Experts warn of Iranian cyber threat

CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Experts are warning about Iran retaliating not only with missiles but also using the internet as its weapon against the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning that cyberattacks against the U.S. are likely.

An expert says everyone who uses social media could be a target, but she says Iran might first try to go after big infrastructure.

Theresa Payton is the CEO and Founder of cybersecurity firm, Fortalice Solutions, in Charlotte, and a former White House Chief Information Officer under President George W. Bush. Payton is the first female to hold that position.

Payton says sectors like energy, transportation, finance, water, natural gas, and gas pipelines might be the initial targets for a cyberattack.

She says all businesses need to be prepared to combat website takeovers and make workers aware of how to avoid cyberattacks.

But she says if Iran isn’t successful by hitting businesses, they could turn to something most of us use every day.

“Anything that sows confusion, disruption, distrust could be a target. Social media, they could look at taking over accounts of elected officials, pretending to be them and posting crazy things on these accounts, or even reaching out to U.S. citizens on these accounts, so be very wary of sort of imposter accounts that start to show up on social media,” said Payton.

Payton says she’s been getting calls from businesses all day on Monday, wondering what they can do to prepare.

“They (cyber attackers) may resort to doing deep fake forgery, deep fake video, deep fake audio to try and manipulate social media conversations for or against certain issues, so just be extra vigilant and aware. If you see something that sounds unbelievable, it’s possible that it is unbelievable,” said Payton.

She says businesses should talk to their security and technology teams to make sure systems are patched, that they have multi-factor authentication on all systems, and they should schedule a meeting with employees to make sure everyone is aware of the potential cyber threats.