Eric O’Neill’s career began in the FBI’s counterintelligence trenches as an undercover operative. Since then, he has spent decades as a national security attorney, corporate investigator, and national cybersecurity strategist. He speaks to thousands each year across the globe, inspiring audiences to protect themselves and giving them actionable tools to do so. He is the bestselling author of Gray Day (Crown 2019) and Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime (Harper Collins 2025) and is the subject of Universal Pictures movie Breach (2007).

In February 2001, Eric helped capture the most notorious spy in United States history, Robert Phillip Hanssen. In the three months preceding Hanssen’s arrest, Eric was selected to work with the spy within the newly minted information assurance division, created to protect all classified FBI intelligence. Eric was charged with gaining Hanssen’s trust and then using that relationship to slowly draw the traitor out of deep cover. Eric’s investigative skill led to the arrest and ultimate conviction of the master spy. 

Eric is an honors graduate of Auburn University. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from The George Washington University Law School, also with honors.