  The DAMIC (Dark Matter in CCDs) experiment uses high resistivity, scientific
grade CCDs to search for dark matter. The CCD's low electronic noise allows an
unprecedently low energy threshold of a few tens of eV that make it possible to
detect silicon recoils resulting from interactions of low mass WIMPs. In
addition the CCD's high spatial resolution and the excellent energy response
results in very effective background identification techniques. The experiment
has a unique sensitivity to dark matter particles with masses below 10
GeV/c$^2$. Previous results have demonstrated the potential of this technology,
motivating the construction of DAMIC100, a 100 grams silicon target detector
currently being installed at SNOLAB. In this contribution, the mode of
operation and unique imaging capabilities of the CCDs, and how they may be
exploited to characterize and suppress backgrounds will be discussed, as well
as physics results after one year of data taking.
