Cyber-Focused FBI Agents Deploy to Embassies Globally

The FBI is adding six new positions to American embassies in order to combat global cybercriminal issues, according to reports.

The 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 (a 40% increase in cyber assistant legal attachés globally). That's according to Brian Abellera, an FBI cyber assistant legal attaché stationed in Ottawa, who said that the program is meant to bolster coordinated international law enforcement actions.

"What if 60 agencies across 16 countries, across 10 time zones, within one day, were able to lash up as one unified team and conduct an action together?" Abellera said, speaking to Cyberscoop.

The added positions highlight the FBI and Justice Department's increasing focus on actively combatting cybercrime in a time when it is difficult to coordinate and investigate certain threat actors that are located internationally. The cyber agents are tasked with disrupting the work of these criminal threat actors, allowing for fewer ransom payments being paid and targeting the criminal acts as they happen instead of after the fact.