The Federal Bureau's Role In Fighting Computer Crime

Federal agencies have lead law enforcement efforts against computer crime because they possess the technical expertise and political influence to gather significant financial and operational resources at the national level. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and The Department of Homeland Security have unique responsibilities in responding to digital crime and have specific types of offenses that each are responsible for. In comparison to local law enforcement agencies these federal agencies differ in their ability to investigate digital crime.
The FBI was established in 1908 as the investigative branch of the U.S. DOJ. The FBI carries a broad mandate that authorizes the organization to protect the United States from terror and foreign intelligence

This suggests that cybercrime has become a high priority for investigation, over and above physical real-world crimes. The bureau’s role in fighting computer crime is: (1) to capture the criminals behind serious computer intrusions and the spread of malicious code, (2) to stop online sexual predators who produce or share child pornography and meet and exploit children, (3) to stop operations targeting U.S. intellectual property, and (4) to dismantle national and transnational organized crime groups engaging in Internet fraud. The FBI is also leading the charge to investigate and prosecute cybercrimes. The bureau’s Cyber Division works in tandem with the Criminal Investigative Division in the investigation of domestic threats generated by computer related crimes. Typically, its caseloads focus on child pornography, followed by fraud, computer intrusions, and intellectual property theft. There are also 93 computer crime task forces across the country that provide a partnership between the bureau, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to better solve crimes. A program called Cyber Action Teams has also been developed, which have a small number of specially trained agents who are experts in malware and forensics. These teams travel

RCFLs provide computer forensic lab support and training programs in support of criminal investigations and the prevention of terror incidents. The bureau has partnered with the National White-Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to operate the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ICCC or IC3). The IC3 provides victims of Internet fraud a mechanism to report suspicious online activities. The goal of the IC3 is to identify wider Internet fraud patterns and trends to aid in the enforcement of these crimes. The bureau also works with the Computer Security Institute to produce an annual survey of cybercrime and computer security incidents in the private sector as a means of understanding the scope of the problems faced by individuals in this industry. The FBI has also developed relationships with private and public-sector partners to improve its ability to protect computerized critical infrastructures. The federal government owns and operates many of these critical infrastructure systems; these law enforcement agencies would be the primary responders in the event of a national crisis. Likewise, the private sector currently operates the vast majority of these