January 5, 2024 at 02:31PM
The FBI is expanding cyber-related positions in American embassies, adding six new positions in Brasilia, New Delhi, and Rome. The move aims to enhance coordinated international law enforcement actions to combat cybercrime. This underscores the FBI and Justice Department’s heightened focus on actively disrupting criminal threat actors and reducing ransom payments.
Based on the meeting notes, the FBI is enhancing its global cybercrime combatting efforts by adding six new cyber assistant legal attaché positions to American embassies. These positions will be located in Brasilia, New Delhi, and Rome, bringing the total number of cyber-related FBI agents in American embassies up to 22, which represents a 40% increase in cyber assistant legal attachés globally. The program aims to strengthen coordinated international law enforcement actions, as explained by Brian Abellera, an FBI cyber assistant legal attaché stationed in Ottawa. The initiative reflects the growing focus of the FBI and Justice Department on actively countering cybercrime, with an emphasis on disrupting the work of criminal threat actors, reducing ransom payments, and targeting criminal acts as they occur. This effort is particularly important in light of the challenges associated with coordinating and investigating international threat actors.