News Blog

Cyber Division Focusing on Hackers and Intrusions

Early last year, hackers were discovered embedding malicious software in two million computers, opening a virtual door for criminals to rifle through users’ valuable personal and financial information. Last fall, an overseas crime ring was shut down after infecting four million computers, including half a million in the U.S. In recent months, some of the biggest companies and organizations in the U.S. have been working overtime to fend off continuous intrusion attacks aimed at their networks.

The scope and enormity of the threat—not just to private industry but also to the country’s heavily networked critical infrastructure—was spelled out last month in Director Robert S. Mueller’s testimony to a Senate homeland security panel: “Computer intrusions and network attacks are the greatest cyber threat to our national security.”

To that end, the FBI over the past year has put in place the Next Generation Cyber Initiative.

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Remembering Millie Parsons

Director Hoover congratulates Millie on her 30th Bureau anniversary in 1969.

Today, Mrs. Mildred C. Parsons, a beloved member of the FBI family, was laid to rest after passing away Sunday at the age of 99.

Known to all as Millie, she was the longest continually serving employee in FBI history—she never even took a day of sick leave during the entire 62 years, nine months, and two days of her employment here.

When a 25-year-old Millie reported for her first day of work at the FBI on September 25, 1939, Nazi Germany had invaded Poland, “Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio and the New York Yankees ruled baseball, the Glenn Miller Orchestra filled the airwaves, and the “Wizard of Oz” had premiered just weeks earlier in Hollywood.

	Director Sessions and Millie on September 25, 1989, her 50-year anniversary.

Starting as a secretary at FBI Headquarters and then transferring shortly thereafter to the nearby Washington Field Office (WFO), Millie served for at least 30 special agents in charge and assistant directors in charge, not to mention six Directors, over the course of her nearly 63-year career. She even displayed portraits of all her bosses in the corridor leading to her office.

One of her former chiefs, Deputy Director Thomas Pickard, who retired in 2001, remembers Millie as a “consummate professional who never wavered in her work ethic.” Reflecting on this, he said, “Eighteen years after I first walked into WFO, I saw Millie and she said, ‘I remember you,’ then rattled off my Social Security number, my radio call signal, and asked how my wife, Sharon, was doing. I was stunned by her memory.”

Millie had a wonderful sense of humor and always was professional and courteous. She was a meticulous dresser and an avid ballroom dancer who won many awards for her rhythmic command of the fox trot and waltz as she traveled to several national competitions each year.

Director Muller says goodbye to Millie on her last day of work, June 28, 2002.

She danced into her 80s even though “most of her partners did not last as long as her,” smiled Mr. Pickard.

Millie retired in June 2002 at the age of 88—an occasion that even caught the attention of Congress. After learning of her retirement, Virginia Representative Frank R. Wolf said on the floor of the House of Representatives that Millie “stands as an outstanding role model for all in public service to emulate.” Then-Representative Albert Russell Wynn of Maryland also recognized Millie’s achievements.

Millie will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Online Dating Extortion and Other Scams

The latest report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reinforces the fact that people looking for love online need to remain vigilant about who they choose to communicate with and how they do so. In a recently reported dating extortion scam, victims usually met someone on an online dating site and then were asked to move the conversation to a particular social networking site, where the talk often turned intimate. Victims were later sent a link to a website where those conversations were posted, along with photos, their phone numbers, and claims that they were “cheaters.” In order to have that information removed, victims were told they could make a $99 payment—but there is no indication that the other side of the bargain was upheld.

Other items in this month’s IC3 report include a new variation on the classic payday loan scam; new malware that has infected at least 250,000 victims, including 46 Fortune 500 companies; and the top words used by cyber criminals in fake e-mails.

Read the full report for more details | More about online dating scams

How Lou Peters Brought Down a Mob Boss

In National Archives footage, Lou Peters is interviewed about his role in the FBI’s case against the head of the Bonnano organized crime family.

In 1977, things were going well for Lou Peters—he was living the American dream with his wife and three daughters, running a successful Cadillac dealership in Lodi, California. And in June of that year, he got an offer he couldn’t refuse.

In a video interview conducted shortly before his death in 1981, Peters tells the story of how he went undercover for the FBI, ultimately helping to bring the first felony conviction against Joseph Bonnano, Sr., head of the infamous crime family.

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Rising to the Occasion
In New Interviews, Women Agents Reflect on 40 Years

Forty years ago today, the first two women agents in modern history were on the verge of finishing 14 weeks of new agent training to become FBI special agents. On October, 25, 1972, Susan Roley and Joanne Pierce received their badges and special agent credentials and set off for their first field assignments, to San Francisco and Pittsburgh, respectively.

By the end of 1972, 11 women agents had been sworn in. Another 28 women joined the ranks in 1973, including Sheila Horan, who achieved many management firsts for women in the FBI during a career spanning almost three decades. Noteworthy among them: she was on-scene commander during the FBI’s response to the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

In an interview with FBI.gov—one of 20 we’ve published to illustrate the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of women representing four decades of experiences as special agents—Horan recalled rising to the occasion.

	Learn more about Roy Moore’s work.

“I had always heard and read about a long-retired agent by the name of Roy Moore who was sent in the ‘60s to Mississippi to work on the cases of the Freedom Riders that were killed,” Horan said. “And I always marveled that someone could go down to a field office, a new field office, set up a command post, have dozens of agents come in, and incredibly run an investigation. Then I was sent to Kenya to do the very same thing as the on-scene commander for these bombings and I had Roy Moore in my sights and I said, ‘Oh man this is the case of a lifetime for me. Can I do it? Am I going to be able to do this?’ And of course you don’t do it yourself; you have dozens of people around you and in my case hundreds of people that came over. But yes, I stayed for five weeks and we were quite successful.”

Horan’s interview is one of five released this week. Others include the special agents in charge in San Diego and Albuquerque; Janice Fedarcyk, who retired in August after leading field offices in Philadelphia and New York; and Cassandra Chandler, who ran the FBI’s Training Division and Office of Public Affairs before serving as special agent in charge of the Norfolk Division.

Today, there are more than 2,600 women agents—nearly 20 percent of all agents. Eleven of the FBI’s 56 field offices have women special agents in charge.

Later this month, in the final installment in our 40th anniversary series, we’ll look at two women agents who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

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Director Speaks on Outreach Efforts and Rule of Law

Director Mueller speaks to the Police Athletic League of New York.

Director Robert Mueller addressed two different groups in New York City today. His first stop was the annual meeting of the American College of Trial Lawyers, where he spoke about the FBI’s transformation in the years since 9/11 and what we are doing to continue to move forward. From national security to cyber capabilities to partnerships, Mueller framed each issue within the very important context of the rule of law, which he described as “a hallmark of our democracy,” emphasizing that “our commitment to this ideal must never waver.” “The FBI has always adapted to meet new threats,” Mueller said, “but our values can never change.”

Later in the afternoon, Mueller addressed the Police Athletic League of New York, acknowledging our long-term partnership with the New York Police Department and focusing overall on the concept of connection—with our law enforcement and intelligence partners and with the citizens we serve. “We in the Bureau understand that our ability to protect the American people depends in large part on the public’s trust in the FBI,” said Mueller. “That trust is not static. We must work hard to earn it with every investigation, and every interaction, in every community.”

- Director’s remarks at American College of Trial Lawyers meeting
- Director’s remarks to Police Athletic League of New York

In Alaska, an Explosive Situation in the Dead of Winter

The call came in early on a Sunday morning in January 2010—an explosion had taken place at a Fairbanks residence. Our Anchorage office responded like any other field office would, sending members of the Evidence Response Team, Joint Terrorism Task Force, and others to the scene to investigate. But this scene was slightly different than our other field offices might typically encounter—it was 365 miles away and 58 degrees below zero—making for a very challenging investigation.

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FBI Launches New Safe Online Surfing Website

With school back in session, one topic that’s on many class curriculums around the nation is cyber safety. After all, it’s a hyper-connected world—with texting, social networking, e-mail, online gaming, chat, music downloading, web surfing, and other forms of wired and wireless communication now a regular part of children’s lives.

The FBI has a new program that can help. Today, as part of its longstanding crime prevention and public outreach efforts, the FBI is announcing a free web-based initiative designed to help teachers educate students about cyber safety.

It’s called the FBI-SOS (Safe Online Surfing) Internet Challenge—and it was developed with the assistance of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and with the input of teachers and schools.

“FBI-SOS is a fun, free, and effective way to teach kids how to use the Internet safely and responsibly,” says Scott McMillion, head of the unit that manages the program in the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “We encourage teachers to check out the site and sign up their classes during the school year.”

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Malware Targets Android Smartphones

Attention smartphone users: be on guard for various types of malware attacking Android operating systems. Some of the latest known versions of this type of malware include:

• Loozfon: This information-stealing piece of malware has multiple forms, but one variant used by criminals shows up in the form of an advertisement for a work-at-home opportunity promising a lucrative payday just for sending out an e-mail. A link within the advertisement goes to a website that pushes Loozfon to the victim’s mobile device, where the malicious application then steals the number of the infected phone as well as contact details from the user’s address book.
• FinFisher: This spyware—which can easily be transmitted to a smartphone when the user visits a specific link or opens a text message masquerading as a system update—is able to take over the components of a mobile device. Once installed, the phone can be remotely controlled and targeted regardless of the location of the owner.

For more information, including safety tips to protect your smartphone, read the entire alert issued by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

IC3 Alert | IC3 Homepage | E-Scams & Warnings

North to Alaska

Take an inside look at our Anchorage Division—the FBI’s smallest field office—whose agents are responsible for covering the most territory of any office in the Bureau. That’s an area of more than 600,000 square miles, twice the size of Texas and packed with natural beauty and hard-to-reach places.

Although the Anchorage Division investigates the same types of violent crime, public corruption, and national security matters as FBI offices in the Lower 48, “there is so much that is different here,” said Special Agent in Charge Mary Frances Rook—and she’s not just referring to the bears and moose occasionally spotted on downtown Anchorage streets.

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