Cybercrooks on His Screen

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-08-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-123327.asp

By MIKE CLAFFEY
Daily News Staff Writer
August 28, 2001

After mauling the mob, federal prosector Jim Walden is taking on
crooks in cyberspace.

Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Alan Vinegrad named Walden, deputy chief of the
organized crime section, to head a new computer crime and intellectual
property squad.

The new unit, which has four full-time prosecutors, puts
investigations of Internet crimes, theft of computer equipment and
software, economic espionage and copyright theft under one umbrella.

Walden, 34, is a brash, hard-driving prosecutor who made his bones
with a string of mob convictions, most recently that of Bonanno
consigliere Anthony Spero.

"The Internet and computers are just giving criminals a new venue to
practice old tricks," said Walden. "Our main goals are to solve
old-style crimes using new methods and to prevent the mass havoc that
can be created by the new style of computer vandalism."

He noted that the recent red worm virus caused its victims $5 billion
in damage.

Vinegrad announced the creation of the unit last week.

The deputy chief is Lauren Resnick, an organized crime prosecutor who
worked on the Abner Louima police torture case. Michele Adelman, who
prosecuted the recent stock fraud case against shoe designer Steve
Madden, is the third member of the team. The fourth member has not
been named.

The Brooklyn unit is one of 10 pilot projects the Justice Department
is launching around the country. It's an outgrowth of a computer crime
squad created by new FBI Director Robert Mueller while he was U.S.
attorney for the Northern District of California, which includes
Silicon Valley, Vinegrad said.

The prosecutors will work closely with agents from the FBI, the Secret
Service and the Defense Department, as well as the NYPD, which
recently announced an upgrade of its computer crimefighting
capabilities.

Among the first steps, Walden said, will be to reach out to the
private sector to forge a relationship with victims of hackers and
software pirates.

The unit will get special training from the Justice Department in
Washington and the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.

The head of the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's criminal division, Andrew
Weissmann, said the office is staffing the unit with two new
prosecutor slots and two existing ones.

"We are not just grouping existing crimes under one heading, we are
going to devote more resources to these kinds of cases," he said. "The
upshot is going to be a dramatic increase in prosecutions."



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