Joel Schwarz is a former cyber prosecutor for the Justice Dept & New York State Attorney General, as well as a former Intelligence Community Privacy Officer (CLPO), and Counsel on E-Commerce and Privacy for MetLife. Mr. Schwarz is a certified information privacy professional (CIPP), certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), and a frequent speaker, publisher and thought leader on privacy, cybersecurity and emerging tech issues.
He is currently a Managing Partner with The Schwarz Group, LLC, and an Adjunct Professor at Albany Law School, where he develops and teaches Masters-level courses on cybercrime, cybersecurity and privacy. Schwarz is a highly skilled and experienced consultant and attorney specializing in privacy, cybersecurity, cyber intelligence, and compliance oversight.
Previously, Mr. Schwarz served as the Senior Director, Global Internet Enforcement & Data Analytics for BSA |The Software Alliance (BSA), managing a multi-million $ budget and supervising local and international staff, contractors, vendors, and outside counsel in development and implementation of a holistic strategy for BSA’s Internet Enforcement Department. He was also a member of BSA’s GDPR Implementation Working Group and helped oversee BSA’s data mapping, and design of operational privacy requirements for his Department.
Prior to BSA, Mr. Schwarz was the Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer (CLPO) for the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), an office that he stood up and led as NCTC’s first CLPO. In that role, he spearheaded the development, implementation, and oversight of a holistic, agency-wide privacy and civil liberties compliance program to identify, assess, and manage compliance risks across the organization. Mr. Schwarz also worked with Senate and House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees to keep them apprised of NCTC’s ongoing handling of information, while concurrently protecting privacy and civil liberties, and held regular briefing sessions with the President’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). Finally, Mr. Schwarz advised the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) on establishing a privacy office.
Before NCTC, Mr. Schwarz was a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) where he prosecuted cybercrime cases and represented U.S. law enforcement and intelligence organizations in the negotiation, drafting, and signing of the APEC Privacy Framework. He also drafted and implemented technology laws, policies, and information sharing mechanisms, both domestically and abroad, and provided policy advice and guidance on cybercrime/cybersecurity legislation throughout Asia and Africa.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Schwarz served as Special Counsel for Internet Matters for the Securities Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office and as Assistant Attorney General for the Internet Bureau. He was also E-commerce and Privacy Counsel for MetLife, where he advised various lines of business on privacy and security, and was responsible for helping to implement MetLife’s e-commerce strategy, including the purchase and roll-out of an online bank.
Mr. Schwarz received his law degree from Albany Law School, cum laude, and his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton, cum laude. He subsequently completed a certification in Advanced Information Technologies from New York University.
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