Top 5 Reasons to Report Computer Intrusions to Law Enforcement
Even when not legally required, reporting cyber crime to law enforcement can act as a deterrent for other malicious actors contemplating future attacks.
Judging by today’s headlines, it is only a matter of time until every company – yours included – is going to experience a computer intrusion, or perhaps another computer intrusion. When that happens, you may find yourself working with law enforcement. Sometimes, they will be the ones calling you. A recent survey shows that just less than 10 percent of all data breaches are first identified to the victim by law enforcement. At other times, it quite literally will be your call, both in terms of judgment and in picking up the phone.
There are a number of very good reasons to report crime even when doing so is not legally required, and cybercrime is no exception. First, catching the bad guys is the surest way to get them out of your system, to deter others who might consider your company an easy mark, and to satisfy a civic responsibility to protect others from similar attacks. With this goal in mind, it is clear that law enforcement has authorities that companies do not have and never will have. The most important of these is the ability to make arrests. Yes, it’s true that there was a time when cyber criminals were seldom caught, but today’s coordinated law enforcement is increasingly effective at locating cyber thieves both at home and abroad. As reflected at www.cybercrime.gov, a Department of Justice website, the good guys are chalking up a lot of wins. In one press release, you can read how the FBI, together with NASA’s Office of the Inspector General, the Estonian Police, private industry and not-for-profit groups, all worked together to locate and arrest six individuals in Estonia who conducted an Internet fraud scheme that infected more than four million computers.