Remarks Prepared for Delivery by FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Joe Bonavolonta at 6th Annual Boston Conference on Cyber Security | Federal Bureau of Investigation

Good morning, everybody. It’s nice to lastly be again right here—in particular person—at Gasson Corridor to kick off the sixth annual Boston Convention on Cyber Safety.

I wish to thank the crew right here at Boston School, in addition to FBI Boston Division’s Cyber Activity Pressure for all their onerous work in bringing us collectively to facilitate right now’s crucial dialog on cybersecurity.

I’d additionally prefer to personally thank FBI Director Christopher Wray for becoming a member of us right now. It’s no simple activity to get him out of DC for the day however we managed to do it, and we’re extremely grateful. His presence right here right now is a testomony to how essential this menace is to all of us.

This morning, we wish to concentrate on the rising urgency for all of us to proceed to work collectively to fight right now’s cyber threats.  Final 12 months, throughout america, the FBI noticed an unprecedented enhance in malicious cyber exercise.

Individuals reported shedding $7 billion to cybercriminals. Right here within the FBI Boston Division’s Space of Accountability, which covers Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, victims reported losses of greater than $184 million. Nevertheless, everyone knows precise losses are a lot increased than that as a result of not everybody experiences these compromises to us—and that’s one of many issues we try to handle right here right now.

Ransomware, enterprise e mail compromise schemes, and the legal use of cryptocurrency are among the many prime incidents reported. FBI Boston receives a minimum of two to a few experiences per week from new victims, and in some incidents, they’ve suffered tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in losses. We’ve additionally seen an uptick in cyberstalking circumstances.

These assaults aren’t solely impacting our every day lives, however are additionally threatening our nationwide safety, our important infrastructure, and our financial system. 

Continued collaboration is important to our ongoing efforts to strengthen the relationships between the federal authorities, non-public trade, and academia, so we will mitigate these threats and go after these accountable.

If you interact with the FBI, we will leverage our capabilities and experience to mitigate injury achieved by malicious cyber actors, and even to stop malicious exercise from occurring in any respect.

We will additionally leverage our partnerships, and our international attain, like we did earlier this 12 months, to hold out a multi-government operation abroad to terminate and block the actions of a world ransomware topic believed to be liable for facilitating assaults on dozens of corporations in america and Europe.

One other success—and I gained’t steal the Director’s thunder—is the results of a longstanding relationship we’ve cultivated with Boston Kids’s Hospital which you’ll hear extra about in a couple of minutes.

The underside line is that this: cyber danger is a enterprise danger, and cybersecurity is nationwide safety. By working collectively, we will enhance our collective potential to guard towards the cyber menace, and by reporting these incidents to the FBI, you’re working to assist forestall these unhealthy actors from victimizing others, and probably from re-victimizing you.