Watchdog: U.S. faces challenges tracking cybercrime

WASHINGTON — Cybercrime costs the country billions of dollars and threatens public safety, and the federal government faces challenges in how it keeps track of these crimes, according to a new government watchdog report.

The Government Accountability Office spent more than a year studying the issue for this report.

“With the society’s reliance on the internet for personal business, financial business and government business, it is becoming increasingly easy to commit these cybercrimes,” explained Marisol Cruz Cain, who studies government-wide cybercrime issues, privacy issues, information management issues for the Government Accountability Office. “There’s a lot at stake here with these cybercrimes.”

The GAO included an example from the U.S. Marshals Service. In February, it reported the agency was the victim of a ransomware attack. The computer system hacked did not include personal details about people in witness protection, but the report says the attackers did get away with sensitive files, which included information about investigative targets.

Now, the GAO has determined the country lacks a standard definition of cybercrime and comprehensive monitoring. The concerns mean the data isn’t consistently tracked and likely underreported.

“People can define it differently, collect it differently, report on it differently and it makes it really difficult to measure the aspects of the cybercrimes,” Cruz Cain said.

Watchdogs believe that leaves us less prepared to combat these offenses.

“If you have data that you can’t compare to each other, there’s no real way to look into trends or to understand the impact, or even to create new initiatives to combat the crime,” Cruz Cain added.

The multiple agencies that deal with cybercrime told the GAO because of their different missions, it is going to be very difficult to come up with a shared definition. Unlike most reports, this one does not include recommendations or solutions.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

©2023 Cox Media Group