FBI: Companies Need to Report Cyberattacks

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NEW YORK—Companies should do more to report cybercrimes such as hacking and phishing to help federal authorities investigate and ensure that additional data isn’t compromised beyond initial attacks, a high-ranking FBI official said.

“A huge issue for us is the underreporting of successful or almost successful hacking,” Special Agent Mark Mershin, the assistant director-in-charge of the FBI’s New York City Office, told a crowd gathered here at the Infosecurity Conference and Exhibition on Oct. 24.

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A 30-year FBI veteran, Mershin was appointed to his current position at the bureau’s largest field office in May 2005. The expert spoke for a little more than an hour in a keynote address about the three most important issues facing the agency each day: counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cybercrimes.

After talking to the audience about the FBI’s mission and expanding duties, Mershin turned to the agency’s role in preventing and investigating cybercrimes, especially those that target enterprises and other businesses.

Each month, the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center receives about 18,000 complaints about some sort of cyber-crime.

Read the full story on eWEEK.com: FBI: Companies Need to Report Cyberattacks