Obama Justice pick Lynch has cybersecurity background

President Obama’s nominee to succeed Attorney General Eric Holder has focused much of her career on cybersecurity.

Loretta Lynch, a federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, successfully prosecuted eight members of a cyber crime organization in New York City.

“A massive 21st century bank heist,” Lynch called it when announcing the indictment.

{mosads}During two separate incidents, the group allegedly hacked into bank accounts, then hit up ATMs across New York, withdrawing $2.8 million dollars in a matter of hours.

The two thefts were coordinated across the world. In total, the thieves hit two dozen countries, making tens of thousands of ATM transactions and stealing roughly $45 million in cash.

“In the place of guns and masks, this cybercrime organization used laptops and the Internet,” Lynch said.

The Department of Justice credits Lynch with adding cybersecurity to the Eastern District’s purview, and Obama highlighted her cybercrime bonafides when he formally announced her nomination on Saturday.

Lynch “has spent years in the trenches as a prosecutor, aggressively fighting terrorism, financial fraud, cyber crime, all while vigorously defending civil rights,” Obama said. 

If confirmed, Lynch will take over an agency that has played an important role in cybersecurity. The DOJ earlier this year indicted five members of the Chinese military for hacking, a decision that strained U.S.-China relations but sent a signal to Beijing about U.S. seriousness on the issue.