Computer Crimes: DOJ to Train Prosecutors in Cyber Espionage

By David Lindsey Attorney of David Lindsey, Attorney at Law posted in Computer Crimes on Wednesday, October 3, 2012.

Citing what it calls a growing threat of computer crimes to national security, the United States Department of Justice has begun the training of more than 400 prosecutors as experts in the field of cyber espionage.

https://www.mdavidlindsey.com/Criminal-Defense/Computer-Crimes-Defense/

An internal review has identified gaps in the department’s identification of and response to potential terrorist attacks on the Internet. The training will include more than 300 Justice attorneys in Washington DC, as well as nearly 100 more across the country.

“We are very vulnerable,” John Carlin, the principal deputy in Justice’s national security division, said in an interview. “Terrorists groups are saying publicly want they want to do – knock down the stock exchange and disrupt the electrical grid. We need to be more focused on this threat and we need to be ready.”

Obviously, the Justice Department is reluctant to release details, but one inside source claims that federal investigators will now have the ability to monitor computer screens in real-time as data is being stolen by foreign countries; this is expected to assist in counter-espionage investigations around the world.

The increased emphasis on cyber espionage is being led by the National Security Division, a unit created within the department as part of the government’s post-9/11 reform efforts; the goal is to be a single unit of intelligence lawyers and criminal prosecutors with a streamlined communication structure who can work with companies, the military and government agencies to avoid hacking and theft of trade secrets or classified information.