By Khalida Sarwari
State Attorney General Kamala Harris was in San Jose today to announce the formation of a new unit within the California Department of Justice that will investigate and prosecute cyber crimes and other crimes involving the use of technology.
The eCrime unit, comprised of 20 Department of Justice attorneys and investigators, will focus on crimes related to identity theft, cyber-stalking, fraud committed using the Internet, theft of computer components or services, intellectual property crimes, such as counterfeiting or piracy, and child exploitation.
The unit, now four months old, addresses multi-jurisdictional criminal organizations that are suited for prosecution on a statewide level.
“I feel this effort here is really going to give us a leg up,” Stuart McClure, the worldwide chief technology officer at McAfee, said at a news conference in San Jose this afternoon. “I hope the world is watching because this is really what we need to do more of.”
More than a million Californians fall victim to identity theft every year, according to the attorney general’s office. Last year, the losses throughout the state exceeded $46 million.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, California leads the country in most identity theft complaints and has the third highest per capita, the attorney general’s office said.
“Every year, California loses millions of dollars because the intellectual capital of our state is being hijacked by criminal elements,” Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, said this afternoon.
Businesses are not immune to technology crimes. Earlier this year, charges were brought against five men in connection with the theft of $37 million worth of computer chips from Unigen Corp., a Fremont-based high-tech company. The crime was deemed by authorities as the biggest robbery of its kind in Bay Area history.
As part of its investigation, Fremont police enlisted the help of the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, or REACT, a high-tech crimes unit of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and one of the state’s five regional task forces to which the eCrime unit is providing resources and expertise.
The eCrime unit is also providing investigative, legal, and prosecutorial support for technology-crime cases in counties that don’t have a regional task force.
Other functions of the new unit include supporting technology crime investigations initiated by other state agencies, providing legal support for state-operated digital forensic labs, and developing and providing information-security training for judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and the public.
“It’s about modernizing the California Department of Justice,” Harris said.
The attorney general today announced the launch of a website with information about online child safety, identity theft prevention tips and help for victims. That website can be found at http://oag.ca.gov/cybersafety.
