FBI Director Robert Muller is asking for private businesses’ help to fight cybercrime. It is clear that an agency overwhelmed with terrorism investigations has a lower priority on cybercrime in terms of resources and importance and this is why the FBI is turning to private organizations and asking for help.

Those of you in the private sector are our first line of defense. We recognize that in certain areas we lack the expertise that you possess. We lack the specific knowledge of threats that affect individual businesses every day.

FBI hopes that the private sector and the government can work hand-in-hand to stay on the top of the technological advancements that are often used by criminals. The FBI also has several initiatives to work with private businesses, such as its InfraGard program, which has about 3,000 members. These efforts have helped identify new attacks and track down attackers, Mueller said. For example, in collaboration with Microsoft, the FBI found the alleged creators of the Mytob and Zotob worms.

[Via CNET News.com]