CID unit wins technology award - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

CID unit wins technology award

A specialized unit from Army Criminal Investigation Command’s 701st Military Police Group and one of its special agents recently were recognized for their contributions to the investigation of computer crimes and forensic science.

The 701st’s Computer Crime Investigative Unit, the Army’s sole entity for conducting criminal investigations of malicious activity and intrusions targeting Army computer networks, won this year’s International Association of Chiefs of Police Excellence in Technology Award in the “Response to Computer Related Crime” category.

CID officials announced the award in a press release Aug. 7.

The award recognizes an innovative or highly effective approach to computer-related crime, including programs and case-specific achievements by an agency, organization or collaborative efforts.

“We were very surprised to get this amount of recognition,” Special Agent Michael Milner, director of the Computer Crime Investigative Unit, said in a statement. “It truly is an honor for our agents to be recognized on a worldwide level for all the hard work they are doing.”

The Computer Crime Investigative Unit has personnel at Fort Belvoir, Va., and Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

Milner added that the people responsible for the award are the unit’s forensic team, led by Special Agent David Shaver.

Shaver, who worked to develop the Rapid Extraction and Analysis Program, or REAP, also was selected as this year’s August Vollmer Excellence in Forensic Science Award winner for his contributions to the field of forensic science. The Vollmer award honors the proactive and innovative use of forensic technologies by law enforcement personnel.

“As the number of intrusions has grown exponentially over the last few years, and our staffing challenges prevent our agents from physically responding to every cyber incident, we needed a solution to help,” Milner said. “The REAP program is that solution.”

The REAP program allows personnel who are not in the Computer Crime Investigative Unit to use Army computer platforms to preserve and collect digital evidence following computer intrusions, expedite critical threat information to network defenders and analyze malicious software.

After the program completes its tasks, the collected digital evidence is sent to the experts at Fort Belvoir or Fort Huachuca for review. They then determine if the incident is serious enough to warrant sending a team for further investigation.

Milner said that the REAP program is so effective that it has been funded for further development so that it can be shared with any federal agency.