Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI along with its law enforcement and private sector partners are developing a new strategy to dismantle botnets.

Richard A. McFeely: It is a piece of malware that is inserted onto somebody’s computer—without the knowledge of the owner of the computer—that is used to do malicious activity.

Halpern: I’m Mollie Halpern, and this is FBI, This Week. Botnets are a global cyber security threat and can be used to steal personal identifiable information, military, and trade secrets. In a separate but coordinated effort, the FBI recently partnered with Microsoft to disrupt more than 1,000 botnets called Citadel. Richard McFeely is the executive assistant director of the Bureau’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch.

McFeely: It’s not going to completely eradicate the Citadel virus that’s affected millions of computers, it’s going to put a huge dent in it.

Halpern: Cooperation with the private industry is key to the operation’s success.

McFeely: This is going to become the model for success in the future.

Halpern: For more information, visit www.fbi.gov.