Cyber Threats, Cybersecurity, and What You Need to Know: the Perspective of a Former FBI Special Agent

Over the past 10 years, cyber security incidents have dominated the headlines. The FBI estimates that in 2022 Americans lost over $10.3 billion to cyber incidents – nearly triple the reported losses from 5 years ago. Cybersecurity threats have emerged as everything ranging from weapons of war, tools for espionage against American businesses, data breaches, to the financial but costly nuisance of scams, identity theft and elder fraud. The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence further complicates matters. What do you need to know? What does your business need to know? What does your family need to know? Most importantly – how do you cut through the headlines to find practical guidance on how to protect yourself? Throughout her career in the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent, Meredith Fitzpatrick has seen it all when it comes to cyber. Meredith spent the entirety of her career in the FBI investigating cyber incidents, including ransomware, data breaches, and Russian and Chinese statesponsored computer intrusion campaigns on US critical infrastructure. She has deployed to Nigeria and lead arrest operations in the US and Europe. From sitting across the table from C-Suite executives facing a massive data breach, a subject who was just arrested for hacking, and devastated family members whose loved one transferred all of their life savings as the result of a scam, she has fascinating insights and guidance on how to navigate this ever-evolving digital world.