FBI puts its cyber strategy on paper
The FBI on Wednesday released its first-ever public cybersecurity strategy that details how the agency will combat malicious hackers and digital criminal gangs.
“This is a comprehensive strategy that directs our teams, our field offices, our global presence, and how we are to align all our efforts to counter this work,” Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, told reporters during a roundtable discussion at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, D.C.
“We know that cybercrime and nation-state hacking right now is continuing to increase in complexity, sophistication and tempo,” he added. “For us, it's important that we prioritize how we approach this because when you can't handle every little thing that happens out there, you've got to prioritize what you do and how you do it as well.”
The bureau has had similar strategies in place before, however they have either been classified or largely handled by specific threat units. The 17-page document, which has no classified annex, comes after the FBI has conducted 50 so-called “sequenced operations” since the start of 2025, including high-profile efforts to drive Russian military intelligence services from vulnerable U.S. home routers and a joint endeavor with Microsoft to take down the infrastructure of the Lumma malware.
Leatherman said the document builds on the Trump administration’s cybersecurity strategy, the recent executive order on countering digital criminals and fraud and the memorandum issued last month that will allow for private industry to participate in disruptive online operations.