keepers of Justice The US Department of Justice has issued a warning to the public urging them not to respond to a bogus email that purports to be from the DoJ.â¦
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Hackers are finding financial rewards in their actions, and criminals are increasing their dependence on IT. The combination, and the increased technical sophistication of the bad guys, worries a top federal prosecutor.
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(InfoWorld) - The Cyber Security Industry Alliance has given the U.S. government D grades on its cybersecurity efforts in 2006, and renewed its call for the U.S. Congress to pass a comprehensive data protection law in 2007. The CSIA, a trade group representing cybersecurity vendors, gave the U.S. government D grades in three areas: security of sensitive information, security and reliability of critical infrastructure, and federal government information assurance. "Government needs to take these issues very seriously," said Liz Gasster, the CSIA's acting executive director and general counsel. Among the problems in 2006: The U.S. Department ofÂ Veterans Affairs reported a data breach involving the personal information of 26.5 million military veterans and family members. Other agencies also reported multiple lost laptops containing personal information. The CSIA called on agencies to notify citizens of data breaches. After a rash of reported data breaches in early 2005, members of Congress introduced multiple bills requiring companies with data breaches to notify affected consumers. ButÂ a breach-notification law failed to pass, partly because of jurisdictional fights between multiple congressional committees. A comprehensive data security bill should include breach notification, but also a requirement that all organizations holding sensitive data -- including private companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions -- use reasonable security standards, Gasster said. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has taken action against several companies, but a comprehensive law would give the FTC or another agency broad jurisdiction to investigate data breaches, she said. The CSIA is optimistic a comprehensive data breach law will pass in the next year, even though it stalled in the last Congress, Gasster added. Major data breaches continue to happen, and consumers will increase the pressure on Congress to act, she predicted. In mid-January, retailerÂ TJX Companies Inc. reported a massive data breach. "Consumers just are not going to put up with is," Gasster said. Here's how the CSIA generated its government cybersecurity grades: -- Security of sensitive information, grade D: Congress ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Cyber Crime, allowing the U.S. to work with other signatories on cybersecurity investigations, but failed to pass a comprehensive law to protect sensitive personal information. -- Security and resiliency of the critical information infrastructure, grade D: The Department of Homeland Security appointed an assistant secretary for cybersecurity and telecommunications and implemented some cybersecurity program, but it hasnât offered a clear agenda for its top cybersecurity research and development priorities or established a survivable emergency coordination network to handle a large-scale cybersecurity disaster. -- Federal information assurance, grade D: Government continues to offer a "mixed bag of successes and failures," the CSIA said, with progress within the White House Office of Management and Budget's enforcement of cybersecurity directives and implementation of U.S. President George Bush's Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, requiring agencies to start issuing smart identification cards. But the government needs to do a better job in several areas, including security issues with telecommuting and releasing information on the cost of cyberattacks, the CSIA said. In addition to a comprehensive data protection bill, CSIA called for the U.S. government to strengthen the power of agency chief information officers and called on agencies to increase testing of cybersecurity controls.
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Governments and private sector officials from around the world sought ways Thursday to jointly combat cybercrime, whose growth mirrors the phenomenal rise of the Internet's popularity.
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In what it called an "Information Age undercover investigation," the U.S. Secret Service has arrested 28 people from eight U.S. states and six countries allegedly involved in a global cybercrime ring.