Cyber and Cyber-Enabled Crimes Requiring Enhanced Coordination and Deconfliction

Due to the nature of certain threats in cyber space, some cyber and cyber-enabled crimes require enhanced coordination and deconfliction requirements, as described in Section

9-51.101

. These include investigations into cyber and cyber-enabled crimes where:

a computer or network is the target of criminal action (

e.g.,

computer intrusions, large-scale breaches, damage to computer, ransomware and digital extortation, botnets, and denial of service attacks); or

online platforms or digital assets are central to the commission of the offense (

e.g.

, investigations of bulletproof hosting, counter antivirus services, and darknet or online criminal markets; investigations into criminal digital asset exchanges, mixers, tumblers, stablecoin or token issuers, or other decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms (including instances in which the provider or platform is a target of, or a victim in, the investigation); significant crimes targeting digital asset service providers or other DeFi platforms; and significant digital asset theft and fraud schemes).

By contrast, Section

9-51.101

does not apply to the investigation of child exploitation crimes, crimes where criminals primarily use online technology as a means of communication or coordination (

e.g.

, drug trafficking organizations or gangs that use social media accounts), or internet-enabled fraud crimes that lack an above-described digital asset nexus or a known computer intrusion (

e.g.

, business email compromises (BECs) not known to result from a larger network intrusion).

[added August 2023]