Insurance broker Aon recruits former FBI cyber-risk expert
Global insurance brokerage, Aon, has recruited James C. Trainor, formerly the FBI’s highest-ranking cyber expert, to help build its cyber risk business. Trainor will take the position of senior vice president of the Cyber Solutions Group. His 20 years' of FBI experience fighting cyber crime will be used to guide Aon’s cyber security strategy, helping to prevent clients from being taken down by internet attacks.

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Aon has hired the FBI's top cybersecurity expert to its cyber risk team, hoping his expertise will help clients avoid being taken down by an internet attack like the massive one that brought down Twitter, Spotify and others on Friday.

James C. Trainor, assistant director of the Cyber Division of the FBI since August 2015, will help the Chicago-founded risk management and insurance brokerage build up its cyber risk business.



Trainor will work on Aon Risk Solutions' approach to managing cyber risk for the firm's clients as senior vice president of its Cyber Solutions Group, Aon announced Monday. He will be based in New York.

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Trainor spent 20 years in the FBI, starting as a field officer in 1996 and rising to become its highest-ranking cyber expert. During that time, he worked on strategies to fight cybercrime and dealt with incidents at the intersection of cybercrime and national security.

That experience and expertise will help guide Aon's cybersecurity strategy, Aon Risk Solutions CEO Mike O'Connor said, according to a press release.

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Earlier this month, Aon acquired cybersecurity firm Stroz Friedberg, which was founded by former FBI agent Ed Stroz and former federal prosecutor Eric Friedberg. Together, Aon and Stroz Friedberg will assess clients' risk and sell them tools to prevent and recover from attacks.

Stroz Friedberg's more than 550 employees are also joining the Cyber Solutions Group, where Trainor will work.

"When we look at the future of risk management, there's a significant component of risk management as it relates to cyber that goes outside of our traditional boundaries," John Bruno, Aon's executive vice president of enterprise innovation and chief information officer, told Blue Sky at the time of the acquisition.

Aon traditionally provided services for issues including actuarial risk management, crisis management and product recalls. Now, as the cybersecurity market heats up — the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based nonprofit insurance information group reports American businesses spent more than $2 billion on cyber insurance in 2015 — Aon is beefing up what it can offer in that space.

aelahi@tribpub.com

Twitter @aminamania