Notoriously reluctant: continuing conversations with FBI and private sector defenders about disrupting cybercriminals through collaboration

Sara Eberle

Sara Eberle is a cybersecurity and cybercrime communications strategist. She brings deep familiarity with the threat landscape, including vulnerabilities across first- and third-party ecosystems, ransomware, phishing and identity theft, dark web activity, and the evolving tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by both cybercriminal groups and nation-state adversaries. She also tracks the role of cryptocurrency in cybercrime and the emergence of AI-driven cyberattacks and defences.  

Sara was Sophos’ Vice President of Global Communications from 2016 to 2025, and she is now a consultant for international cybersecurity service providers. She has worked with law enforcement and government partners including the FBI, CISA and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, and supports Secure by Design principles. She also served for eight years on the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) communications committee and regularly contributes to global cybersecurity dialogues. This includes presenting alongside FBI cyber agents at the CTA’s TIPS at Virus Bulletin conferences in London (2023) and Dublin (2024) on coordinated cybercrime takedowns through public-private collaboration.  

Sara believes the cybersecurity industry has a stronger chance of disrupting the adversaries when private and public sector experts join forces to piece together the criminal activities they’ve individually uncovered. And, with new AI capabilities and a vast number of unpatched systems already vulnerable to attack (way before Mythos!), far deeper practices of sharing threat intelligence are now essential. 

DeLynn "Dee" Bettencourt Hammell

DeLynn "Dee" Bettencourt Hammell serves as the FBI's Cyber Law Enforcement Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, where she works closely with partners in Portugal, Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar to coordinate international cyber operations and cross‑border information sharing. Throughout her FBI career of more than 16 years, she led and contributed to major collaborative efforts, including multi-national takedowns, cross-border disruption campaigns, and joint investigations with foreign law enforcement and intelligence services.

Dee brings a strong technical foundation and a long track record of building partnerships across the cyber community. Prior to her current role based in South Europe she served as Unit Chief in the FBI's Cyber Division, a supervisory special agent at FBI's Washington Field Office, and a technical lead on high-profile intrusion investigations, including a major Silicon Valley data breach. As a former Silicon Valley Digital Signal Processing engineer, she frequently works at the intersection of technical investigation and inter-agency collaboration.