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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.
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Cybersecurity Expert, Legendary FBI Operative Featured in the Film Breach, Bestselling Author, Technology Futurist and Attorney
Eric O’Neill’s career began in the FBI’s counterintelligence trenches as an undercover operative. His work brought down Robert Hanssen, the most notorious and damaging spy in United States history. Since then, Eric has spent decades as a national security attorney, corporate investigator, and national cybersecurity strategist. His story became the Hollywood thriller Breach, starring Ryan Phillippe as O’Neill, his own bestselling book, Gray Day, and now, engaging keynotes with jaw-dropping stories and teachable moments. He speaks to thousands each year across the globe, inspiring audiences to protect themselves and giving them actionable tools to do so.
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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 Phillippe 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).
Dive headfirst into the battleground where foreign spies, deepfakes, and Dark Web criminals conspire to steal from you.
Dive headfirst into the battleground where foreign spies, deepfakes, and Dark Web criminals conspire to steal from you.
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