U.S. D.O.J calls on the FBI to develop a strategy to combat Dark web crimes"

[Cordillerabit]

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the State Department of Justice (DOJ) released a 58-page report on Thursday (12/17) , proposing to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to crack down on the dark web. ) Strategies and improvement suggestions for illegal activities.

The "dark web" is a part of the Internet, which cannot be accessed via a normal web browser, but requires specific software, hardware configuration or authorization. Although OIG understands that many users use the dark web for legitimate purposes, due to its anonymity, the dark web is often used for criminal activities, including drug trafficking, guns, weapons of mass destruction, child sexual violence, and malicious software. .

However, OIG found that the FBI has not yet drafted an overall policy of "department level" for dark web issues, and only relies on its operating departments to implement their own independent investigation strategies and the development and acquisition of tracking tools. The report states:

Our conclusion is to establish a coordinated dark web disposal method within the FBI to strengthen the benefits of previously dispersed work.

This approach can not only clarify the investigation responsibilities between operating units; it will bring more effective and cost-effective investigation tool development and acquisition channels; ensure strategic continuity during the operation period; it can also provide a set of benchmark data collection guidelines, which will help Improve the reporting quality of dark web governance results at FBI.

In addition, OIG specifically emphasized its concerns about "investigation tool development and purchase" and "cryptocurrency" in the press release.

From 2012 to 2017, the FBI had a dedicated unit that presided over the development and deployment of technical tools for dark web investigations. However, due to budget shrinking and work focus adjustments recently, the resources of this department have been greatly reduced, so now each unit of the FBI must allocate budgets to the development of related investigation tools.

OIG believes that this leads to inefficiency in case handling because these scattered units have to redistribute their already very limited resources to tool development, and the establishment of an integrated investigation strategy will reinforce this deficiency.

Source: Bityard