The rate of major data breaches in the United States is rapidly increasing, as hackers around the world become more sophisticated, a top FBI cyber official said Thursday.<\/p>\n
James Trainor, acting assistant director of the FBI\u2019s Cyber Division, said the agency used to learn about a new, large-scale data breach every two or three weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, it is close to every two to three days,\u201d Trainor said at an event hosted by Microsoft.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose types of events, whether they concern a national security threat actor or a criminal actor, are ones we see on a much more regular basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trainor also said the cybersecurity industry needs to \u201cdouble or triple\u201d its workforce in order to keep up with hacking threats.<\/p>\n
The remarks shed light on the FBI\u2019s approach to investigating cyber crimes as online threats proliferate against U.S. businesses and government agencies.<\/p>\n
Trainor, who called cybersecurity a \u201ctop priority\u201d for FBI Director James Comey, said the agency has personnel embedded in embassies and law enforcement entities around the world.<\/p>\n
The FBI treats breached companies \u201clike a victim, not like they did something wrong\u201d and tries to establish relationships prior to a cyberattack, he said.<\/p>\n
As an example, he called the FBI\u2019s relationship with Sony a \u201ctremendous partnership\u201d before and after the company was attacked last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of lessons learned from that in a very, very positive way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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