DOJ Forms Crypto Enforcement Team To Battle Cybercrime And Support AML
DOJ has launched a new crypto enforcement team, in order to fight cybercrime and support anti-money laundering efforts.
According to a Reuters report, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has formed an enforcement effort which will operate as the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. It will involve both anti-money laundering and cybersecurity experts.
During a virtual speech at the Aspen Cyber Summit, the U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on Wednesday 6 October 2021, announced the new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, whose goal will be to “strengthen” the Justice Department’s ability to disable financial markets that allow cybercriminals to “flourish.”
The group will include a mix of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity experts, and will engage with cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrency projects. It will also target attackers that carry out ransomware campaigns—attacks that hold data hostage and demand crypto payment in return.
It will also target government contractors that do not follow security standards or fail to report security breaches.
Monaco drew attention to the fact that cryptocurrency exchanges “want to be the banks of the future,” necessitating a way to hold those exchanges accountable and protect customers:
“Cryptocurrency exchanges want to be the banks of the future, well we need to make sure that folks can have confidence when they’re using these systems and we need to be poised to root out abuse. The point is to protect consumers.”
Cybercriminals that attack U.S. companies with ransomware, a type of malware that encrypts systems and demands payment, are typically paid in cryptocurrency. The hackers often use a mix of different cryptocurrency services to accept and transfer these payments, helping hide them from law enforcement.
She also said that companies have often “chosen silence” because they believe that it is “less risky to hide a breach than to bring it forward.” The new enforcement effort aims to prevent this.
The DOJ is cracking down on cyber criminals, especially those who using cryptocurrency. Monaco referenced the government agency’s latest success in convicting Larry Harmon, an Ohio man who spent years running a Bitcoin mixer, a tool that helps obfuscate the source of BTC funds.
Harmon in August pleaded guilty to money laundering charges via the service he ran, which scrambled the origins of crypto transactions so law enforcement couldn’t trace them.
