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![1105 Media [purity]](/images/ds1_pntmlogo.gif "1105 Media [purity]") |
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home > March/April 2007 issue > article
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| Rick Steele |
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| Michael S. Milner |
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Virtual community policing
By Michael S. Milner
Special to Defense Systems
SIR ROBERT PEEL, who established the London Metropolitan
Police in 1829, is widely considered to be
the father of modern policing, and his operating tenets
formed the foundation for what we now call community
policing. The Army Criminal Investigation Command’s
(CID) Computer Crime Investigative Unit (CCIU) — the
Army’s Center of Excellence for computer crime investigation
— is applying the community policing model to the increasingly
pervasive problem of cybercrime.
Community policing is a collaboration between the police
and the community that identifies and solves community problems.
As a microcosm of U.S. society, the Army, its personnel
and their family members experience many of the same cybercrime
issues that affect the rest of the country, including computer
intrusions, denial-of-service attacks, viruses and worms,
phishing, identity theft, cyberstalking and online child exploitation. In an effort to promote community partnerships in the fight against cybercrime, the CCIU reaches out to the Army’s network
defenders and Army family members.
The CCIU has special agents who serve as liaison officers
with the Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations and
the Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command, Computer
Emergency Response Team and Regional Computer
Emergency Response Teams. Much like patrol officers who
walk a beat in their communities, these special agents spend
time interacting with the network defenders, listening to their
needs and concerns and providing law enforcement services
tailored to each beat.
By helping educate Army family members about Internet
safety, CID’s Cyber Lookout initiative represents
another way that the CCIU promotes community
partnerships. The National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, McGruff the Crime Dog and
the Federal Trade Commission already have wellestablished
Internet safety campaigns. So instead
of trying to reinvent the wheel, Cyber Lookout
helps get this information to Army family members
through the CCIU Web site and presentations
in Army communities.
In addition, the CCIU site provides a Web portal
for reporting suspicious Internet activities, and
the resulting investigative leads go to CID units
worldwide. CID special agents at those field locations
work closely with international, federal, state
and local law enforcement agencies to investigate
cybercrimes involving Army personnel and family
members.
In terms of problem solving, the CCIU focuses
on crime prevention as a way to minimize the risk
of computer intrusions and related malicious activities.
The CCIU’s Computer Crime Vulnerability
Assessment (CCVA) program identifies crime-conducive
conditions involving Army networks and mandates
appropriate corrective measures.
The community policing problem-solving process
starts with the trust created through community
partnerships and uses the ongoing information
exchange to identify problems, solve those problems
and reinforce trust. The CCVA program typifies
that approach by proactively identifying and
solving problems before they lead to network compromises.
It is a win-win situation for everyone —
the network defenders succeed in safeguarding the
Army’s critical information infrastructure, and the
CCIU succeeds in deterring serious cybercrime.
Almost two centuries removed from Sir Robert
Peel’s fledgling community policing efforts, the
CCIU’s digital detectives are using community partnerships
and proactive problem solving to protect
the Army’s networks and virtual neighborhoods.
Supervisory Special Agent Michael S. Milner is
director of the Computer Crime Investigative Unit.
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