US DOJ Unveils New Strategic Approach to Counter Cybercrime

The U.S. Department of Justice vowed Wednesday a reinforced approach to cybercrime that includes better collection of electronic evidence and enhanced technical and legal support to agents and prosecutors worldwide.

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The criminal division unveiled a new strategic approach during a Tuesday conference in Washington, D.C. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri said the strategy “emphasizes the division’s focus on using all tools to disrupt criminal activity and hold criminal actors accountable.”

The new approach also highlights “the importance of targeting the most significant cybercrime actors,” Argentieri said, noting how the department disrupted notorious ransomware groups including LockBit and AlphV/Blackcat. Acting with other law enforcement across the globe, authorities seized online infrastructure, indicted key cybercriminals and developed tools that saved victims from ransom demands totaling millions of dollars (see: LockBit and Evil Corp Targeted in Anti-Ransomware Crackdown).

The criminal division will lead efforts to develop laws governing the use of judicial authorities to disrupt cyber threats and “advance a victim-centered approach” by providing ransomware decryption tools to victims “as soon as possible and before investigations and prosecutions are concluded.”

The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section is responsible under the new strategy for developing the department’s intellectual property enforcement approach and for collaborating with the FBI and international partners to dismantle criminal underground. The strategy calls for improved international and public-private partnerships to fight cybercrime, including the strengthening of CCIPS’ cyber operations international liaison, which focuses on identifying and expanding opportunities for globally coordinated efforts to disrupt cybercrime.

The approach tasks CCIPS with further addressing national cybersecurity and cybercrime through improved public education and information sharing campaigns. The department’s cybercrime site says the division has already spearheaded efforts to address emerging technologies and the misuse of tools like artificial intelligence to facilitate cybercrime, prevent fraud and enhance investigative capabilities.

Justice also released a fact sheet Wednesday detailing key actions taken against major ransomware groups, such as seizing LockBit’s infrastructure and charging its alleged creator, Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, along with a successful disruption campaign against the REvil group that led to a 13-year prison sentence for a key member (see: LockBit Infrastructure Seized by US, UK Police). The department also said it developed critical decryption tools that saved victims of AlphV/BlackCat from $68 million in ransom demands while also conducting operations against Conti, NetWalker, and Hive, which collectively prevented millions in ransom payments and secured multiple convictions.

“While we are proud of these successes, we know our work is not done,” Argentieri said. “We remain especially vigilant about the next generation of technology that criminals are employing to commit cybercrime.”

“Bad actors are already exploiting AI for criminal purposes,” she added.