Eric O’Neill

Eric O’Neill is the author of the book Gray Day and the subject of Universal Studios’ feature film, Breach.

Eric is an accomplished public speaker, security expert and author that lectures internationally about espionage and national security, cybersecurity, fraud, corporate diligence and defense, hacking, pursuing ones dreams and surviving Hollywood.

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Testimonials

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 signed a book with a personalized message for each person.

Danielle Brouillette, Senior Field & Partner Marketing Manager, ExtraHop

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.

Rachel Shaw, Information Security & Risk Management, Qualcomm Incorporated

Eric was an excellent keynote speaker for our corporate conference! He is a talented storyteller who did a great job engaging the audience with his tales of espionage and cybercrime, while also incorporating important insights into how to deal with a cyberattack should it occur.

Ogletree Deakins

Eric is simply brilliant. His energy, expertise and insight into the ever-changing cybersecurity industry is unparalleled. I had worked with Eric in the past for a live event, but was equally impressed with his ability to carry a virtual keynote presentation and deliver a high-quality, compelling experience for the remote audience. Eric goes out of this way to ensure his talk is aligned with your event goals, theme, and audience makeup. He asked the right questions in our pre-event brief, and customized his content to meet our needs. The feedback we received from our attendees was outstanding and we look forward to working with Eric again in the future.

Justin McCoubry, Director of Marketing for North America, Egress

Eric was a wonderful addition to our Company-wide Conference and, for many of our attendees, his presentation was the highlight. He was engaging, animated, charming and able to extract important and relevant business lessons from his experience with the FBI. I appreciated his candor, the tailoring of his message to our theme and the time he took to spend with our team. I'd recommend him as a speaker at any corporate event.

John Fuller, President & CEO, Johnny Rockets

Eric was a fantastic speaker, and exactly what we wanted for our audience of tech executives. His combination of a great story plus the cybersecurity expertise made his keynote compelling while also providing practical advice. We had a line out the door for his post-keynote book signing. Eric was extremely accommodating  in helping us to promote his keynote in advance and signing extra books for our board members post-event.

Lien-Anh Van Wagener, Sr. Director, Events & Education, CompTIA

Personally, I don’t think we could ask for a better outcome than our employees becoming interested in cybersecurity! One of our core values is “Connect the Whole”, which highlights how interconnectedness is at the heart of everything we do. Eric's keynote helped highlight that with every employee’s vigilance and partnership, we can continue to do great things, together.

Allyne Ettner, Integration and Global Change Management Lead, Interface.com

Eric delivered a compelling keynote that was a highlight of the Acronis Cyber Protection Summit in Miami. Eric used humor and lessons from his career to highlight the importance of Cyber Protection for the audience, and was highly praised by the audience.

Gaidar Magdanurov, Chief Cyber Strategy Officer, Acronis

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 delivered such a memorable and helpful keynote address at MAXX Convention in Boise. The web of intrigue Eric wove as he detailed how he helped the FBI catch such a notorious spy, was fascinating, and a story attendees will talk about for years to come. More importantly, Eric provided tangible takeaways for credit unions to “hunt the  threats” before they hunt credit unions.

Troy Stang, Northwest Credit Union Association

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 cybersecurity report and other cybersecurity 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.

Carrie Page, Manager, Events & Partner Relations, CloudLock

Eric was fabulous. I was personally so impressed with his keynote address and his delivery style.  He is a fantastic story teller. The feedback we’ve gotten thus far has been overwhelmingly positive.  We’ve had multiple attendees comment that he was by far our best keynote address to date.

Melanie Raczkowski, Connecticut Education Network

Eric delivered an absolutely mesmerizing keynote for our cybersecurity event. He tailored his talk specifically to the topic of the event, weaving in very relevant and thought provoking commentary of particular interest to our audience. I couldn’t have asked for a better keynote and sincerely hope we’ll cross paths again soon.

Dan Barahona, Senior Vice President, WatchDox

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 and University Auditors

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!

Page Brothers, Program Committee Chair, ISACA Virginia

Now I've got to see the movie, Breach! Eric made an excellent presentation, keeping everyone on the edges of their seats!

Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries 

Mr. O’Neill’s presentation was very engaging.  He was able to translate his experiences into a thought-provoking presentation on risk management covering the investigation methods used and professional/life lessons learned with insight and humor.

Henrico County 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, Assura, Inc.

Eric is truly a once in a lifetime speaker that everyone should see and hear in person! You could have heard a pin drop in a room of 1000+

NCMS Seminar Committee

Eric captivated 350 business leaders, who left with clear insight into the non-negotiable importance of strategic cybersecurity.

Melody Bernhardt, CCB Technology

Eric O’Neill is an engaging speaker, whose message of courage and determination resonates especially well with college students. Drawing on his own life experience as a spy hunter, O’Neill speaks with authenticity and candor about his work as an FBI Investigator. Speaking at Auburn University, for the Graduate School’s New Horizon Lecture, O’Neill downplayed the Hollywood image of spies to emphasize the importance of hard work, perseverance, and the courage to act in ways that are true to your own beliefs. In the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, O’Neill message is especially relevant. I highly recommend him as a speaker for college audiences or for anyone interested in cyber security.

George Crandell, Associate Dean, Auburn University

News

Nov 12, 2021

Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace

Check out Eric’s blurb on ZDNet regarding the Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace. Eric O’Neill, national security strategist at…

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Apr 26, 2021

Defend Forward Amid a New Era of Cyber Espionage | Opinion by Eric O’Neill in Newsweek

“As the Biden administration takes aim at protecting against new and evolving cyberattacks, one thing is clear: We need Defend Forward to…

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Apr 18, 2019

Read my Opinion Editorial in USA Today about Russian Disinformation Campaigns

Russian interference, confirmed by the Mueller report, has been going on since Cold War Eric O’Neill, Opinion contributor Published 12:39 p.m. ET…

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