Brett Leatherman has been appointed the assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, succeeding Brian Vorndran. Leatherman, a veteran FBI official, has a strong focus on countering cyber threats from nation-states and criminal organizations. In his remarks, he expressed optimism about the resilience of private industry and the progress of public-private partnerships in cybersecurity. He emphasized the need for skilled cyber personnel in the FBI to address diverse threats, including terrorism and cybercrime, and discussed the overarching goal to make malicious cyber activities unviable through robust engagement and disruption tactics.
At the time, the FBI recognized there was a significant need to shift their hiring practices to really focus on people with cyber skill sets, because it wasn't just about cybercrime, but also terrorism, counter intelligence and criminal investigations. We needed agents who had more of a technical discipline to help with that.
I'm feeling better about resilience overall in private industry. We're not there yet, but the relationships that we have built with the private sector ... to move the needle when it comes to deterrence through defense.
Our charge is simple but not easy: make malicious cyber activity unsustainable. That means disrupting criminal and nation-state actors, sharing intelligence that helps victims defend and recover, and shaping the broader operating environment through persistent engagement.
Chinese government hacking groups and ransomware gangs continue to keep me up at night.
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