SAN ANGELO, Texas — As the crisis between Russia and Ukraine develops, Americans could be affected by cyberattacks. Angelo State University Mathematics and Computer Science Director, Dr. Erdogan Dogdu explains how international conflicts could affect us.
“Of course today, the international conflicts basically, not just on the land or air but now it’s on the cyber area as well because all systems including the defense systems, everyday lives are run by computers. Talk about your infrastructure, your water system, electricity, other gas so those are all controlled by the computers and the networks,” Dogdu explained.
Dogdu recommends being diligent on what’s going on and what kind of attacks are being used.
“This area is still evolving and the types of attacks are becoming more different every day, it’s just getting more sophisticated so being more informed about the types of attacks you can get is maybe one thing so you have to follow the news and find out what things are going on,” Dogdu said.
Dogdu said there are many different attacks coming from all over the world, he calls it a “global threat”.
“You have to be careful in terms of what you share online and how you share and where you share and you have to be careful as entering different websites we have to be careful of what is the site that you’re entering because some of those attacks are coming from emails as phishing attacks we call it,” Dogdu said.
Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, Director Greg White, said ransomware is among one of the most popular forms of cyber attacks people are exposed to.
“You clicked on something that you shouldn't have, you’ve gone to a location that you shouldn't have, you’ve opened up an attachment you probably shouldn't have so that’s how the ransomware will get stuck on your system,” White said.
He said a lot of people fall victim to getting hit with ransomware, especially businesses.
White said in order to help avoid a cyber attack, it's important to have all your software up-to-date, taking precaution when opening emails especially if they have files attached. He said if you received a message with a link from a friend, be sure to first check with them to make sure they haven't been hacked.