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Eric O’Neill is an accomplished keynote speaker and has made numerous key note addresses and appearances for a number of venues including educational institutions, consortiums of auditors, chief executive officers, corporate security officers and other executives, non-profit institutions, government agencies, foreign industry, law firms and consultancy groups.

Eric speaks not only about the FBI Robert Hanssen Investigation, but about the broader world of espionage and national security, economic and industrial espionage, fraud, internal investigations, corporate diligence, corporate defense, industrial cyber attacks, hacking, intellectual property theft and other relevant topics.  Eric is also a talented motivational speaker who weaves real life experiences into an entertaining and rewarding tapestry of storytelling.

An accomplished lawyer and author, Eric often provides practical insights into real work situations relevant to many areas of industry.  Eric leverages stories from his experiences in the FBI and making the movie Breach as an entertaining springboard to captivate audiences.

Eric is known for his engaging and captivating question and answer sessions at the conclusion of his remarks.

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Keynote Samples

Eric O’Neill A3 Business Forum Keynote 2018
Orlando, January 2018
Eric Discusses Cybersecurity at Miller Park
Miller Park in Milwaukee WI April 2017
Eric Discusses Ransomware 2017
28th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference 2017
CyberTalks 2017
Cybersecurity in the Age of Espionage
Anaheim, California October 2015
Why Backgrounds Matter
Anaheim, California October 2015
Auburn University 2014
Eric O’Neill Johnny Rockets Keynote Excepts

Speaking Topics

Eric’s process in delivering a keynote or presentation is to fully research the topic proposed by you, work with you to refine the keynote or presentation so that it achieves your goals, and deliver a speech that is intriguing, entertaining and educational.  Eric is always willing to engage your audience in question and answer sessions at the conclusion of formal remarks. He has also led “fireside chats” with more intimate groups where questions are allowed at any time during prepared remarks. This allows your audience to drive the conversation.

Cyber Security Cyber Security in the Age of Espionage Cyber theft of private and confidential information from government agencies, business, and private individuals exceeded $6 trillion annually in 2021. The modern spy is responsible for these sophisticated, brilliant, devious, and technologically advanced attacks targeting your data. Read More

Cyber Security in the Age of Espionage

Cyber Security

The cyber theft of private and confidential information from government agencies, business, and private individuals exceeded $6 trillion in 2021. The modern spy is responsible for these technologically advanced attacks targeting your data. Robert Hanssen was the first of these new cyber spies, charged with selling American secrets to Russia for more than US$1.4 million in cash and diamonds. His ability to exploit computer systems allowed him to protect his identity during a 22-year spy career. In this exciting and informative talk, Eric O’Neill uses real-life spy stories and a review of recent massive cyber-attacks to show how careful diligence, counter-espionage techniques, and zero trust can help identify the numerous spies, hackers, cyber criminals, and trusted insiders that threaten the data that is the currency of our lives.

Motivational Cyber Security Leadership Gray Day: How I Caught the Most Damaging Spy in American History Learn intricate details of the investigation that caught the most damaging spy in United States History and how setting small goals that lead to big accomplishments leads to achieving your dreams. Read More

Gray Day: How I Caught the Most Damaging Spy in American History

Motivational Cyber Security Leadership

Imagine if the FBI locked you in a room for eight hours a day with the most ruthless and damaging spy in United States history. Imagine feeling unqualified and outgunned, knowing the country depends on you to succeed despite the fact no one has provided the means to do so. Robert Hanssen was a notorious cyber spy charged with selling American secrets to Russia for more than US$1.4 million in cash and diamonds. His ability to exploit computer systems allowed him to protect his identity during a 22-year spy career. In this edge-of-the-seat spy thriller talk, Eric O’Neill shares intricate details of the investigation and shows how you can find success inside yourself by setting small goals that lead to big accomplishments until finally, through courage, confidence, and determination, victory is achieved.

Cyber Security Cyber Spies Are Holding Your Data Hostage; This Is How You Stop Them Ransomware is not only the top cybercrime for the last few years, it is a go-to tool for spies, terrorists and attackers. Read More

Cyber Spies Are Holding Your Data Hostage; This Is How You Stop Them

Cyber Security

Ransomware is not only the most damaging and costly cybercrime, it is a go-to tool for spies, terrorists, and attackers. Over the last three years, ransomware attacks increased 2,500 percent and security experts predict that this economic boom industry will cost $11.5 million by 2019. In this lively and entertaining talk, cybersecurity expert Eric O’Neill uses humor and stories to explain why ransomware has taken the dark web by storm, why terrorists and spies are launching the largest ransomware attacks, how a single email can cause catastrophic damage and the easy steps you and your organization can take to save your data.

Corporate Security Cyber Security Insider Threat Data Is The Currency Of Our Lives; This Is How You Protect It. In the information age, your company’s most precious asset is data. How can you keep it secure? This personal list was compiled over decades of work as an undercover operative in the FBI and security consultant. Read More

Data Is The Currency Of Our Lives; This Is How You Protect It.

Corporate Security Cyber Security Insider Threat

In the information age, your company’s most precious asset is data. How can you keep it secure? In this lively and informative talk, cybersecurity expert, author and spy hunter Eric O’Neill uses true stories informed by decades of work as an undercover operative in the FBI and security consultant to help you protect your information. Audiences will learn about the need for diligence; critical areas in physical security; phishing and email hacks; social media do’s and don’ts; how spies recruit; economic espionage; preventing the insider threat; and why it is important to hunt the threat before the threat hunts you.

Trusted Insider The Human Element: The Weakest Link In Every Security System Is Not A Computer Security professionals must not only look outward when securing a system, they must become spy hunters, looking for internal exploits and penetrations that may not be easy to detect. Read More
Cyber Security Social Media techniques Surviving the Age of Social Media: What You Need To Know To Protect Yourself From Social Media Spies And Fraudsters Hacking is the necessary evolution of espionage. Read More

Surviving the Age of Social Media: What You Need To Know To Protect Yourself From Social Media Spies And Fraudsters

Cyber Security Social Media techniques

Hacking is the necessary evolution of espionage.  As people have moved their lives, relationships and personal data online, spies have learned to exploit this data in order to steal identities, intellectual property and more.  Learn the most critical ways that spies are stealing your data by leveraging your social media accounts and how you can take steps to stop them.

Cyber Security How The World Will End: Cyber Security In A Shrinking World The global phenomenon of information sharing has created extraordinary innovation in communication, but has also become a gold mine for cyber criminals. Read More

How The World Will End: Cyber Security In A Shrinking World

Cyber Security

The global phenomenon of information sharing has created extraordinary innovation in communication, but has also become a gold mine for cyber criminals.  This topic explores the current cyber threats facing industry, government and private individuals, from threats to national infrastructure, to corporate espionage and cyber terrorism, to identity theft and online fraud.

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