COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — As the U.S. war with Iran continues and tensions escalate between the two nations, a cybersecurity expert cautioned the more than 150 aerospace and defense businesses in the Pikes Peak region to be vigilant against Iranian threats.
“There are a number of different groups associated with the Iran Ministry of Intelligence and Security, or MOI, that are doing various types of attacks targeted toward defense contractors,” said Scott Edwards, CEO of Summit 7 Systems. “And primarily defense contractors that are supporting the efforts going on in Iran today.”
Summit 7 is an IT company that helps defense and federal contractors protect against external cybersecurity threats, like those from Iran. Edwards, based in Huntsville, Alabama, said he has dozens of clients in Colorado.
He pointed to two recent cyber attacks against prominent, global companies based in the U.S.
In March, Iran-linked hacker group Handala, attacked Stryker, one of the world's largest medical technology companies, and wiped hundreds of thousands of devices clean.
Later in March, another Iran-linked Advanced Persistent Threat (ATP) group, claimed they breached Lockheed Martin and stole 375 terabytes of data. This allegedly included data around the F-35 and other weapons systems, threatening to sell the data on the dark web.
Stryker has acknowledged the cyber attack on its company and has provided updates on its website through the ordeal.
Edwards noted the Lockheed attack has yet to be verified, but the threat is taken as real until proven otherwise.
Earlier this month, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said, “There is no evidence indicating an impact to Lockheed Martin systems, operations or data at this time [emphasis theirs].”
“Colorado Springs is a massive target, much like Huntsville, much like Tampa, other centers of gravity for defense technology. Southern California is another,” said Edwards. “They are targets because there's such a concentration of small and medium businesses specifically.”
These smaller businesses don’t typically have the resources to appropriately protect themselves, even though they still have contracts and work that can be attacked and exploited with the Department of Defense, he said.
Edwards also noted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now bringing a new scope and scale to cyber attacks that previously took teams of people to conduct.
“There is now capability with AI to find vulnerabilities that haven't been available, that were not known about,” said Edwards. “The problem comes in if you find those vulnerabilities, those vulnerabilities become known and you don't have the capacity, capability, manpower, what have you, to actually patch, fix, remediate those vulnerabilities.”
Edwards said companies in Colorado need to maintain vigilance from an executive standpoint and within the IT staffs and external service providers. Simple changes like multi-factor authentication can provide protection, he said.
“If you're a defense industrial-based company and you're in this ecosystem, there are standards, there are requirements that you need to be implementing from an IT standpoint, from an operational process standpoint, specifically around... government-mandated standards,” said Edwards.
Signaling that these types of threats won’t disappear once the Iran war ends, Republican Congressman Jeff Crank, whose district covers much of the Pikes Peak region, stressed the importance of allocating funding to bolster security.
You can read a statement from Congressman Crank below:
“I remain concerned by the cybersecurity threats that our adversaries in China, Russia and Iran pose. As a Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation, I will continue to support strong funding for U.S. Cyber Command and the NSA’s defensive cyber capabilities. I also support funding for research and deployment of new, AI-enabled technologies to respond to the growing cyber threat.”
With the presence of high-level military operations in the region at sites like Peterson Space Force Base, the military is well aware of these potential Iranian and other bad actor threats in the cybersecurity space.
“Space Base Delta 1 and the U.S. Space Force maintain a robust and resilient cybersecurity posture, remaining continuously vigilant against a wide range of cyber threats,” said a U.S. Space Force spokesperson. “Due to operational security, we cannot discuss specific threat intelligence, adversary groups, or ongoing defensive operations.”
___
The Unproven Claim at the Center of a 'Zero Tolerance' Crackdown
A "Zero Tolerance" crackdown in Teller County is being partially justified by the Sheriff's claim that immigrants are responsible for a crime spike. However, the Sheriff's Office has not provided direct evidence, and both the Forest Service and ICE have declined to comment on the specifics.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
