FBI Unveils Cyber Strategy to Disrupt Threat Actors

“With this strategy as our roadmap, the FBI will impose cost on cyber actors who target the United States through decisive action, rapid victim support, integrated partnerships and continuous investment in tools and capabilities. FBI Cyber will disrupt adversaries before they can act, expose them when they do and hold them accountable wherever they hide,” the FBI wrote.

The FBI’s new, first-ever Cyber Strategy and what it sets out to do

On September 9, the FBI published its first-ever Cyber Strategy, a document that outlines how the agency plans to investigate and disrupt cyber threat actors. The strategy frames an explicit, agency-level push toward strategic response to an environment the FBI describes as marked by escalating cyber-attacks from financially motivated cybercriminals and state-sponsored actors operating from jurisdictions that put them out of immediate reach of U.S. law enforcement.

The document is presented as part of a broader shift in U.S. government posture toward proactive disruption activities, and it lists four pillars that together define the FBI’s approach: Investigate, Disrupt, and Impose Cost on Cyber Adversaries; Support Victims; Increase Impact Through Partnerships; and Enhance FBI’s Cyber Capabilities.

Investigate, disrupt, and impose cost: the “best athlete” model and operational aims

The strategy describes a phased approach that begins with identifying threats and alerting victims, and then moves to active operations designed to disrupt adversaries. These operations include dismantling adversary infrastructure, seizing stolen cryptocurrency, disrupting nation‑state intrusion campaigns and taking down pervasive ransomware variants.

To execute those operations, the FBI says it uses a “best athlete” model so that the strongest authority, access or capability leads the relevant phase of an operation. The document emphasizes integrated threat teams across the FBI’s cyber workforce working together from detection through disruption.

Support victims: rapid help, automated sharing, and an expanded ICS Coordinator program

A dedicated pillar of the strategy focuses on victim support. The FBI says it will rapidly share threat intelligence with organizations that are being targeted and that it aims to deploy automated indicator‑sharing mechanisms to speed that process. The agency commits to quick engagement with victims to support containment and recovery efforts.

For critical infrastructure specifically, the FBI announced an expansion of its Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Coordinator program, with the stated goal of designating dedicated ICS personnel in every field office to improve response and recovery for operational technology environments.

Partnerships: programs for private sector engagement and international cooperation

The FBI sets partnership expansion as a core objective, saying it will deepen relationships across government, with international allies and with the private sector to share actionable intelligence quickly. The strategy names three programs intended to expand private‑sector engagement: the CISO Academy, Cyber Executive Summits and The Leadership in Cyber (LinCY) program.

Separately, the document appears to sit alongside a policy development from August, when President Trump signed a memorandum authorizing federal law enforcement agencies to collaborate with private firms in conducting offensive cyber strikes on foreign threat actors targeting the U.S., a development the strategy references as part of the broader operating context.

Enhancing FBI tools and talent: CETU, AI, and training

The FBI commits to recruit and retain cyber talent and to deliver technical and operational training across its cyber workforce through a Cyber Education and Training Unit (CETU). The agency also specifically promises to deploy AI‑enabled tools to support activities such as triaging large datasets, accelerating malware analysis, prioritizing victim notifications, mapping adversary infrastructure and supporting attribution.

Those technical commitments are presented as complements to organizational changes and partnership work intended to accelerate the FBI’s tempo of response and increase the agency’s ability to act decisively against actors targeting the United States.

What this means for private firms, international allies, and critical infrastructure operators

• Private firms: The strategy foresees deeper engagement through the CISO Academy, Cyber Executive Summits and LinCY, and it sits alongside a presidential memorandum authorizing collaboration on offensive cyber strikes. Firms should expect new avenues for operational collaboration with federal law enforcement, including support that may extend to offensive actions against foreign threat actors.
• International allies: The FBI plans to expand relationships and build systems to share actionable intelligence quickly. Allies named in the strategy’s goals will be recipients of increased information flows intended to support disruption and attribution efforts.
• Critical infrastructure operators: The FBI pledges rapid engagement and automated indicator sharing to speed containment and recovery. The expansion of the ICS Coordinator program to designate dedicated personnel in every field office is an explicit measure to deliver more immediate, specialized assistance to operational‑technology and critical‑infrastructure victims.

Commenting on the strategy, Gabrielle Hempel, security operations strategist at Exabeam, highlighted the change in how the FBI measures “success,” noting that the emphasis on disruption over prosecution “is an interesting shift” and that operational wins can include taking infrastructure offline, seizing money, burning access, exposing tradecraft and forcing adversaries to rebuild.

The FBI’s new Cyber Strategy is notable for its combination of blunt operational aims — imposing cost, seizing cryptocurrency, dismantling infrastructure — and investments in systems meant to accelerate victim notification, partner sharing and technical analysis. Whether those aims produce sustained operational effects will depend on the FBI’s ability to synchronize its “best athlete” teams, scale automated sharing, and integrate AI tools into live operations. The strategy sets a clear direction: the FBI intends to move from a reactive investigative posture toward a faster, disruption‑oriented playbook, backed by expanded partnerships and new technical capabilities.

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