FBI Cyber Division Deputy Assistant Director Cynthia Kaiser has announced she is leaving the Federal government and is moving to ransomware security provider Halcyon.
“Early last year, I realized that it was coming time for me to transition to industry,” said Kaiser in a LinkedIn post on June 3 announcing the transition. “The best practitioners in our space have experience in both government and the private sector, and there is so much in industry that I can’t wait to learn.”
Kaiser started working at the FBI as the assistant section chief for the agency’s Cyber National Security Intelligence Section in 2017 and was later promoted to section chief in 2020. In November 2022, she started serving as the deputy assistant director for the FBI’s Cyber Policy, Intelligence and Engagement Branch.
Before her most recent roles with the FBI, Kaiser also worked as an intelligence analyst with the bureau for nine years and then as a supervisory intelligence analyst. Additional positions outside of the FBI included serving as the president’s executive coordinator and intel briefer for senior White House officials, and a brief stint as an East Asia analyst.
At Halcyon, she’ll head the company’s Ransomware Research Center as senior vice president and will focus her efforts on improving intel sharing with public and private organizations, according to the company.
“Cynthia will further strengthen Halcyon’s position as the industry-leading ransomware solution by bringing her decades of experience to help secure our advantage as the ransomware intelligence experts,” said Jon Miller, CEO and co-founder of Halcyon, in a statement.
In addition to her cyber leadership roles in the Federal government, Kaiser was also a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board, comprised of 20 public and private sector members who investigated significant cyber incidents – such as the Salt and Volt Typhoon attacks – before it was disbanded by the second Trump administration in January.