14 DAY TRIAL // Last month, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Director Robber Mueller highlighted during a Senate hearing the risks posed by cyberattacks to the country’s national security.
Because each year millions of computers belonging to both consumers and companies are affected by cyber threats, the agency is determined to do something about it.
Over the past year, the FBI has focused a lot of its resources on enhancing its capabilities to investigate cyberattacks.
For instance, investigators who work in the field can have their findings analyzed by the Cyber Division’s Cyber Watch command. This way, similarities in cases can be almost immediately identified.
Information sharing among agencies is also important, so the FBI is collaborating on a permanent basis with both the Department of Defense and Homeland Security and the National Security Agency (NSA).
Executive Assistant Director of the Bureau’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch Richard McFeely highlights the fact that the most important fact in an investigation is “the attribution piece.”
The Next Generation Cyber Initiative’s main objective is to gain the ability to define this attribution piece – represented by the identity of the attackers and their motives – as quickly as possible.
“In order to get to that, we’ve got to do all the necessary analysis to determine who is at the other end of the keyboard perpetrating these actions,” McFeely explained.
As expected, the fact that terrorists might be utilizing the Internet to commit their crimes is a major concern.
“We are obviously concerned with terrorists using the Internet to conduct these types of attacks. As the lead domestic intelligence agency within the United States, it’s our job to make sure that businesses’ and the nation’s secrets don’t fall into the hands of adversaries,” he added.