What’s the danger of Russian cyber attacks on America?

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - The White House warned that Russia may target the U.S. with cyberattacks. Dwayne Whitten a professor a Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School joined First News at Four to explain how why they think this, who Russia is likely to target, and what people can do to protect themselves. Whitten serves as Director of the MS-MIS online program and is a fellow with the Texas A&M Cyber Security Center.

According to Whitten, Russia has been doing a lot of preparatory work in the last couple of weeks including scanning for potential vulnerabilities in the U.S., specifically in the financial sector, electric grids, and water systems. While this is nothing new, there is evidence that lately they are doing more preparations than ever. The White House issued their warning with this knowledge.

“Fortunately, the United States has a really good cyber defense and different capabilities around that, and so they’ve been tracking what’s been going on back and forth with Russia and other countries as well,” explained Whitten.

Whitten believes that Russia would concentrate on attacking the financial sector.

They could also target energy, electric grids, and water systems, “some of the things that could just disrupt our daily lives pretty considerably,” said Whitten.

For average Americans, it is more important than ever to protect your information. People should make sure their computer software is updated. It is important to have up-to-date antivirus software and malware detection software. Backing up data to multiple locations is essential. For anyone who has put off doing these things now is the time to start.

Watch the full interview in the player above.

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