FINAL WORD: COMPUTER FORENSIC NEEDS AND CHALLENGES

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Reporting of economic and cyber crime is problematic and grossly underestimated, as is apparent from the many risks associated with corporations in reporting or sharing fraud losses and activity. A uniform computer forensics crime reporting system should be developed that includes specific economic crimes.

The Fraud Identification Codes established by the National Fraud Center are a start. Until such a means of a computer forensics crime-reporting system is implemented and the stigma of fraud victimization is removed, this problem will not be solved. Uniform and thorough reporting is necessary in the war on economic and cyber crime; resources for computer forensics investigation and prosecution will naturally follow as the enormity of the problem unfolds.

The lack of agreed-on definitions regarding economic crime and computer crime has resulted in a paucity of data and information on the size and scope of the problem. Academics have not been able to agree on definitions and have, for the most part, continued to focus on white-collar crime.

Economic crime is defined as an illegal act (or a constantly evolving set of acts) generally committed by deception or misrepresentation (fraud) by someone (or a group) that has special professional or technical skills for the purposes of personal or organizational financial gain or to gain (or attempt to gain) an unfair advantage over another individual or entity. To this day, the true nature of the amount of economic crime is buried in the statistics of more conventional crimes. For example, credit-card fraud is typically classified as a larceny instead of access-device fraud.

Preventing, detecting, investigating, and prosecuting economic crimes must become a priority in order to lessen their impact on the economy and the public’s confidence. Law enforcement, as it stands now, is in danger of slipping further behind the highly sophisticated criminals. New resources, support for existing organizations (The National Fraud Center, The National White Collar Crime Center, the IFC, and The Economic Crime Investigation Institute), and innovative computer forensics solutions are needed to control this growing problem in the United States and the world.

These computer forensics needs and challenges can be accomplished only with the cooperation of the private, public, and international sectors. All stakeholders must be more willing to exchange information on the effect economic and cyber crime has on them and the methods they are using to detect and prevent it.

No single sector holds all the computer forensics resources, tools, or solutions. In fact, industry has more resources than government, but it must be motivated and authorized to partner and communicate. All parties must be willing to work together to effect change in existing laws and regulations and to promulgate new initiatives. The “victims” need to follow the lead of the “criminals” and organize themselves, so that the organized “bad guys” are not operating in a lawless environment, where culpability is at a minimum.

The United States must take the lead. Current and future administrations must recognize the full impact of economic and cyber crime, both domestically and globally, and make a concerted, strategic effort to combat it, for the benefit of all society.

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