James Turgal

James Turgal is vice president of cyber risk, strategy and transformation for Optiv.

“Having been a special agent for the FBI, I have seen crisis situations large and small. I have arrested, interviewed and looked criminals in the face, but Sept. 11, 2001, was the day that evil came to the United States. Americans witnessed real evil firsthand.”

The physical attacks on Washington, D.C., and New York were a pivot point in American history. Innovation and technology (in the form of commercial jet airplanes) were used as a vehicle to carry out the attacks. We were forced to identify weaknesses in our physical security systems. We were awakened to the intersection of physical security and cybersecurity.”

“The paper-based system I created at the FBI to ensure terrorists could never get on another commercial airplane has become a beacon of international intelligence fusion and cyber acuity (the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center). The attacks changed the FBI and the intelligence community forever, presenting the realization that future wars would be fought in cyberspace, where malicious code and malware are the weapons of choice.”