By Karen Dearne -
THE US Federal Bureau of Intelligence will create an intellectual property rights database to help defend commercial assets as part of its strategic plan for 2004-09.
Over the next five years, the FBI's cyber division will "focus on theft of proprietary information, particularly computer software" to counteract threats to "US competitiveness and economic viability".
US copyright industries and derivative businesses account for more than $US433 billion ($618 billion), or almost 6 per cent of the nation's economy, according to the document.
The FBI will co-ordinate with federal, state and industry partners to develop the IP rights intelligence database.
It will crack down on theft of trade secrets, which it says represent "as much as 85 per cent of a company's value".
The "mobility" of trade secrets makes them "one of the country's most vulnerable economic assets".
As part of its fight against cyber-crime and terrorism, the FBI plans also to build its capacity to identify and neutralise hackers and virus writers.
The document says the US's vulnerability is growing as the economy and critical infrastructures become more reliant on interdependent computer networks and the internet.
Large-scale computer attacks could have "devastating results", it says.
Threats to national security and traditional crime that has migrated to the web involve "intrusions, illicit file sharing and illegal use of cyber tools" by perpetrators.
"Domestic and foreign terrorist organisations, foreign intelligence and criminal enterprises are increasingly using encryption technology to secure their communications and to exercise command and control over operations and people without fear of surveillance," it says.
"The FBI must be able to identify and penetrate these organisations and agents."
Electronic surveillance "of criminals, and foreign powers and terrorists, has proven to be one of the most effective tools of the US Government" it says.
"The FBI must enhance its collective capacity to expeditiously identify, understand and take appropriate action."
In support of these efforts, it will develop and use "tools that enable investigators and analysts to triage collected data, permitting them to crystallise actionable intelligence from an ocean of information".
Keeping abreast of advancing technologies is also critical.
The growing number of internet users, consumer demand for broadband technologies, "the mobility associated with wireless networks and systems that converge voice communications and internet access" require "constant vigilance".
The number of broadband households in the US is growing at about 100 per cent annually - to an estimated 34.7 million by the end of 2004," it says.
This take-up increases by about 50 per cent the volume of material to be looked at and, as a result, "the volume of data intercepts and potential evidence also increases".
Stronger, more user-friendly data protection systems also pose problems for the FBI.
"We must expand our efforts to make critical technology leaps" in areas such as computer-based evidence, facial recognition, audio, visual and imaging forensics, tactical operations and surveillance.
Source: Australian IT
