Obama Admin Wants to Charge Hackers With RICO


The Obama administration is working to toughen sentences for those convicted of hacking or other digital offenses, reports The Hill.

Maximum sentences for cyber crimes are not in sync with the damage and threats posed by some hackers, agree both Associate Deputy Attorney General James Baker and Secret Service Deputy Special Agent in Charge Pablo Martinez, in the article.

Martinez said hackers are often members of sophisticated criminal networks. Read: The Mafia.

"Secret Service investigations have shown that complex and sophisticated electronic crimes are rarely perpetrated by a lone individual," Martinez said in the story.

"Online criminals organize in networks, often with defined roles for participants, in order to manage and perpetuate ongoing criminal enterprises dedicated to stealing commercial data and selling it for profit," he said.

"Hackers are often members of sophisticated criminal networks. Read: The Mafia."

Baker and Martinez appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to the White House's cybersecurity legislative proposal touting the need for "stiffer penalties for cyber crimes as part of an update to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA),"  The Hill writes.



The RICO Act "should be updated to make CFAA offenses subject to its terms," is the Obama administrations stance in this issue.

Hacking has quickly become the primary means for stealing identities, as well as implementing extortion and corporate espionage, Baker says in the report.

Based in this article, it appears the American Mafia has done a good job at hiding its hand -- or it has not dipped its beak too deep into this crime. Baker says: "Many of these criminal organizations are similarly tied to traditional Asian and Eastern European organized crime organizations."

Read the complete article: Obama administration seeking tougher penalties for cybercrimes like hacking - The Hill's Hillicon Valley.






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