Cyberattacks Are an ‘Immediate’ Challenge for Businesses Following Iran Strike

Cyberattacks, already seen as the top risk of doing business by executives, are likely to receive renewed attention — and spending — as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate.

Last weekend, a group claiming to be Iranian hackers defaced a federal government library website with a violent image depicting President Donald Trump. The White House and FBI haven’t confirmed or commented on the library hack, but if it is Iran’s work, it’s only a hint of what Iranian’s cyber army is capable of.

In a terror alert following the Soleimani strike, the Department of Homeland Security warned of Iran’s long history in cybercrime and ability to target critical infrastructure.

“In today’s cyber threat landscape, it’s not just the military-industrial and defense industries that have a legitimate reason to be concerned about cyber terrorism and state-sponsored cyber attacks. Attacks from state-sponsored sources have significantly increased over the past few years for businesses, too,” Jordan Mauriello, SVP of Managed Security at cybersecurity firm CRITICALSTART told CNBC in an email.

“From financial services and healthcare to even retail services, targeted attacks against any number of organizations could occur in an attempt to disrupt the U.S. economy,” Mauriello said.

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Featured in CNBC | January 7, 2020