Brasília – The growth of the Brazilian economy may lead to a change in profile of crimes committed via the internet against the country’s financial institutions. Similar to what is already taking place with North American banks, Brazil may become a target for cybercriminals from Eastern Europe. The warning was issued by the acting head of the Cyber Crime Division at the FBI (the United States Federal Police), James Harris.
“Brazilian economy is growing more than the rest of the world, and it will surely attract the same types of criminals who attack the financial institutions of the United States. Most of these criminals live in Eastern Europe, to where the money stolen from the United States banks via the internet is taken,” the FBI agent told Agência Brasil in an exclusive interview.
He explains that most of the crimes investigated by the Brazilian police involve acts committed in the country. “This is one of the differences between the investigations of the FBI and of the Brazilian Federal Police [PF]. Whereas here in Brazil the criminals investigated are on national territory, the criminals investigated by the FBI usually commit their crimes from other countries.”
To Harris, the PF is perfectly capable of fighting these criminals. “The training given to Brazilian federal policemen is quite similar to the one that FBI agents receive. I have been coming to Brazil for over 15 years now, and I can safely say that the training, the courses, techniques and technologies are very akin to the ones we use in the US,” he stated.
The fact that there are Brazilian hackers among the world’s best also end up making the PF better prepared to deal with criminals from Eastern Europe. “I was very impressed with what I have seen Brazilian hackers do” he added.
He also praised the way in which the PF shares its information, both internally – among different investigational areas – and externally, with other organizations.
“The interaction between different fields of investigation in Brazil seems to be quite efficient, with policemen focusing on the investigation as a whole, from the technological aspects pertaining to the breaking into a system, to the path that the money travels to arrive at the criminals’ hands. This requires for technology and finance specialists to be very much in tune.”
For international level investigations, the FBI and the PF are working in tandem more and more efficiently. “Presently, it is possible to reduce red tape between the two organizations, mostly as a result of summits such as the ICCyber [a conference on e-crime held last week in the Brazilian capital Brasília].”
The information was confirmed by the head of the Computer Investigation Service, federal criminal investigator Marcos Vinícius Lima, of the National Crime Institute.
“Investigations involving technology must be carried out more quickly and objectively each time. They often involve transnational criminal acts, therefore they require rapid, red tape-free communication with organizations in other countries, and that has in fact been taking place between the PF and the FBI,” the investigator told Agência Brasil.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
