SAN FRANCISCO – The FBI San Francisco is announcing an awareness campaign aimed at alerting the private industry to an increase in malicious cyber intrusions into organizations of all sizes. The San Francisco Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, remains a highly targeted environment for cyberattacks. The FBI encourages organizations to establish a proactive relationship with their local FBI office.
The awareness campaign will run from June 1 to September 2, 2022, and will include media appearances, a social media campaign, and presentations in front of the public. local industry groups. The FBI will also participate in the RSA 2022 Conference from June 6 to June 9, 2022, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. FBI agents will have a booth on the show floor and will speak across various panels about emerging and persistent cybersecurity threats.
“The FBI can provide companies with near-real-time intelligence, threat trends, and actionable guidance to strengthen a company’s defenses against cyberattacks, “FBI San Francisco special agent in charge Sean Ragan said. “When a cybersecurity incident occurs, the FBI can respond quickly and effectively to investigate an attack, identify criminal actors, and help companies mitigate the damage of a breach. Cyber risk is business risk and cybersecurity is national security. We all need to work together to strengthen our nation’s cyber defenses.”
Recent trends in malicious cyber activity
The FBI San Francisco has recently seen an increase in the following types of cyber intrusions:
- Ransomware: The FBI has seen ransomware criminal groups cause more vandalism and demand larger ransoms in recent years. In some cases, when a company pays a ransom, the criminal group targets that company again months later. The FBI has also seen ransomware groups operate on a franchise model, where criminals creating variants of ransomware willingly sell code to less sophisticated cybercriminals for an easy profit. easy.
- Supply Chain Attacks: The FBI warns companies that supply chains are increasingly becoming a vulnerable point for computer intrusions. A company’s network security is only as good as that of trusted vendors.
- Critical Infrastructure Attacks: In 2021, US critical infrastructure experienced an unprecedented increase in cyberattacks. While nation-state threats remain associated with persistence, sophistication, and the potential for destructive intent, cybercriminals deploying ransomware certainly have the most obvious direct impact on the base critical infrastructure in the United States, including hospitals, the energy sector, and emergency services.
How the FBI can help with preventive measures
The single most important action a company can take to prepare for cybersecurity incidents is to develop a relationship with their local FBI field office prior to a breach. When the FBI can quickly link up with a company, we can share metrics that help network defenders identify malicious activity and intelligence on what actors have done elsewhere. inform corporate decision-making in times of crisis.
The FBI recommends that all companies, regardless of size, take these precautions in this growing threat environment:
- If possible, identify your company’s most sensitive information and encrypt it. Hackers will often steal this information and try to blackmail companies by threatening to leak information online.
- Make sure your organization has an incident response plan that includes the FBI. Your organization should implement your incident response plan on a regular basis.
- Make sure you have an offline backup of your important data.
- When you realize your system is compromised, cybercriminals may have taken your data. There are several warning signs that may indicate a cyber attack, including inactive passwords, large numbers of pop-up ads, unexplained online activity, slow devices, and settings. system is changed.
- Knowing if your company has any connections in Eastern Europe could present an additional security vulnerability.
- If compromised, contact the FBI immediately.
What to do after hacking the network
Contact the FBI as soon as you become aware of a cyber intrusion. During a crisis, we can stand with your incident response team in the US office and work with our foreign partners to mitigate an attack, develop intelligence threat intelligence, penetration insights, and defensive posture announcements. If your company has experienced a breach — even though it may be brand new to you — chances are the FBI has seen hackers before, either in person or through our global network.
As a federal law enforcement agency, the FBI can conduct criminal investigations and gather evidence of violations of US computer hacking and espionage laws using legal processes. criminal proceedings, such as subpoenas, search warrants, and wiretapping. That collection provides insights that uncover who is compromising our networks, how our adversaries are succeeding, and where they may strike next, all because of the technical clues they leave behind. again.
Because cyberattacks are a global problem, the FBI has legal attachés at more than 70 U.S. embassies worldwide and partnerships with law enforcement agencies in each of these countries. . The FBI maintains a global workforce of cyber experts who work closely with a network of foreign intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This means that infrastructure used abroad can be exploited to develop threat intelligence or mitigate attacks through international agreements and partnerships. .
By partnering with the FBI, you are working to help prevent the actor from falling victim to others and potentially falling victim to yours again.
FBI – Private Sector Partnership Groups
The FBI shares information with the private sector through our direct outreach, cyberthreat newsletter, and through our many partnerships, including Fortune-1000 companies on the Council of the Coalition. Homeland Security (DSAC) and US critical infrastructure experts in our national InfraGard program.
The Homeland Security Coalition Council, or DSAC, is an intelligence and security-sharing initiative between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the private sector. Founded in 2005, DSAC enables the efficient two-way flow of vetted information between the FBI and its members to help prevent, detect, and investigate threats affecting American businesses. as well as the economy and national security of the United States. For more information, please visit: https://www.dsac.gov/.
InfraGard is a partnership between the FBI and members of the private sector to protect America’s Critical Infrastructure. Through seamless collaboration, InfraGard connects owners and operators of critical infrastructure with the FBI to provide education, information sharing, networking, and seminars on technologies and threats emerging. InfraGard membership includes business executives, entrepreneurs, attorneys, security personnel, military and government officials, IT professionals, academia and state law enforcement and local — all dedicated to contributing industry-specific insights and promoting national security. To learn more about participating in InfraGard, please visit www.infragard.org. FBI alerts and advice are delivered directly through the InfraGard platform.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) also offers Industry Alerts at https://www.ic3.gov/Home/IndustryAlerts.
Contact the FBI
Contact the FBI San Francisco Field Office at (415) 553-7400. You can report internet crime at www.ic3.gov and other suspicious criminal activity at tips.fbi.gov.
*For media questions, please contact the FBI San Francisco Office of Communications at media.sf@fbi.gov*
