USA PATRIOT Act, Title VIII - Cyberterrorism & Cybersecurity

Cyberterrorism & Cybersecurity

Several aspects of cyberterrorism are dealt with in title VIII. Under section 814 of the Patriot Act, it is clarified that punishments apply to those who either damage or gain unauthorized access to a protected computer and thus causes a person an aggregate loss greater than $5,000; adverseley affects someone's medical examination, diagnosis or treatment; causes a person to be injured; causes a threat to public health or safety; or causes damage to a governmental computer that is used as a tool to administer justice, national defense, or national security. It is only through these specific actions that civil action may be taken against an offender. Section 814 also prohibits any extortion via a protected computer, and not just extortion against a "firm, association, educational institution, financial institution, government entity, or other legal entity". Punishments were expanded to include attempted illegal use or access of protected computers. The punishment for attempting to damage protected computers through the use of viruses or other software mechanism is now imprisonment for not more than 10 years, while the punishment for unauthorized access and subsequent damage to a protected computer is now more than 5 years imprisonment. Should the offense occur a second time, the penalty increases to no more than 20 years imprisonment. The Federal sentencing guidelines were amended to allow any individual convicted of computer fraud and abuse to be subjected to appropriate penalties, without regard to any mandatory minimum term of imprisonment.

Section 816 specifies the development and support of cybersecurity forensic capabilities. It directs the Attorney General to establish regional computer forensic laboratories that have the capability of performing forensic examinations of intercepted computer evidence relating to criminal activity and cyberterrorism, and that have the capability of training and educating Federal, State, and local law enforcement personnel and prosecutors in computer crime, and to "facilitate and promote the sharing of Federal law enforcement expertise and information about the investigation, analysis, and prosecution of computer-related crime with State and local law enforcement personnel and prosecutors, including the use of multijurisdictional task forces". US$50,000,000 was authorized for establishing such labs.