Improved Chinese threat combating, intel sharing sought by FBI Operation Winter SHIELD

FBI Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Brett Leatherman has tapped the bureau's Operation Winter SHIELD to bolster preparation against mounting Chinese cybersecurity threats, strengthen the U.S.'s defenses against adversarial cyber operations, and accelerate intelligence sharing, reports CyberScoop.

Advancing readiness against Chinese hackers is necessary amid China's potential invasion of Taiwan next year, which could have spillover effects to the U.S., according to Leathernan. The FBI is also moving to reinforce technical sequenced cyber operations against adversaries through AI as it hastens information sharing efforts with industry. While the second Trump administration has pulled back on certain federal cyber initiatives, Leatherman emphasized that the FBI is maintaining its cyber focus.

"We've increased our ability to target nation-state actors given the support of FBI leadership, so we have not moved resources off the threat, and we continue to prioritize both threat actor pursuit and victim engagement," said Leatherman, who emphasized the complementary nature of Winter Shield to the work of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.