Remarks by Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin on Cyber-Crime at Carnegie Mellon University

PITTSBURGH - Thanks for that kind introduction. I’m grateful to be with you today to discuss emerging national security threats. In particular, I’ll discuss cyber threats linked to a diverse range of dangerous cyber actors. And I’ll tell you what we in the National Security Division, at the Department of Justice, are doing to counter those threats. I should note at the outset that this week marks a busy time for national security law. There is a lot going on in the world, all of which we are tracking closely. But I’m going to focus today on the threats associated with national security cyber issues. Just last week, the 9/11 Commission published its reflections on the tenth anniversary of the Commission’s original report. And it specifically pointed to the growing significance of cyber threats to our Government and private sector. In its report, the Commission noted that: “We are at September 10th levels in terms of cyber preparedness.” They added that “American companies’ most-sensitive patented technologies and intellectual property, U.S. universities’ research and development, and the nation’s defense capabilities and critical infrastructure, are all under cyber attack.” I could not agree more. As the Commission concluded, “One lesson of the 9/11 story is that, as a nation, Americans did not awaken to the gravity of the terrorist threat until it was too late. History may be repeating itself in the cyber realm.” I’m particularly glad to talk about these important issues here in Pittsburgh. In a way, this brings me back to earlier days of my cybersecurity work. I began my career as a prosecutor handling a wide range of crimes, but I have spent nearly a decade focusing on cyber issues – including as the National Coordinator of the Justice Department’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property, or “CHIP,” program. Then, I had the honor of joining FBI Director Mueller as he led a critical shift. Even back then, he understood just how significant cyber threats would soon become. Soon after arriving I was asked to prepare a speech on the FBI’s role in tackling national security cyber threats. We saw this as an important opportunity to underscore how serious the national security cyber threat was—at a time when not many people were talking about it. It was his first major FBI speech on the national security cyber threat. Much of what the Director said that day remains true today. We warned of the particular dangers lurking in the intersection between cyber and terrorism. But we also emphasized that terrorists are not the only ones seeking to harm us online—there are other dangerous actors out there, including nation-states. We pointed to the growing use of botnets as a way to attack networks, infect computers, and inject spyware. We talked about the dangers of cyber espionage, including economic espionage. And we explained that the FBI was mobilizing to address these threats by collaborating with partners across the Federal Government and in the private sector. That speech, a significant moment in the FBI’s cyber history, was delivered just a few hours east of here, at Penn State. Not just because of the balmy November weather it’s known for. But rather, as explained then, because “[m]uch of our collaboration begins in Pittsburgh—at the FBI’s Cyber Fusion Center.” The Director said to think of that fusion center as a hub, with spokes emanating out to federal agencies, software companies, Internet service providers, merchants, and members of the financial sector. That model was right then and it is right now. The fusion center, and Pittsburgh generally, is the center of so much of our cybersecurity collaboration, which is critical to our efforts to disrupt cyber threats. That is why a key theme from our time near Pittsburgh nearly seven years ago was collaboration. Back then we talked about the cooperation underway as part of Operation Bot Roast. Through that project, the Justice Department, the FBI, the CERT Coordination Center at