SAN ANTONIO — The President warned Americans Russia could potentially launch cyberattacks against Americans. The President asked businesses of all kinds to harden their cyber defenses immediately.
A ransomware attack hit the Bexar Appraisal District Sunday. The staff is working to restore all systems and the FBI was notified. They said it is too early to tell if the attack is related to a Russian cyberattack. It could take a few days to completely restore all files. The district’s website was not affected and is available to use.
KENS 5 also reached out to CPS Energy to ask about its cyber security defenses, but got no response.
It is not just businesses that are the target of cyberattacks. Regular people can also be hit and one device is particularly vulnerable to being hacked:
“We are seeing a lot more of phishing and malware attacks being precipitated on mobile phones because we know that people spend a lot of time on their phones, number one and number two, just physically, it's smaller text,” said Michael Skiba, known as Dr. Fraud. “It's harder to read. You might miss certain misspellings or you might click on something that that you might not normally click if you were to see an email in a laptop or computer settings.”
The best protection is to take action now and do the following:
- Make sure you are using strong passwords.
- Back up all your important files.
- Update all your devices including phones, tablets, computers and laptops.
- Think carefully before you click on links or attachments in your email or texts.
- Do not use public internet if you can avoid it.
- Plus, password protect your home Wi-Fi.
To be on the extra safe side, prepare like you would for a natural disaster. That means having extra food, water, batteries and cash on hand. Plus, keep your car’s gas tank full, too.
Should the electric grid go down, it will be difficult to do anything including using a credit card or any electronic device. Remember February 2021 winter storm when the power went out? Be ready for that scenario again, just in case.