Investigating Cyber Security Threats: Exploring National Security and Law Enforcement Perspectives
Frédéric Lemieux · 2011
This report focuses on how federal agencies define success in computer crime investigations and how they can facilitate the development and refinement of a comprehensive law enforcement strategy for addressing cyber threats. Through interviews with experienced computer crime investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, this project aims to identify how federal agencies conduct investigations related to cyber security and how they define operational success. Our findings show a clear emphasis on threat mitigation, instead of quantitative valuation of prosecutions, as the goal of the investigation. Strategies employ the use of intelligence gathering and sharing to fortify potential targets and identify prolific offenders. These observations are consistent with the current trends in traditional investigation which include the use of an intelligence-led policing model to combat the top national security risks to the United States.