FBI Director Robert Mueller Talks Cybersecurity: 'We Must Find A Way To Stop The Bleeding'

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The director of the FBI told an annual gathering of cyber-security professionals on Thursday that the agency needs the private sector to help combat what he believes is becoming the nation's No. 1 threat.

FBI Director Robert Mueller reiterated his testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in January that cyber-threats would surpass terrorism as the country's top concern.

'We are losing data, we are losing money, we are losing ideas and we are losing innovation," Mueller said at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. "Together we must find a way to stop the bleeding."

The dangers posed by organized cyber-crime, rogue hacktivists and computer breaches backed by foreign governments have become a focus for the FBI.

Counterterrorism is still the agency's top priority, but the agency has retooled to prepare for Internet-based aggressors, Mueller said. Cyber-squads in every FBI field office now monitor for crimes ranging from mortgage and health care fraud to child exploitation and terror recruiting, he said.

Mueller's comments came as federal agencies and lawmakers wrangle over who should take the lead in defending against the digital enemies that have become a major talking point for national security officials this year.

The rising interest in cyber-defense could mean good business for many in the audience for Mueller's speech. The director said private companies often are the first to see cyber-threats emerge.

Mueller also sought to reassure businesses that fear the bad publicity they might face if they report to law enforcement that they were the victims of a cyber-attack. He said the agency would respect companies' privacy and work not to disrupt their daily operations.

"We do not want you to feel victimized a second time by one of our investigations," he said.

Mueller said the time would soon come when no company could boast it was immune from digital incursions: "There are only two types of companies: Those that have been hacked, and those that will be."

Comments

[Cinque McfarlaneBlake]

07:44 AM on 03/03/2012

The government is alienating the people they hope to attract to work for them. And now they want companies to help them? hahaha companies make more money by not helping them, and so do their workers :P

[StevenGasws]

07:15 AM on 03/03/2012

Maybe its time to look why they are hacking and what these "leaders" are doing that they need to hide so much? These people are hacking for the freedom of the people from the grasps of tyranny.
A goverment who governs least governs best, our goverments are meant to respresent the people and be of the people, they are not put into power to manipulate and police citizens. Our "leaders" are driven by greed and nothing less and these hackers are trying to expose this to the brainwashed people of America who are lied to constantly in their media, they are just pawns of propaganda and its good to have organisations of free thinkers who can envisage the world living in peace and having enough for all and realise the elites and corporations own america and can see where we are headed. This is why there is a panic to shut them down! The elite don't want anything threatening their financial grip on the planet.

[mrJJ]

11:20 PM on 03/02/2012

Convet some black hats...besides the white hats already on the payroll.

[anthonytaurus]

04:19 PM on 03/02/2012

First of all, start by looking in your organization. The greatest security threats aren't the people outside of the company but the ones in the cubicle next to you. That includes people who are just naturally insecure and those who are basically moles in your organization.

Consider this: Do you need a hacker to hack a movie studio for a new movie or someone who already has access to the movie? I mean, that IS how I ended up downloading a copy of Wolverine movie. Most of the movie was great until I got to the part where Sabretooth is looking through a window. Then it says in bright red text.. "Claws grow here".

I would bet that's exactly how a good portion of data is leaked.

[PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS]

10:59 AM on 03/02/2012

Easy solution to a good portion of data theft. Today we learned NASAs codes for the space station were on laptops which were stolen..............Why would any data reside on any device? Using a cloud based server where data resides in an enctypted enviroment which can only be accesed by thin clients or "dumb servers" (very appropriate title) would make individual devices absolutly worthless to thieves..............................

[iamwired]

03:31 PM on 03/02/2012

I agree. For NASA to be hacked 13 times, and it leading to a stolen laptop with ISS codes on it, tell me the NASA chief needs to be fired. This should have never gotten to this point. But that is also the nature of many of business' in the US today. Old thinking in a new age. Old and not upgraded hardware and software.

[iamwired]

09:34 AM on 03/02/2012

And just like that, thanks to idiot "hacktivists", we will be government regulated on the web.

But, like I said in the past, these same fool hackers make my life better since I am an IT person. Job security. Unfortunately for them they force me to be on the side of the Gov.