OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) – The FBI is rolling out a new public awareness campaign to protect citizens and businesses from cybersecurity threats.
Gene Kowel, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Omaha Field Office, said Operation Winter Shield began a few weeks ago. The campaign includes 10 steps you can take to protect yourself online, from setting up multi-factor authentication to retiring old technology.
Americans are targeted online by foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
"Anytime we're at war with an adversary, we assume that they'll do anything they can on the cyberfront to help destabilize our country and to strengthen their position," Kowel said.
There were about 2,600 cybersecurity crime complaints from Nebraska and 7,200 from Iowa in 2024, according to FBI statistics. Those crimes resulted in losses of more than $45 million in Nebraska and more than $70 million in Iowa.
Kowel said smaller businesses and individuals are at greater risk than larger companies, which have larger cybersecurity staffs.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
