Additional cyber agents to be deployed by FBI

In a bid to bolster its international cybercrime combating capabilities, the FBI has added six new cyber assistant legal attaches to be sent to U.S. embassies in Brasilia, New Delhi, Rome, and others, representing an almost 40% increase in cyber-focused FBI agents in embassies abroad, CyberScoop reports. Such cyber-focused attaches have proven valuable in the dismantling of major stolen credentials marketplace Genesis Market last April, according to Ottawa-based FBI Cyber ALAT Brian Abellara, who added that the cyber agents were key in coordinating law enforcement agencies to ensure the success of the operation. Abellara said that combating ransomware compromise of cross-border critical infrastructure will be prioritized through the cooperation of international partners. "There's no way that the FBI alone can ever have the resources, expertise, or reach to maximally impose risk and consequences on adversaries without our international partners. We need them, and that's why this program is of paramount importance," said Abellara.