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[infowar.de] US Secret Service gründet Electronic Crimes Task Forces



Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Zwei Zitate aus dem Artikel:
Eine sehr optimistische Einschätzung: "the local task force can draw on
the resources of all the task forces assembled around the country."
Sehr schön dagegen dieses hier: "Everyone knows that we protect and
serve. Now everyone knows that we protect servers." :-)
RB

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/3077429.htm

Miami Herald, Apr. 17, 2002

U.S. targets cybercriminals

BY BEATRICE E. GARCIA

Miami is one of eight cities where the U.S. Secret Service is setting up
one of its Electronic Crimes Task Forces, aimed at helping small and
large businesses combat cybercrimes.

The key is planning and prevention, said Robert Weaver, deputy special
agent in charge of the Secret Service's New York Electronics Crimes Task
Force.

''It's a much easier discussion when you're not hyperventilating into a
paper bag,'' said Weaver.

In response to the growing threat of cyberattacks and the Patriot Act of
2001, which was passed by Congress in October, the task force that was
started in New York City under the auspices of the U.S. Secret Service
some 12 years ago is being taken national.

Weaver spoke to a crowd of some 250 chief information officers attending
CIO Magazine's Perspective conference in Bal Harbour Tuesday, presenting
guidelines for preventing and dealing with e-crimes.

The task force is a public-private partnership between federal, state
and local law enforcement as well as private industry experts in many
fields including telecommunications and financial services.

''Success depends on the quality of the partners,'' Weaver said.

It's enabled by the Secret Service, but the goal is to reach out to
local industry and law enforcement experts in the area and create a
network that businesses and the agency can rely on for prevention of
cybercrimes, said David Curran, assistant to the special agent in charge
of the New York Electronic Crimes Task Force.

Weaver likened the task force's work to that of firefighters: ``They try
to prevent fires. They don't want to see your house burn down. But if
it's burning, call them.''

The task force will help companies experiencing a major cyberattack,
such as having a website hacked and customer credit card numbers stolen.

''The insidious aspect of cybercrime is that it's usually an inside
job,'' Weaver said.

Weaver and Curran know firsthand what it means to have a business wiped
out by an attack -- the task force's office was in 7 World Trade Center,
which collapsed as a result of the planes crashing into the World Trade
Center complex Sept. 11. ''We didn't have a pencil or a pad left,''
Weaver recalled.

Curran, who joked that disaster seems to follow him because he was
working out of the Secret Service's Miami office in 1992 when Hurricane
Andrew hit South Florida -- said the only working devices they had after
the terrorist attacks were SkyTel pagers and Blackberries, which are
wireless devices that can send and receive e-mail.

Curran, true to his self-confessed love of electronic gadgets, had
hooked on his belt Tuesday a Blackberry, a pager, and a cell phone as
well as a Palm handheld computer in his pocket.

Alex Echo, the agent in charge of the Miami task force, was reluctant to
say exactly how many agents are devoted to the office, which also covers
the Caribbean and Latin America.

But he said the local task force can draw on the resources of all the
task forces assembled around the country.

The Miami task force came out of an investigative unit, known as the
''high-tech squad,'' that was already operating here, Echo said.

The other cities where the Secret Service is ramping up are Boston,
Charlotte, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Washington, D.C.

Of the Secret Service's mission, Weaver said: ``Everyone knows that we
protect and serve. Now everyone knows that we protect servers.''

FIND OUT MORE 

?  For more information about the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes
Task Force, visit www.ectaskforce.org.

?  For information and guidelines from the task force on how to protect
a company from cyberattacks, visit www.cio.com/securitytools. The
information on this page will be available by Friday.

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