New crime unit targets computer fraud
Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Catherine Mitseas Staff Writer
Tampa will be home to one of seven regional offices of the new Florida Computer Crime Center, according to officials of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The FDLE is setting up the new division to take on the complex and extensive problem of computer fraud. The computer crime unit will be headquartered in Tallahassee, and its seven regional offices will all have their own special agents and computer analysts.
Jeff Herig, special agent in Tallahassee, said the unit is a natural evolution of their forensic computer labs.
In 1991, FDLE started a computer evidence recovery service. The labs, among the first in the country, are located in Tallahassee and Tampa. The units provide retrieval and analysis of computer evidence for law enforcement agencies.
Computers, though, have become entrenched in American life and are now the target of new and old crimes, some extremely sophisticated.
"Recently, in the last year and half, FDLE has recognized that computer forensics is important, but so is a computer investigative unit," Herig said.
The unit will be proactive, with investigations designed to throw a net over suspects, as well as reactive, answering complaints from businesses and individuals. Its core emphasis, though, will be computer network intrusions, Herig said.
This growing area of business espionage involves malicious attacks, often by former employees, that can shut down a company's systems.
Rick Morera, public information officer with the FDLE, said all states have seen an increase in computer crimes. Resources dedicated within local law enforcement agencies though have not kept up. As a result, the Florida agency saw an increase in requests for technical expertise.
The FDLE traditionally works closely with local law enforcement agencies such as police departments and sheriffs' offices. The special agents assigned to regional offices will have some technical background, but they will rely heavily on computer analysts for research and retrieval of data online.
"Our goal is to specifically provide assistance to some of the smaller jurisdictions," Morera said.
The Florida Computer Crime Center will also address the legions of white collar and traditional crimes now occurring on computers and often through the Internet.
Brian Criste, a computer analyst in Tampa's unit, said his office has investigated a half-dozen check fraud cases. In these situations, businesses' account numbers are stolen and checks duplicated through easily available software programs.
Criminals who are savvy enough to carry out such a crime usually target businesses rather than individuals.
"An individual is a lot more aware of mega-amounts of money being taken out of their accounts," Criste said.
Other common crimes pursued by the Computer Crime Center are Medicare and Medicaid fraud, perpetrated by the medical profession, and credit card theft.
Criminals targeting credit cards are generally less sophisticated than their counterparts, who target other computer information. Once they capture a card number, either through number banks accumulated by hackers or by infiltrating credit bureaus that have left their financial records in technologically vulnerable areas, the individual usually goes on to order products or services.
Such actions are easily trackable as the packages are sent to specific locations and picked up by the criminal, Criste said.
Although the crimes may be creative, the reasons people turn to these maneuvers are like an old-fashioned store robbery.
"In most cases the suspect is supporting a drug or gambling habit," Criste said.
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