The notorious SamSam ransomware — which extracted over $6 million in payments from more than 200 victim organizations — forced the FBI to adjust its model for handling cyberattack investigations, a senior bureau official said Thursday.
Nearly all 56 of the FBI’s field offices responded to SamSam incidents— an inefficient way of keeping up with the malware, said Tonya Ugoretz, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division.
And so, in an example of how the FBI is trying to adapt to an era of unceasing cyberthreats to U.S. businesses, the bureau changed its investigative structure.