Eric O'Neill

Cybersecurity Expert, Legendary FBI Operative Featured in the Film Breach, Bestselling Author, Technology Futurist & Attorney

Eric O'Neill

Cybersecurity Expert, Legendary FBI Operative Featured in the Film Breach, Bestselling Author, Technology Futurist & Attorney

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Biography

Best known for his role in capturing the most notorious spy in United States history, Robert Hanssen, Eric O’Neill is a cybersecurity authority, engaging keynote speaker, former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative, attorney, and national security strategist. He is the bestselling author of Gray Day, and the inspiration for the film Breach, in which he was portrayed by actor Ryan Phillippe. O’Neill is the founder of The Georgetown Group, a premier investigative and security services firm, and serves as a national security strategist for cybersecurity companies.

Eric O’Neill, cybersecurity expert, legendary FBI operative, attorney, and founder of The Georgetown Group and NeXasure AI—works with organizations to protect themselves against cybercriminals, whose total thefts constitute the world’s third-largest economy.

Eric is an in-demand speaker. With his lively style and stories from the dark web, Eric delivers bespoke keynotes on the rise of sinister cyberattacks, AI-generated threats, and more—including how to keep your money and your reputation safe. Engagements include Acronis, Allstate, AT&T, Bayer, Dell, FedEx, Honeywell, McKinsey, SalesForce, universities, and numerous associations from IIA to YPO.

Eric began his career in the FBI as a graduate of the FBI’s Intelligence Program. He spent the first five years as a field operative in a special surveillance group tasked to surveil and monitor foreign, national, and domestic terrorists and spies.

Eric transitioned from “ghosting” targets from the shadows to direct undercover work with a singular assignment—with little backup or support: Catch his new boss, Robert Hanssen, a 25-year veteran of the FBI, in the act of espionage with the Russians. Hanssen died in a supermax prison in 2023 at the age of 79.

Eric’s edge-of-your-seat story is featured in the dramatic thriller Breach, starring Ryan Philippe and Laura Linney. The film is set inside the FBI, the gatekeeper of the nation’s most sensitive and potentially volatile secrets, and it reveals the story of the greatest security breach in US history. During the Hanssen investigation, Eric worked directly undercover with the spy within the FBI’s Information Assurance Division, created to protect all classified FBI intelligence. Read about it in Eric’s acclaimed book, Gray Day: My Undercover Mission to Expose America’s First Cyber Spy (Crown).

In 2009, Eric founded The Georgetown Group which has become a premier investigative and security consultancy in Washington, DC. The firm specializes in competitive intelligence research, counterintelligence operations, economic espionage, cybersecurity penetrations, AI-fueled attacks, internal investigations, and security risk assessment. Eric has also served as a national security strategist for cybersecurity companies, including VMWare Carbon Black and Broadcom.

Eric is also a media commentator. He and his work have been covered by CNN, C-Span, Fox, NPR, Newsweek, TechCrunch, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, World News Now, Access Hollywood, and more.

Eric is an honors graduate of Auburn University and George Washington University School of Law.

Eric’s next book is The Invisible Threat: Secrets from a Spyhunter in an AI World (HarperCollins 2025).

Speaker Videos

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Cybersecurity in the Age of Espionage

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Johnny Rockets Internal Conference

At Auburn University

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Speech Topics

Cybersecurity: Spies, Lies & Cybercrime – Protecting Your Data in a Dark Web Economy

Dive headfirst into the battleground where foreign spies, deepfakes, and Dark Web criminals conspire to steal from you. Today’s adversaries are relentless and cunning. They’re exploiting every vulnerability, deploying an arsenal of generative AI bots and bandits. As we hurtle towards the future, cybertheft will take over $20 trillion USD from organizations just like yours. Join cybersecurity expert and legendary FBI spy hunter Eric O’Neill in this unexpected presentation. With fresh stories that read like a thriller, Eric teaches you to think like a spy catcher and win.

Objectives:

Understand why cybercrime is the fastest growing business on earth
Understand the connection between espionage and dark web cybercrime
Learn counterintelligence techniques to protect yourself and your company from cybercrime
Learn to think like a spy hunter

Secrets from a Legendary Spyhunter: Decoding AI Deepfakes, Extortion & More

AI-generated voices, texts, and images pose a grave threat to national security—and to you. The latest jaw-dropping stories include kidnapping calls to parents who hear their child’s wrenching cries for help. Elaborate video conferences that dupe teams into funding projects by bad actors. Ransomware from cyber-extortionists who hold your data hostage. In a world where technology drives our lives, you must take new steps to protect yourself and your organization. With his characteristic wit and storytelling, cybersecurity expert and legendary spyhunter Eric O’Neill tells you how to identify AI-fueled attacks…and stop them from taking your money.

Objectives:

Understand how Generative AI has allowed cybercriminals to scale operations and improve attacks
Understand how cybercriminals use deepfakes to deceive victims
Learn how new advances in AI will change security
Learn what you can do to protect yourself from deepfake cyber attacks

Leadership Under Pressure: What You Can Learn from Spies, Bond & Bourne?

What separates extraordinary leaders from everyone else? It isn’t luck. It isn’t perfect planning. And it certainly isn’t having all the answers.

Former FBI counterintelligence operative Eric O’Neill knows what it’s like to make life changing decisions under extraordinary pressure. Tasked with helping expose Robert Hanssen, the most damaging spy in FBI history, Eric was thrust into an assignment he wasn’t trained for, against an adversary who had defeated the FBI for more than two decades.

In this highly interactive masterclass, Eric combines gripping stories from the front lines of espionage with practical leadership lessons that every executive, entrepreneur, and professional can apply immediately. Through live audience polling, decision making exercises, and real world case studies, participants will discover how elite intelligence professionals assess risk, respond to uncertainty, recover from failure, and lead when the stakes are highest.

Whether you’re leading an organization, building a business, or navigating your own pivotal career decisions, you’ll leave with a proven framework for making better decisions under pressure and inspiring others to do the same.

Participants will learn how to:

Recognize opportunities before they disappear.
Make confident decisions without waiting for perfect information.
Turn setbacks and unexpected challenges into competitive advantages.
Invest time where it creates the greatest impact.
Build momentum through small wins when the odds seem stacked against them.
Take ownership of decisions and lead with courage and accountability.
The greatest lessons in leadership don’t come from the boardroom. Sometimes they come from the hunt for a spy.

Testimonials

"Fantastic! He was a huge hit. Thank you for all you did to help us. We sold out of books too!"

- Indiana Electric Cooperatives

"Eric O’Neill is an enthralling speaker who brings to life the realities of espionage and what it means to the average business. He painted a picture that was both enticing and terrifying based upon his experience at the FBI."

- CSO Magazine

"Eric is a consummate professional with a relaxed demeanor. He was the absolute hit of our event! We had a record attendance at our meeting and, due to his great presentation, we have new exposure for our ISACA chapter!"

- Program Committee Chair, ISACA Virginia

"The un-Hollywood look into catching one of the most notorious spies in US history told with brutal honesty and humor".

- Chief Operating Officer of Assura, Inc.

"Eric was an amazing speaker! He was warm, personable, knowledgeable, and generous with details about this exciting and heroic story. He was a huge hit with our attendees!"

- Association of College & University Auditors

"Eric was the hit of the show! Our guests were all blown away by what he had to say, and our team was impressed by his professionalism and charm. I can honestly tell you that he was the best speaker we had at this year’s Conference."

- The Johnny Rockets Group, Inc.

“Eric O’Neill spoke at our Qualcomm conference and our group was very pleased. He hit home with the importance of being diligent to protect personal and company data – with many examples of ways we are all being targeted. The threat is REAL, and people need to take it seriously.”

- Qualcomm

"Eric was the perfect guest speaker for our event. With an audience of IT Security folks, he not only captivated the room with his thrilling espionage story, but also incorporated our latest cyber-security report and other cyber-security themes into his talk. Eric has a long list of interesting topics he can speak on, and we hope that we can bring him back to speak again in the future."

- CloudLock

“Eric O'Neill is a speaker with a gift for storytelling that keeps audiences hooked. His practical tips and thorough preparation made his session both memorable and actionable. Eric was also a true professional-responsive, easy to work with, and a pleasure throughout the entire experience. Highly recommend!”

- PURE Insurance

“Eric O’Neill is absolutely fantastic!! ExtraHop hired Eric to speak about his experience in the FBI as a counter-terrorism and counterintelligence operative. The passion and energy he was able to convey through his storytelling kept our audience captivated the entire time. Eric made it a point to talk to every attendee and did a book signed with a personalized message for each person.”

- ExtraHop

“A memorable and helpful keynote address. Eric provided tangible takeaways for credit unions to “hunt the threats” before they hunt credit unions.”

- Northwest Credit Association