FBI sets up a Virtual Assets Unit to stop cyber crime

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced the setup of a Virtual Assets Unit (VAU), whose aim will track illicit funds, connecting cyber crime to threat actors and blocking their cyber activities, as soon as they are found.

VAU will have a team of experts who will provide analysis, support and training to the Law enforcement agencies in dealing with cyber crime such as ransomware attacks, hate crime, child abuse, and all matters related to digital crime such as fraudulent transfer of funds and such.

Actually, the Virtual Assets Unit became instrumental in February this year and was recently asked by Financial Crime Section of Criminal Investigative Division to lead.

In recent times, Virtual Currency is being used by many cyber criminals to spread malware, raise funds for terrorist organizations and by countries who are pressed with economic and trade sanctions.

Hence, a dedicated team of experts from FBI will now on keep a track of all crimes involving virtual currency.

Are the adversary nations like Russia, China, and North Korea keeping a track of such developments because they are acting as safe harbors to most cyber criminals like REvil, and Advanced Persistent Threat groups like Fancy Bear, Lazarus, Machete, Elfin, Mythic Leopard, Dynamite Panda, Charming Kitten, OceanLotus…etc.

In the past few years, the usage of cryptocurrency has increased too many folds in the global financial system. And Joe Biden seems to have understood the value of it and asked FBI to set up a team of VAU to track down crimes taking place in the virtual world.

 

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Naveen Goud
Naveen Goud is a writer at Cybersecurity Insiders covering topics such as Mergers & Acquisitions, Startups, Cyber Attacks, Cloud Security and Mobile Security

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