CYBERCRIMEFighting Global Cybercrime

Published 28 June 2022

Cyber threats from across the world⁠—from Russian attempts to influence the war in Ukraine by threatening cyberattacks against the West, to China stealing defense and industrial secrets, to Iran’s 2021 targeting of Children’s Hospital in Boston⁠, thwarted by the FBI — were the focus of recent remarks by FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Cyber threats from across the world⁠—from Russian attempts to influence the war in Ukraine by threatening cyberattacks against the West, to China stealing defense and industrial secrets, to Iran’s 2021 targeting of Children’s Hospital in Boston⁠, thwarted by the FBI—were the focus of keynote remarks by FBI Director Christopher Wray at the sixth annual Boston Conference on Cyber Security, BCCS 2022, held at Boston College on June 1.

Organized through a partnership between the FBI and the M.S. in Cybersecurity and Governance Program of BC’s Woods College of Advancing Studies, the conference brings together perspectives from academia, law enforcement, and the private sector.

Our goal in hosting these conferences with the FBI is to build and strengthen the relationships between these sectors not only here in New England, but nationally, to seek better ways to defend against these invasive cyber threats and respond to the vulnerabilities,” said Kevin R. Powers, founding director of the master’s program, who also holds positions as assistant professor of the practice at BC Law School and in the Carroll School of Management.

Wray’s appearance marked his third as BCCS keynote speaker since he assumed the office in 2017. Plenary speakers at the event included Brandon Wales, executive director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to cyber and physical infrastructure, and Simon Taylor, CEO and founder of leading multi-cloud backup and recovery service HYCU, Inc.

The war in Ukraine has brought Russia front and center for the FBI, Wray said, adding that the nation’s recklessness with human lives in the ground conflict carries over into its actions in cyberspace.

He referenced a 2017 incident in which Russia used malware to hit Ukrainian critical infrastructure. “They targeted Ukraine but ended up also hitting systems throughout Europe, plus the U.S. and Australia, and even some systems within their own borders. They shut down a big chunk of global logistics,” he said, a “reckless attack that ended up causing more than 10 billion dollars in damages—one of the most damaging cyberattacks in the history of cyberattacks.

Now, in Ukraine, we see them again launching destructive attacks, using tools like wiper malware. And we’re watching for their cyber activities to become more destructive as the war keeps going poorly for them.”