The FBI is Now On Point

Have You Ever Wondered Who Companies Are Supposed to Contact if Hacked? Here it is, The FBI.

But Can the FBI Really Meet This Need?

The Obama Administration announced this week that the FBI is now on point for cyberattacks. If your clients have ever been hit, you know it’s hard to figure out when and how to get someone to help figure out what’s going on. This directive clarifies it.

This new directive states that, “The Department of Homeland Security will coordinate help for victims, including helping companies find adversaries on their corporate networks, and The federal Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center will lead the synthesis of knowledge about attacks as they develop and is to take the lead in finding ways to disrupt attacks.” WSJ

Of course, there are far too many incidents happening every day for this to actually work. So reading between the lines, I think they’re talking about the Home Depots and JP Morgans of the world. Not your average client. The FBI goes on to say, “The scale of our response will be based on an assessment of the risks posed by a cyber incident.” So if it’s not a national threat to the economy or public safety, it probably doesn’t apply.

Right now I would guess they have their hands tied with the recent Democratic National Committee email breach (pinned on Russia, but of course they deny it.)