PwC Taps Ex-Deputy FBI Director to Lead Financial Crimes Unit

PricewaterhouseCoopers has hired a former FBI deputy director to lead a new consulting group to address financial crime issues.

PwC tapped Sean Joyce to lead its Financial Crimes Unit, which will counsel the firm's financial-services industry clients on cybersecurity. The unit will comprise more than 300 professionals with expertise in cybersecurity anti-money laundering, sanctions, fraud, bribery and corruption.

Joyce, a principal in PwC's U.S. Advisory Forensics Services practice in Washington, was previously the executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch.

Theft of physical forms of intellectual property has spiked 185% this year, PwC said in a Monday report titled “The Global State of Information Security.” The study also found that employees are the most frequently cited source of compromise. However, the number of incidents directly related to organized crime grew 45% from two years ago.

To highlight the opportunity for firms like PwC to provide consulting, the report noted that corporate spending on information security has grown 14% in the last year.