Feature

DEFENSE: CyberLaw Enforcement

Going online is like entering the Coliseum in 2000 b.c.e. Viruses, bots, cybercriminals and malware rear up to destroy your identity and steal your money with tricks, lies, and infected websites. Before stepping foot inside, even to check your email or the latest Tweet, you need a good Defense. Fortunately, the world’s greatest cyber law enforcement team is on your side, people who spend their lives fighting legions of criminals and programs so that you have the freedom to visit Rome on Wiki, check your bank account, or even buy an airline ticket.

The Czar

The official name is National Cyber Advisor, and the official role is cyber advisor to the President of the United States. Because electronic information flows through the government like water down Niagara Falls, from income tax records for every working citizen in the country to healthcare and national security matters, the Czar is needed to help the US avoid catastrophe and compromise from cyber attacks. Such an attack could be “just as devastating to the U.S.’s economy and infrastructure as a deadly bombing” says Brandon Griggs of CNN. Working closely with the US Department of Homeland Security, the Tzar’s role is gaining momentum and power as cybercrime expands. It is now a billion dollar industry, with cybercrime making more profit than drug trafficking in the US. As of this writing, the next Cyber Czar is yet to be announced.

CAT and CCTF

Highly trained units tailored for cyber threats, the FBI’s Cyber Action Teams (CAT) are small groups of agents, analysts and computer forensics and malicious code experts who travel the globe at the drop of a hat to stop cyber threats. From the US to Morocco to Turkey, they find massive Trojans at their source, working with local government police to bring cybercriminals down. They speak several languages, from verbal to code, and they work openly and undercover to break up cybercriminal rings. CAT’s not-so-distant cousins are the Computer Crimes Task Forces (CCTF) who team up with the FBI and local police to stop cybercrime both nationally and on foreign shores. For example, working with over 30 FBI field officers with 120 search warrants in 11 countries, the Connecticut CCTF recently broke up a giant pirating ring with international cybercriminal members.

Team Players

The US government is for the people, but what about the people? Crossing the boundary from officials to folks are large groups like the National Cyber Security Alliance. Their role is liaison from the Department of Homeland Security to regular folks, business owners, teachers, and who they call “digital citizens”. The Alliance’s main goal is to make cyber security as natural as good diet, rest, and exercise, or to morph the phrase “wear your seatbelt” into “wear your security suite”. Teaming up with the Alliance is the Anti-Spyware Coalition and Stopbadware.com, two leading players of experts, industry leaders, and volunteers who work to secure the net. Together, they formed a Chain of Trust Initiative that aims to link all persons who work in security together. “Strong security in any one organization or sector is not enough to combat an agile, fast evolving threat like malware, which exploits security breakdowns between entities,” says Ari Schwartz, ASC Coordinator and VP of the Center for Democracy & Technology in a press release.

You and Me

Online, word-of-mouth is a blow horn. You can reach all of your neighbors, friends, and family in one keystroke and steep yourself in cybercrime headlines from around the world. Google search results can yield a years’ worth of cyber security news in two seconds while online resources, like Norton Today, are like a dessert cart of updates and action tips. Norton Watchgroups lets users create an online warning system, where they can alert their friends and families to cyber threats before they hit the headlines (and it’s already too late). The resources to become your own denizen of Internet security are out there for the taking, so you can warn all of your friends, and their friends, and their friends, and so on.

Back at the Coliseum

When it comes to cybercrime, it boils down to your team vs. your opponent: the cybercriminal. If the Coliseum doesn’t really work for you, what about walking across an acre of scorpion-infested brush in your bare feet or with a nice pair of leather hiking shoes? The choice is up to you, and the cybercriminal is waiting, breath baited, for your final decision. So gather your troops, turn on your security suite, and open that email.