Sessions creates cybersecurity task force

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice is creating a task force to evaluate cybersecurity issues, in particular efforts to undermine U.S. elections, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday.

"The Internet has given us amazing new tools that help us work, communicate, and participate in our economy, but these tools can also be exploited by criminals, terrorists, and enemy governments," the attorney general said. "At the Department of Justice, we take these threats seriously. That is why today I am ordering the creation of a Cyber-Digital Task Force to advise me on the most effective ways that this Department can confront these threats and keep the American people safe."

Sessions said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would appoint a department official to head up the task force. Representatives from multiple Justice Department offices were expected to take part, including from the Criminal Division, the National Security Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office, FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.

The announcement came less than a week after special counsel Robert Mueller's team announced an indictment accusing 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations of using fake social media accounts to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.