Threat Management

Senator Boxer prods DoJ to step up efforts to track sextortion crimes

On the heels of a disturbing Brookings Institution report that shed new light on sextortion cybercrimes, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) yesterday sent a letter to the Department of Justice, asking the agency to disclose its efforts to track and study this particular breed of criminal offense.

"While the attacks may be virtual, the damage is not. These experiences can have traumatic, lifelong psychological consequences," Boxer wrote in the letter, addressed to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “However, since specific data is not collected by any federal entity on online sexual extortion, the full extent of this crime is largely unknown.”

In its report, the Brookings Institution said that it identified via public records 78 recent cases of online sextortion involving at least 1,397 victims, although the true number of victims likely ranged between 3,000 and 6,500.

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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