DOJ announces new cyber unit to prosecute nation-state threat actors

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The Justice Department recently announced the creation of the new National Security Cyber Section — known as NatSec Cyber — within its National Security Division. The newly established litigating section has secured congressional approval and comes in response to the core findings in Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco’s Comprehensive Cyber Review in July of 2022.

“NatSec Cyber will give us the horsepower and organizational structure we need to carry out key roles of the Department in this arena,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “This new section will allow NSD to increase the scale and speed of disruption campaigns and prosecutions of nation-state threat actors, state-sponsored cybercriminals, associated money launderers and other cyber-enabled threats to national security.”

The National Security Cyber Section will increase the Justice Department’s capacity to disrupt and respond to malicious cyber activity, while promoting department-wide and intragovernmental partnerships in tackling increasingly sophisticated and aggressive cyber threats by hostile nation-state adversaries. The section will bolster collaboration between key partners, such as the Criminal Division’s Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and the FBI’s Cyber Division and will serve as a resource for prosecutors in the 94 U.S. Attorneys' Offices and 56 FBI Field Offices across the country.

“Responding to highly technical cyber threats often requires significant time and resources,” said Assistant Attorney General Olsen. “NatSec Cyber will serve as an incubator, able to invest in the time-intensive and complex investigative work for early-stage cases.”

The June 20 announcement builds upon recent successes in identifying, addressing and eliminating national security cyber threats, including the charging of an alleged cybercriminal with ransomware attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure and disruption the Russian government’s premier cyberespionage malware tool.

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