Expecting retaliation for the U.S. assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, has dispatched a notice informing businesses across America about the looming threat of both cyber and physical attacks. Among the potential risks, CISA lists cyberattacks against the finance, energy, and telecommunications industries, cyber-enabled espionage and intellectual property theft, disinformation campaigns, and physical attacks using explosives and unmanned aircrafts. CISA urges all organizations to fortify their cyber and physical defenses, providing protection-forward checklists on how they can do so in the notice. Heightened awareness and increased vigilance rank as the first immediate steps, along with creating an offline data backup.
