FBI Director Urges Attack Intelligence-Sharing

FBI director Robert Mueller, in a keynote address Thursday at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco, urged real-time sharing of cybercrime and threat intelligence between the public and private sectors akin to the type of cooperation forged to fight terrorism post-9/11.

"Real-time information-sharing is essential. Much can and should be done to share with the private sector, and in turn give the private sector the means and motivation to work with us" at the FBI, Mueller said.

The FBI is continuing to build specialized cybercrime task forces to work locally with state and local law enforcement, Mueller said. "It's a similar model to the terrorism task force, but to fight cybercrime," he said. "As we continue to share information, we will continue to break down the walls that [block] our abilities to share such information--the same way we did [after] the September 11 [terrorist] attacks."

Mueller said the FBI now has specialized cybersquads in each of its 50 field offices.

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