The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unveiled a new Cyber Strategy to defend Americans and U.S. critical infrastructure in cyberspace, outlining four pillars focused on disrupting adversaries, supporting victims, strengthening partnerships and building the capabilities needed to carry out the mission. The agency said the strategy is intended to bring the full weight of the FBI to defending the homeland in cyberspace and securing the nation’s digital future.
“This Strategy operationalizes President Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America where FBI authorities apply. FBI Cyber executes the President’s directives by conducting court-authorized operations to shape adversary behavior, by empowering critical infrastructure owners and operators with timely threat intelligence to defend their networks, by protecting American innovators to sustain superiority in critical and emerging technologies, and by building the cyber workforce of tomorrow,” the document detailed. “This Strategy also advances the FBI’s Enterprise Strategy, under which FBI Cyber supports the mission to Defend the Homeland. In an era when adversaries no longer need to cross a physical border to reach the American people, this Strategy outlines how the FBI defends the homeland in cyberspace.”
Recognizing that the nation’s cyber threat is escalating in both scale and sophistication, the FBI Cyber Strategy noted that state-sponsored cyber actors collect intelligence, steal proprietary data, and pre-position access to disrupt the nation’s critical infrastructure. “Ransomware groups paralyze companies and trigger cascading effects across industries. These actors operate within an increasingly professionalized ecosystem of developers, affiliates, and service providers. AI-enabled tools and social engineering amplify these threats, compressing intrusion timelines and lowering barriers to entry for less sophisticated actors.”
From anywhere in the world, attackers can disrupt airports, schools, water systems, and financial institutions. The economic toll is immense, as ransomware, operational outages, digital asset theft, and intellectual property theft cost the U.S. billions annually, with impacts extending far beyond financial loss. Countering these threats, holding offenders accountable, and supporting the victims they target is what the FBI’s Cyber Program exists to do. No single agency can counter this threat alone, and the FBI will lead where its authorities and capabilities are strongest, alongside its domestic, international, and industry partners.
FBI Cyber disrupts these ecosystems through an intelligence-driven strategy that targets multiple points simultaneously. While prioritizing legal accountability, the bureau recognizes that permissive jurisdictions limit enforcement reach. Its mission is to impose costs on cyber adversaries through unique authorities, world-class capabilities, and enduring partnerships. Its vision is to protect the safety, security, and confidence of the American people in a digitally connected world. To achieve this mission, the FBI Cyber Strategy is built on four pillars – investigating, disrupting, and imposing costs on cyber adversaries; supporting victims; increasing impact through partnerships; and enhancing the FBI’s cyber capabilities.
The agency establishes the FBI’s enterprise framework for disrupting cyber adversaries and imposing costs on those who target the U.S. in cyberspace. Threat-specific strategies for each of the FBI’s principal cyber adversaries will cascade from this framework into operational priorities and campaigns at the section and unit level. FBI investigations and analysis identify the people and institutions, infrastructure, money flows, and tools that scaffold adversary activity. That insight drives operations to degrade campaigns before they cause further harm to the American people or U.S. critical infrastructure.
As the federal lead for responding to significant cyber incidents, the FBI organizes specialized Cyber Threat Teams with deep expertise to deploy within hours of attacks. The bureau investigates nation-state pre-positioning on critical infrastructure, defends U.S. elections from foreign cyber threats, and protects American innovation by targeting foreign actors and state-linked criminals stealing intellectual property. Every investigation generates critical intelligence about adversary location, operations, infrastructure, and tactics, while proactive victim notification