Category: United States of America

FBI and Boston College team up to hold virtual fifth annual Boston cyber security conference

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate will deliver the keynote address during the fifth annual Boston Conference on Cyber Security, streaming live beginning at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3.

Abbate, who last month was named deputy director, supervising the FBI’s domestic and international investigative and intelligence activities, will discuss the FBI’s new cyber strategy, the current threat landscape, and the importance of strong partnerships in combatting the cyber threat.

Abbate’s keynote address will be followed by two panel discussions. The first panel, “The State of Cyber and National Security,” will feature FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta. The second panel, “2021 Cyber Threat Intelligence Index and Cost of a Data Breach: Methods and Processes to Secure Your Business and Data,” will feature Nick Rossman, global threat intelligence lead with IBM’s Security X-Force.

The three-hour virtual conference will bring together cybersecurity leaders from the academic, analytic, operations, research, corporate, national security, and law enforcement arenas to coordinate their efforts to create a more secure cyberspace.

The conference is the result of a partnership between the FBI and the Masters in Cybersecurity Policy and Governance Program at BC’s Woods College of Advancing Studies.

• Who: FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate
• What: Keynote address on cyber threats and security
• Where: Virtual event for registered guests
• When: Noon, Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Media are asked to contact Boston College or the FBI to confirm attendance and receive a link for the conference live stream.

Please contact:

• Ed Hayward, Boston College Office of University Communications: ed.hayward@bc.edu; (617) 552-4826 or (617) 922-8024.
• Kristen Setera, FBI Boston Division, Office of Public Affairs: kmsetera@fbi.gov; (857) 386-2905

Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division says, “Across the United States, businesses and individuals lost approximately $3.5 billion to cybercriminals last year while reporting more incidents of Internet crime to the FBI than any other year. Here in the Boston Division, victims suffered a total estimated loss of $50 million. Virtually every national security threat and crime problem we come across is cyber-based or digitally facilitated, and we’re very much aware of the urgent need to address it. Our partnership with Boston College is part of our ongoing effort to strengthen the relationships between law enforcement, private industry, and academia in order to better address the increasingly complex cyber threats we’re all facing.”

Kevin R. Powers, J.D., founder and director of BC’s Cybersecurity Policy and Governance Program and an assistant professor of the Practice at Boston College’s Law School and the Carroll School of Management’s Business Law and Society Program says, “We are honored to partner with the FBI to host the fifth annual Boston Conference on Cyber Security at BC. Although virtual this year, BCCS 2021 will continue to expand upon and strengthen the relationships between government, private industry, and academia to address the varying cyber threats, whether by nation states, cyber criminals, hacktivists, or terrorists. This is needed more than ever given COVID-19 and the move to the virtual workforce. Once again, BC is taking the lead in fulfilling its mission of developing and educating leaders to meet the world’s most pressing issues, and we’re doing so by partnering with the FBI to discuss ways to strengthen cyber and national security to not only protect government and industry networks and critical infrastructure, but also our private personal data.”

Andres Fernandez was a smooth-talking concert promoter who told people he could make them wealthy investing in the glamorous industry.

While he claimed he couldn’t give too much information on the business, he did promise up to a 100% return on investment.

Instead, his more than 50 investors were swindled. Victims lost more than $20 million, ranging from $5,000 to $7 million per victim. Fernandez and an associate lived on that money and re-paid prior investors in a Ponzi-like scheme.

Fernandez actually did do some concert promotion work, mostly working with small venues in the Orlando, Florida, area. He even brought some of his investors to the concert venue where he worked to convince them he was legitimate. He lied to those investors about grand plans to expand to stadium-size concert venues and book famous artists like Pitbull and The Weeknd.

“He produced lots of completely fraudulent documents that he gave to investors, like fake Ticketmaster contracts or contracts with artists,” said Special Agent Kerrie Harney who investigated this case out of the FBI’s Tampa Field Office.

Fernandez’s early investors were his friends and neighborhood acquaintances. One of his initial investors, Edison Denizard, got good returns and started working with Fernandez to bring in even more victims. Some of Denizard’s contacts had millions of dollars to invest, allowing the men to expand the scheme, which began in March 2016 and went on for a little over a year.

National Consumer Protection Week

February 28 – March 6, 2021

While the FBI works all year long to keep you safe from scammers, this week is National Consumer Protection Week and a great time to ensure you’re protecting your wallet. Learn more: