While conventional military attacks of the United States and Israel against Iran have prompted Iranian missile and drone strikes against American military bases throughout the Middle East as well as against American embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, an additional threat is that of cyberattacks by Iranian hackers and pro Iranian hacktivist groups against American infrastructure and American companies.  Iran has shown the ability to perpetrate such attacks in the past such as in 2012 when Iranian hackers used DDoS attacks against 46 major banks and financial institutions as well as attacks against health care centers, utility providers and government agencies in 2022.  In addition, ordinary scammers will try to take advantage of the war to send phishing and spear phishing emails and text messages intended to lure you into clicking on infected links or provide sensitive personal information.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

Much of what you can do is what we all should be doing regardless of this immediate threat although the need to do so at this time is certainly heightened.  Here are some steps to help protect yourself from possible cyberattacks.

TIPS

  1.  Iranian hackers in the past have exploited home networks, routers, phones and Internet of Things devices that have not installed the latest security patches and updates as well as using outdated systems.  A good way to do this is to turn on automatic updates for your operating systems and make sure your router is updated and not using a default password.  Isolate your Internet of Things devices such as your smart television on a separate guest network on your router.  Disable remote management on your router unless you need it.
  2. Use strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts.  Doing so will keep your important accounts more secure in the event that there is a data breach at any of your other accounts.
  3. Passwords will inevitably be compromised in data breaches and when people may fall for a phishing or spear phishing email or text message that convinces you to provide your password.  Scammers can be very convincing. The best thing you can do to protect yourself in this instance is to use dual factor authentication on all of your accounts.
  4. Be particularly wary of any social media posts, emails, text messages or phone calls related to the war that ask you to click on links, download attachments or provide personal information or make a contribution.  Verify.
  5. Backup your important data such as health care records and bank account records in the cloud and on a portable hard drive to protect you from DDoS attacks that may temporarily shut down your bank or health care provider’s online presence.
  6. Monitor your online accounts and your credit reports regularly.  Monitoring your credit report can be done for free as often as every week through this website. https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action  This is the only website to use to monitor your credit reports for free. Scammers set up phony free credit report sites that may have hidden charges or steal your information.

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