Computer Crime - Enforcement Agencies

ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

Despite the relative infrequency of cyber-crime prosecutions to date, the U.S. government has backed numerous initiatives to encourage and invigorate prosecution efforts. In 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched its "Innocent Images" probe to track down online child pornography. By March of 1999, the effort had resulted in more than 200 convictions. The FBI also hosts computer crime teams in its 56 field offices and organized the Infrastructure Protection and Computer Intrusion Squad (ICPIS) in Washington D.C., which constitutes a national investigative body and resource on cyber-crime. The FBI's InfraGard program fosters cooperation between federal law enforcement officials and the private sector. InfraGard maintains a secure Web site so businesses can alert law enforcement agencies about suspicious network activity or attacks.

The DOJ addresses computer crime through its Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), founded in 1991. Among other duties, CCIPS enforces the NET Act and collaborates with assistant U.S. attorneys around the country to target cyber-crimes. Other sections of the DOJ's Criminal Division target e-crime within their areas of particular concern, such as fraud, child exploitation and obscenity, and terrorism and violent crime.

The Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF) forms a central clearinghouse dedicated to computer-related crimes for all local, state, and national law enforcement. Based in New York City, it is headed by the U.S. Secret Service and cooperates with selected partners from private industry. ECTF has successfully cracked large drug cartels, organized crime groups, and individual hackers. The ECTF also generated the precedent for e-mail wiretapping when it arrested 44 members of the John Gotti Jr. crime group for telecommunications fraud.

The DOJ, FBI, Department of Defense, and members of business also cooperate in the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), created in 1998 to aid in the enforcement of existing anti-cyber-crime laws and to foster cooperation among public-and private-sector prosecution efforts. The NIPC focuses on identifying viruses, issuing warnings, and locating cyber-criminals.

Another government and industry collaboration is the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Coordination Center, dedicated to detecting, disseminating information about, and disabling computer viruses. CERT, part of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a publicly and privately funded research and development center, was founded in 1988. CERT has combated more than 17,000 different viruses.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon threw into high relief the vulnerability of the United States to terrorist incursions. In response, the Bush administration authorized the creation of a new, cabinet-level National Homeland Security Agency (NHSA), which had been originally proposed in a series of recommendations by the U.S. Commission on National Security in January 2001. NHSA's responsibilities would include coordinating government and private sector efforts to protect the nation's critical infrastructure from cyber and physical attacks. Additional measures under discussion were the expansion of enforcement authority to investigate money laundering, control borders, detain immigrants, and to wiretap phones and screen e-mails without a warrant. Authorities also could use techniques such as data-mining programs to locate terrorists in cyberspace. Such efforts will build on the emerging field of computer forensics, which dissects storage media to find evidence via specialized software and techniques. One such tool is an IP filter, which uses fuzzy logic to track down e-mail addresses and URLs associated with Internet use.