Justice creating cybercrime units

The Justice Department is creating 10 specialized prosecutorial units that will be dedicated to fighting cybercrime.

The new teams will be called Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) units and will focus on high-technology crimes including computer intrusions and hackings; theft of computers and high-tech components; fraud, copyright and trademark violations; and theft of trade secrets and economic espionage, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced July 20 in Silicon Valley.

The Northern California CHIP team successfully prosecuted one cybercriminal who hacked into critical federal systems, Ashcroft said.

Coincidentally, the designee for FBI director, Robert Mueller, is the U.S. attorney in San Francisco.

The CHIP units will be established in nine locations in addition to San Francisco, where the CHIP concept was pioneered and has proven to be an effective method of prosecuting cybercrime.

The other cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Boston, New York (Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs), Dallas, Seattle, and Alexandria, Va.

In total, the 10 units will be staffed with 77 people, 48 of whom will be prosecutors.

"These new CHIP teams will focus on the prevention of cybercrime by working with local industry to anticipate future trends, identify vulnerabilities and stop cybercrime before it occurs," Ashcroft said.