Cooperation Key to Catching Criminals
Cyber criminal cases are illusive, invisible and devastating. A criminal’s location does not need to be near the area of the crime and criminals do not leave finger prints or much physical evidence. Motives of money, drugs and valuables don’t come close to the appeal and intrigue of illegal sharing and stealing data. Because cyber crime transcends traditional crime, methods for catching traditional criminals are not effective.
Cyber crime at one point was thought to be the work of isolated hackers, but is now becoming a mainstream criminal activity. Cyber crime forces law enforcement to stay on the cutting edge of technology and global culture and commerce. What sets apart cyber crime is scale and geography. From foreign or far away locations, hackers can do large amounts of damage with minimal cost or effort.
Officials in New Jersey are implementing new high tech methods to catch criminals. Unlike many places, they have been having successes in bringing cases to federal court. These cases include a onetime computer whiz who stole 130 million credit card numbers, and international ring that stole home equity lines and just this month, four men accused of illegally buying premium tickets online for major concerts and sporting events. These cases are traditionally investigated by the FBI because they combine finance, global networks and technology.
In New Jersey, FBI agents are combining their cyber teams with white collar crime teams. The new team is adept at both the commerce and technology aspects of cyber crime. “We recognized the level of sophistication was going to require a certain level of expertise. It just looked like the perfect marriage,” said Edward Kahrer, an assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Newark office. Also, priority has been given to cyber prosecutors. Where in most states their is only one federal prosecutor, New Jersey has assigned two.
“These guys have taken the program to a national level,” said Marc-Philip Ferzan, New Jersey’s executive assistant attorney general and a former federal prosecutor who supervised the cyber crime unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
One of the biggest cases in the state was the bust of Shadowcrew.com, a website which was a trading post for stolen credit card numbers. In 2004, nineteen individuals were originally arrested for the website by the end of the year twenty-seven people plead guilty for associations to the site. New Jersey is setting an example for other states on how to isolate and prosecute cyber crime. Taking cooperation to a new level and placing priority on these difficult crimes New Jersey has found a winning formula.
And the work is not stopping, the state plans to add two additional prosecutors to the cyber crimes unit. This move comes as more units look to the cyber unit for help with prosecution. “Anyone who is studying criminal justice needs to study a foreign language, and they need to study computer science,” said Tim Ryan, who heads the cyber crimes unit at the FBI’s Newark office.
Related posts:
