FBI cyber division chief technology officer joins K2 Intelligence

Milan Patel has joined K2 Intelligence, an industry-leading investigative, compliance and cyber defense services firm, as Managing Director, the firm announced June 1. Most recently Mr. Patel served as the FBI’s Cyber Division Chief Technology Officer. He will be based in New York.

As the FBI Cyber Division’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Milan Patel was responsible for policy, strategy and the tactical direction of information and operational technologies used in cyber investigations by the FBI’s cyber field operations across all 56 FBI offices in the United States.   He identified and implemented technologies used in cyber incident response, traditional cyber investigations, and in support of interagency cyber threat intelligence sharing within the United States intelligence community – the CIA, NSA, and DHS.  Leading a team of senior FBI agents, Mr. Patel was also charged with developing more efficient processes and utilization of the Cyber Division’s enterprise cyber threat management platform.

Most recently, Mr. Patel organized and co-led the Joint Requirements Team, facilitated by the White House National Security Council – Cyber Security Directorate, a team charged with creating inter-agency business and technology requirements to address President Obama’s Executive Order 13636, “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security.”  This led to the development of the first national cyber incident severity scheme, approved by the White House and senior leadership within the United States intelligence and federal law enforcement communities. The new incident severity scheme outlines how and when the United States government will respond and coordinate during cyber incidents within the United States.

“K2 Intelligence has built a reputation for its strategic application of technology and its ability to bring advanced tools, including those formerly only used within law enforcement and the intelligence community, to the private sector,” said Jeremy Kroll, president and chief executive officer at K2 Intelligence.  “Milan’s hiring is a clear statement of our commitment to harness the power of the very best technology for the benefit of our clients. Milan is a terrific addition to our rapidly growing cyber practice focused on helping clients prepare for and respond to cyber threats and attacks, and we are proud to welcome him to K2 Intelligence.”

Mr. Patel joins Austin Berglas, the former Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Cyber Branch in New York, the largest cyber branch in the FBI, who joined K2 Intelligence last month.  Earlier this year, American International Group, Inc. (AIG), a leading international insurance organization and the market leader in the underwriting of cyber insurance, endorsed the work of K2 Intelligence by acquiring a minority stake in the firm.  In addition, K2 Intelligence and AIG agreed to co-develop products and services that defend, remediate and respond to cyber risk and provide clients with the information they need to protect their enterprise and other stakeholders.

Prior to serving as the FBI Cyber Division’s CTO, Mr. Patel was a Supervisory Special Agent at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC where his responsibilities included managing enterprise investigations, as well as providing cyber threat briefings to the critical infrastructure sector’s organizations.  He entered the FBI as a Special Agent in 2003 and, during his tenure, has initiated and led high profile, global investigations, including those pertaining to Anonymous and Operation Ghost Click (i.e., The Rove Digital Investigation).   Mr. Patel has also served as a member of the FBI’s counter terrorism efforts overseas as a senior interrogator supporting Joint Special Operations Command. He was also an operator on the FBI’s elite Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT).

Mr. Patel received his B.S. in Computer Science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Source: K2 Intelligence