NPR

Tech Companies Take A Leading Role In Warning Of Foreign Cyber Threats

U.S. cybersecurity firms are making headlines with reports of online attacks by Russia and other foreign actors. Why are tech companies taking the lead, rather than the U.S. government?
Sandra Joyce, the head of global intelligence at the cybersecurity firm FireEye, speaks at the company's Cyber Defense Summit in 2018. Private tech companies are increasingly taking the lead in reporting information about suspected attacks by foreign actors. In some cases, the companies sell their reports to the U.S. intelligence community.

The U.S. government says it's on high alert for cyberattacks from foreign countries in this election year. Yet private cybersecurity firms have often been the ones sounding the alarm, and in some cases, they are selling their services to the U.S. intelligence community.

"We've seen Iran impersonating political candidates," said Sandra Joyce, the head of global intelligence at FireEye, a leading cybersecurity company.

"They've even fabricated letters that look like they're coming from concerned Whether it's Iran, Russia or other foreign actors, cybersecurity companies and research groups have been often been more public than the government in identifying potential foreign threats.

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