SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – A few keystrokes can do crippling damage.
"Cyberattacks are underway every single day,” Ted Harrington, Executive Partner at Independent Security Evaluators, said.
Harrington has fixed cybersecurity issues for companies, like Google, Apple, and Netflix, security to protect them in what's become the wild west of the world wide web.
"I would estimate that Iran and other nation states are every single day attacking the United States in a cyber sense because that prepares you for a wartime state in which you could combine that with the traditional sea air or land-based attack,” Harrington said.
On Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism advisory bulletin warning low-level cyberattacks against U.S. networks by those in support of and affiliated with Iran are likely.
"For example, phishing campaigns or credential uh somebody trying to steal credentials and gain access to a network,” Tony Anscombe, Chief Security Evangelist for ESET, said.
Anscombe said while the attacks may start out as low-level, they can escalate.
"They might well use the information they got from that low-level attack to become far more disruptive. So it should be cause for concern,” Anscombe said.
In a time of concern, it's time to button down the virtual hatches.
"I'd also urge all companies to make sure that they have patched all known vulnerabilities. Make sure their cybersecurity posture is at the best possible place that it possibly could be,” Anscombe said.
For regular folks with a computer and an email account, don't open those phishing emails, just delete them.
Harrington said it shouldn't take a global conflict to take cybersecurity seriously.
"Now that's not to say that we should all be Running for the hills and scared and do nothing online, we just shouldn't think that because maybe you're a 10-person company or a 50-person company that you don't have to worry about this, we all should be potentially concerned about this,” Harrington said.
