From Aram Roston, Defense News:  In an intriguing push against the ever-increasing number of foreign-governments sponsored cyber attacks against U.S. companies, the U.S. Department of Justice intends to turn to its roots with an old-fashioned tactic that has worked against the mafia, drug traffickers and white collar crime: criminal prosecutions. . . .

The Justice Department recently stood up a little-noticed program under its National Security Division, called the National Security Cyber Specialist, or NSCS, network. It’s pronounced “niscus” and it brings the department into a relatively new arena. . . .

The Justice Department initiative, [John] Carlin [principal deputy assistant Attorney General in Justice’s national security division] said, will be multifaceted. More then 100 prosecutors are being specially trained. They’ll get more involved in each agency’s efforts.

“NSA, we have some oversight function on them but they are our client when we go in front of the foreign intelligence surveillance court,” Carlin said.

And for the FBI, he said, the DOJ will ask investigators to start looking for cases they can bring to court — something where they can finally take legal action, rather then just follow cyber leads, as they’ve been doing. . . .

Carlin said the DOJ could actually name the government behind the operation, or officials in that government. . . .

Foreign government officials can, theoretically, be indicted, or simply named in an indictment, which itself could be punitive. Carlin points out that indicting foreign officials isn’t unheard of. In 2011 an Iranian Al Qods official was charged with conspiring to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the U.S. That doesn’t mean there’s an expectation that he’ll ever be brought to court. (graphic:  AFP)

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