FIGHTING CYBER CRIME
FBI Exec Tells All (Well,
Not Quite)
12/07/05
Lou
Reigel, head of our Cyber Division, met
with the press Wednesday to brief them on
our role in investigating cyber crimes—one
of our top priorities. He talked about issues
ranging from intellectual property rights
and cyber terrorism
to Internet intrusions,
Katrina scams, and the recent Sober worm
attack.
Last
month's Sober worm attack, which masqueraded
as an e-mail from the FBI or CIA, notified
readers around the world that they'd visited
illegal websites and instructed them to
download an attachment. Once downloaded,
the attachment unleashed a malicious program
into computers that sent out similar bogus
e-mails. Reigel said the e-mails, many of
which went to invalid addresses, bounced
back to the FBI as undeliverable.
Reigel
said he's optimistic the source of the malicious
code—reportedly the third largest
attack in 2005—will be uncovered.
"We have enough information where we
can pursue a logical investigation,"
he said.
Here's
what else Reigel talked about:
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Intellectual
property on agenda in China: Reigel
visited Beijing in November—the first
such high-level trip by an FBI cyber official.
He described seeing warehouses full of counterfeit
goods that would trick the most discerning
consumer. "I do think the Chinese are
making progress on combating this problem,"
Reigel said. "It's a long term issue."
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Computer
intrusions: At any given time, agents
and analysts are investigating 500 major
intrusion cases—the Cyber Division's
top priority. Many cases reach beyond U.S.
borders, where our Legal Attachés,
or Legats, work with local authorities in
foreign countries to aid our investigations.
"We're relying heavily on our Legats
and their relationships with international
partners," he said. Reigel said the
InfraGard
program, which enlists the business
community to help fight intrusions by confidentially
reporting them to the FBI, has been very
successful. But he still sees reluctance
to come forward by CEOs, fearing they will
expose their company's vulnerability to
competitors or shareholders.
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Innocent
Images: We have some 2,400 child porn
cases ongoing. Our field agents develop
and pursue the cases, aided by state and
local law enforcement. Our efforts reach
internationally; in January, Russia will
place its own investigator in the Innocent
Images program. "We want to try to
get them into the loop," Reigel said.
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Cyber
Terrorism: Reigel acknowledged that
since 9/11 terrorists have become much more
sophisticated at using the Internet to their
ends, but said he's not aware of any major
organized attempts to launch cyber attacks
against the U.S.
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