EL PASO, TX—The FBI El Paso Cyber Task Force held their second annual Cyber Symposium this week to discuss cybercrime and other malicious cyber activities. Over 120 participants from the private sector and law enforcement agencies attended the two-day symposium held on Fort Bliss. Participants received briefings and participated in break-out sessions discussing Cyber Enabled-Elder Fraud, Reverse Engineering Malware, Cryptocurrency 101, Darkside of Social Media, and the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team. The participants ended the symposium with a tabletop exercise simulating an intrusion into a private network.

“Events such as this week’s FBI Cyber Symposium are how we build strong connections and partnerships with the private sector,” said John Morales, FBI El Paso special agent in charge. “Proactive engagement with not just well-known big companies but also with smaller companies that form the bedrock of our nation allows us all to take away the tools that cybercriminals use to attack us, secure the data that’s been stolen, and prevent hackers from causing further harm. The stakes have never been higher, it’s up to the FBI and the private sector to work together to protect our nation from cyber criminals and foreign adversaries."

FBI El Paso Cyber Task Force partners from Cybersecurity ad Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the United States Attorney’s Office discussed their roles in investigating and prosecuting cybercrimes.

Many of today’s participants were members of the InfraGard-El Paso Chapter. Infragard is one of the nation’s largest public/private partnerships, where InfraGard connects critical infrastructure owners, operators, and stakeholders with the FBI to provide education, networking, and information-sharing on security threats and risks. Learn more about Infragard at https://www.infragard.org/.

At the FBI, we believe cyber is a team sport, and public-private cyber collaboration is intrinsic to our success. No one entity can combat the cyber threat. We need a whole-of-society defense, built on trust and two-way information sharing, if we are to fully understand and combat the threat. Bottom line, cyber risk is business risk.

Contact the FBI El Paso Field Office today at 915-832-5000 to form a relationship with our Cyber Task Force before a cyber incident occurs. Visit Cyber Crime — FBI to learn more about the FBI’s Cyber Program.