FBI cyber boss gets bigger portfolio
Joseph Demarest, who took a leading role in pointing the finger at North Korea for the Sony hack, moves to the No. 2 position in the Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.
The FBI has given one of its top cyber officials a new assignment. Joseph Demarest, who had been assistant director of the bureau’s cyber division since 2012, is now associate executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.
The new position, created by FBI Director James Comey, expands Demarest’s portfolio beyond cybersecurity to include criminal investigations, incident response and international operations.
As the branch’s second-in-command, Demarest will be “providing technical advice and guidance across components while establishing and nurturing relationships with federal, state, and local law enforcement and intelligence agencies,” Comey said in a statement.
Demarest was at the forefront of the Obama administration’s public relations campaign to persuade skeptics that North Korea was behind the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In January, he told reporters that investigators had concluded it was “clearly North Korea or a proxy put up by North Korea” responsible for the cyberattack.
James Trainor, previously Demarest’s deputy, is now acting assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, according to spokesman Joshua Campbell.
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