United States Attorney General Bill Barr sent a memo this week to all U.S. Attorneys. The memo had two key messages:
1. Be proactive to protect the health of those working in or called to appear before the courts.
2. Go after those who are using cyberspace to profit from COVID-19 or committing coronavirus related cybercrime.
What the U.S. Attorney General wrote about coronavirus cybercrime
Here is the Attorney General, in his own words:
"In addition to ensuring that the justice system can continue functioning during the current national crisis, it is essential that the Department of Justice remain vigilant in detecting, investigating and prosecuting wrongdoing related to the crisis.
In particular, there have been reports of individuals and businesses selling fake cures for COVID-19 online and engaging in other forms of fraud, reports of phishing emails from entities posing as the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and reports of malware being inserted onto mobile apps designed to track the spread of the virus.
The pandemic is dangerous enough without wrongdoers seeing to profit from public panic and this sort of conduct cannot be tolerated. Every U.S. Attorney's Office is thus hereby directed to prioritize the detection, investigation, and prosecution of all criminal conduct related to the current pandemic."
