Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News (b)
Yeager entered the FBI in 2009. As a military veteran with a degree in electrical engineering, he saw the FBI as a way to continue to serve his country and a great opportunity to combine law enforcement and complex problem solving.
Assigned to a cyber squad within the FBI’s Newark Field Office, he was working on some of the Bureau’s most sophisticated and sensitive investigations into nation-state cyber actors. As part of those investigations, he spent time embedded within another intelligence agency, which added yet another valuable perspective. “Whenever we are working a cyber investigation, we have our priorities as the FBI and other agencies have their priorities,” Yeager said. “When we are looking at the same set of cyber actors, the ability to deconflict real-time and share information is really important.”
A few years after he moved into a supervisory role with the FBI, Yeager was approached by a private company to take a position overseeing the operations side of cyber incident response. “It felt like a good opportunity to see what a cyber incident looks like as you help a company navigate it from day one,” Yeager said. He also hoped to be an advocate for law enforcement reporting in these situations.
In his new role, he saw companies work toward two primary goals after an attack: assessing the damage and getting business back up and operational. The other concern was any legal considerations. If it was a data breach, for example, what kind of notifications are required?
“It’s a little bit chaotic for a company, especially if they are getting hit with ransomware or something that has really crippled their systems,” Yeager explained. In a lot of cases, the last thing to cross a company’s mind is to call in law enforcement—especially if they don’t have a pre-established contact. “Even me,” he admitted. “I would be completely consumed in the incident itself.”
Special Agent Brett Yeager returned to the FBI from the private sector with a clearer understanding of the FBI’s cyber mission.