A New Year’s Warning About Potential Cyberattacks

If you have been paying attention to the news, you will have seen how the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq was attacked on December 31st, 2019 and how the US retaliated with a drone strike killing a high ranking Iranian general on the 3rd of January, 2020. While not diving into the good or bad of this, there is every reason to believe Iran will attempt some kind of counterattack, most probably in the cyber realm, rather than the physical.

Iranian cyber-weapons and cyber-warfare troops are advanced and the nation has all the motivation it needs to launch a concerted digital attack. Please be extra vigilant over the next few weeks with unexpected emails, voice mails, or phone calls. Be suspicious. If you have any doubt at all to the validity of an email, please contact Information Security for assistance. It only takes one email to add Berry to the list of unfortunate institutions that have suffered a devastating cyber-attack.

I would ask department heads, office managers, directors, and other employees in managerial positions to request further training for their staff or faculty if they feel there may be a weak link in the operational unit. There’s no need to point out individuals…simply request training, either online or face-to-face, for the entire unit.

That’s my New Year’s warning and plea!

Welcome back!

Photo credit – Photo by Goh Rhy Yan on Unsplash