Lexington technology company talks cybersecurity as Russia-Ukraine war continues
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - As the war on Ukraine escalates and the U.S. doubles down on its stance, security experts are warning Americans about the threat of Russian cyber attacks.
They said now is the right time to catch up on you cyber hygiene.
“We do have businesses aware of what’s going on, they see it happening, people see it happening, they’re getting text messages on their their personal cell phones, they’re getting emails to their personal email accounts, and they know those same kinds of things are happening to their businesses,” said Wil Winstead, director of 46 Solutions.
His technology support company helps individuals and businesses. Winstead said anyone can fall victim to online attacks.
“People ask, ‘Aren’t they just targeting the big companies?’ and that’s not necessarily true,” he said. “A lot of these groups out there that are attacking are just sending emails to every email address they can find and seeing what lands.”
He said hasn’t seen attacks specifically come from Russia lately, but he said it’s not uncommon to see suspicious activity come from other countries.
“When we really start analyzing the logs...networks and emails are constantly coming in from all over the world,” Winstead said. “One of our services actually does provide us some geographic data and we can actually see how many connections are hitting our customers from Russia, China and North Korea.”
Winstead said an attacker’s main goal is to make money.
Here are some red flags:
1. Suspicious links.
“Your usps package has been delayed, click here to update your delivery address,” Winstead used as an example.
2. Timely traps.
“Tax season’s coming up, be on the lookout for the fake IRS emails,” he said.
3. Beware of any text or email concerning your finances.
“If people text you a link, that’s very rarely legitimate,” he said.
He said from what he’s seeing, Russia is focused on Ukraine right now.
“I’m not really seeing attacks here from Russia....a lot of the targeting things are happening more directly at their current enemy which is Ukraine,” Winstead said.
Winstead said it’s important to keep track of your passwords. He said it’s best practice to have different log-ins for all of your sites, especially ones with personal or financial information on them.
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