FBI, Secret Service to host industry leaders in connection with White House cybersecurity summit

By Loren Blinde February 16, 2015

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The FBI and the United States Secret Service announced February 13 that the agencies are hosting open house events at select field offices and other locations throughout the country to discuss cybersecurity issues with invited guests from the private sector. The open houses are being held in conjunction with the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University.

Cybersecurity requires significant engagement from the private sector given the majority of critical electronic infrastructure is not publicly owned. The cyber threats the nation faces are best addressed by public-private partnerships and information sharing.

Open house participants can watch live-streamed events at Stanford and meet and network with key law enforcement personnel from the FBI and Secret Service in their regions to foster a collaborative dialogue about cyber threats. In some areas, representatives from the United States Attorneys’ Offices and from other law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, will also take part in the open house events.

Among the events at Stanford is an international law enforcement panel featuring FBI Assistant Director Joseph M. Demarest, Cyber Division; Secret Service Assistant Director Ed Lowery, Office of Training; Director Jamie Saunders, National Cyber Crime, National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom; Bilal Sen, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; and FireEye’s Chief Operating Officer Kevin Mandia. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, Criminal Division, will moderate the discussion.

“The open houses hosted today by the FBI and the Secret Service for private industry leaders showcase the partnership and coordination necessary to defeat cyber adversaries,” said AD Demarest. “Only by coming together in this way—not a whole-of-government approach, but a whole-of-nation approach—will we be able to identify, pursue and defeat threats in cyberspace.”

“Over the course of our 149-year history, the Secret Service has evolved into an agency recognized worldwide for its investigative expertise and innovative approaches in detecting, investigating and preventing financial crimes,” said AD Lowery. “In order to maintain an edge over today’s cyber criminals, the broader law enforcement community and private sector must continue to leverage emerging technologies and capitalize on the power of task force partnerships.”

The open house events will be held in: