Cybercrime investigators want more authority, training

Streamlined investigative powers and increased training funds are needed to improve cybercrime investigations, officials from the Justice Department, the FBI and the Secret Service said Tuesday at a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime. Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, used the hearing to ask law enforcement officials what they need to help them better investigate such crimes. "The growth of the Internet has improved our economy, medicine and technology. Unfortunately, it has brought new opportunities for criminal activity as well," said Smith. While people tend to think of cybercrime as hacking, viruses and other intrusion tactics, it can also take the form of "reprehensible crimes, such as child pornography and cyberstalking," Smith said. Michael Chertoff, an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said procedural issues were a significant impediment to cybercrime investigations. For example, when cybercriminals use computers in multiple jurisdictions to aid their attacks, law enforcement officials must apply for the same search warrant or court order in each of the jurisdictions. Thomas Kubic, principal deputy assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, said cybercriminals stand "much less chance of being apprehended" than criminals who don't use computers to perpetrate their crimes. Crybercrimes investigations are difficult, he said, because the evidence exists in a different form than it would at other crime scenes. Although crybercriminals leave electronic fingerprints, they are difficult to trace when the criminal uses multiple operating systems during the crime. The possibility of increased or streamlined investigative powers scares personal privacy advocates. "Cybercrime is a serious problem, but it must be considered in the context of today's technology, law enforcement capabilities and eroding personal privacy concerns," said Alan Davidson, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Davidson said there is a risk that the fear of cybercrime could cause expanded government surveillance capabilities. "Concerns about cybercrime need not, and should not, become an excuse for sweeping new authorities or greater government surveillance capability," he said. Looking forward, law enforcers "must move away from a reactive posture to one that is more preventive or proactive" when it comes to cybercrime, said James Savage, deputy agent in charge of the Secret Service's financial crimes division.