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Homeland Security Warns of Increased Domestic Threats Amid Iran-Israel Conflict

June 24, 2025

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20 min read

Homeland Security Warns of Increased Domestic Threats Amid Iran-Israel Conflict

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin warning of elevated threats to the United States in light of the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. The bulletin highlights a concerning rise in cyberattacks, foreign influence operations, and the potential for domestic violent extremism motivated by geopolitical developments.

Cyber Threats on the Rise

The DHS warns that pro-Iranian hacktivists and Iranian government-affiliated cyber actors are actively targeting U.S. networks and internet-connected devices. These operations may include data breaches, service disruptions, or the hijacking of poorly secured systems. The advisory emphasizes that Iran maintains a long-standing willingness to retaliate through cyber means—particularly against entities associated with the U.S. government, which it holds accountable for the 2020 killing of an Iranian military commander.

Risk of Domestic Violence Increasing

A key concern addressed in the bulletin is the potential for homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) to act in response to calls from Iranian leadership or foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). DHS notes that a religious ruling or fatwa issued by Iranian authorities calling for retaliatory violence could dramatically increase the threat of lone-actor attacks within the homeland.

Several domestic plots tied to Iranian-backed networks have already been thwarted since 2020, according to U.S. law enforcement. Some of these threats targeted critics of the Iranian regime residing in the United States, while others involved more lethal ambitions.

Terrorist Propaganda and Hate Crime Threats

The bulletin highlights recent propaganda from foreign terrorist groups such as HAMAS, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, some of which have openly called for attacks on U.S. interests in retaliation for American support of Israel. DHS warns that these calls for violence, along with widespread media coverage, may embolden supporters to conduct unsanctioned attacks.

Additionally, the current conflict may lead to a rise in hate crimes and targeted violence against Jewish, pro-Israel, or U.S.-government-affiliated individuals or institutions.

What You Can Do

DHS urges the public and private sectors to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity. Recommended actions include:

Listening to local authorities and public safety officials
Implementing cybersecurity best practices as outlined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
Participating in threat reporting efforts via the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative
Utilizing platforms such as FBI Field Offices, Fusion Centers, or the If You See Something, Say Something® initiative to report credible threats

The bulletin will remain in effect through September 22, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Stay Aware. Stay Secure.

The message is clear: while military battles are being fought overseas, cyber and ideological battles may reach U.S. soil in the form of disruptive hacks, disinformation campaigns, and potentially deadly acts of domestic terrorism. Awareness, preparation, and prompt reporting remain the nation’s best tools for prevention.

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How to Know If You’ve Been Hacked — And What to Do Next

June 26, 2025

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20 min read

🛑 How to Know If You’ve Been Hacked — And What to Do Next

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From emails to routers to smartphones — here’s how to spot the red flags and reclaim your security.

The average person now uses hundreds of online accounts and multiple devices. Each one is a potential door for cybercriminals. And for businesses, that risk multiplies across teams, locations, and vendors.

At Gigabit Systems, we help businesses recognize and respond to digital threats. This guide gives you a plain-English breakdown of how to know if you’ve been hacked—and what to do next.

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🚨 General Signs You’ve Been Hacked

🔐 Passwords stop working

📩 Unexpected 2FA codes

📊 Unexplained financial transactions

📲 Unauthorized changes to devices or accounts

📨 Messages sent from your email or social media you didn’t write

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💻 Device Hacked? Here’s How to Tell:

Computer (PC or Mac)

Sluggish performance, freezing, crashing
Pop-up ads or unknown programs
You’re locked out of accounts or the system
Spam is sent from your device or business domain

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🛠 What to do:

Unplug. Run a full malware scan. Change all passwords. Restore from backup if needed.

Phone

Battery draining fast, device overheating
New apps, changes to security settings
Strange texts or login codes
Locked out of your Apple ID or Google account

🛠 What to do:

Run a security scan. Change passwords. If needed, wipe the phone and restore from a clean backup.

Wi-Fi Router

Internet is slow or erratic
You see unknown devices connected
DNS redirection or browser hijacking
Admin password has changed

🛠 What to do:

Factory reset. Set a strong admin password. Update firmware. Scan all connected devices.

📁 Account Hacked? Check for These Signs:

Amazon

Address, email, or payment method changed
Orders or reviews you didn’t make

Apple ID

Devices you don’t recognize
Unauthorized purchases from App Store or iTunes

Email

Password reset alerts
Missing emails, or contacts report strange messages

Google/Microsoft

Login attempts from unknown locations
Changes to personal data
Unauthorized access to Drive, Outlook, etc.

Netflix

Profile changes or sign-ins from unfamiliar devices
Locked out of account

💬 Social Media Platforms

Social media hacks spread scams and impersonation fast. Look for:

Posts or messages you didn’t send
New logins from other countries
Locked accounts or suspicious login attempts

🛡 Recover fast:

Change your password, enable MFA, review connected apps, and alert your contacts.

🧩 The Bottom Line

If it feels off—it probably is.

Don’t ignore signs like overheating phones, rejected passwords, or weird login alerts. The faster you respond, the more control you can retain.

🔐 Gigabit Systems Can Help:

We offer:

✅ Endpoint monitoring

✅ Cloud account audits

✅ 24/7 security alerting

✅ IT support for recovery

✅ Staff cybersecurity awareness training

👇 Comment if you’ve ever dealt with a hacked account or device.

🔁 Share this with a colleague or team that needs a refresher.

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Because 70% of all cyberattacks target small businesses—

I can help protect yours.

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How Scammers Exploit Amazon Prime Day

June 23, 2025

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20 min read

Prime Targets: How Scammers Exploit Amazon Prime Day

As Amazon prepares for its multi-day Prime Day event (July 8–11), cybersecurity experts are sounding the alarm. Scammers are already engineering new phishing campaigns, impersonating Amazon customer support to trick consumers into revealing sensitive account details.

Last year, Amazon reported an 80% spike in impersonation scams during Prime Day. This year’s threat landscape is expected to be worse.

🕵️‍♂️ The Favorite Tactics:

Fake phone calls about “suspicious” purchases (e.g., iPhones)
Phishing texts or emails claiming there’s a payment issue
Fake Amazon lookalike sites requesting logins
Urgent warnings designed to spark panic

🎯 Why it works: During big sales, shoppers are more distracted. Deals drop, but so does user vigilance. That’s when social engineering thrives.

💡 Amazon’s own advice includes:

Never share your login info with third-party tools or people
Never place orders or give payment info over the phone or email
Only trust the official Amazon app or website
Turn on Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Don’t fall for gift card payment requests — Amazon will never ask for this

🔐 Extra precautions:

Keep your OS and Amazon app updated
Use a unique password, not shared with other sites
Avoid clicking links — go directly to Amazon.com to check account issues

💥 Prime Day is open season for cybercriminals. You’re not just shopping for deals — you’re also being shopped as a target.

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Iran-Israel Conflict Sparks Global Cyber Threat

June 22, 2025

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20 min read

The Cyber Frontline Just Expanded

Iran-Israel Conflict Sparks Global Cyber Threat — U.S. Critical Infrastructure in the Crosshairs

As tensions explode between Iran and Israel, cybersecurity experts are sounding alarms: America’s small businesses and infrastructure are next.

Researchers from Radware and Google’s Threat Intelligence Group warn that Iran-aligned cyber actors, emboldened by the growing military conflict, are preparing to strike — and they’re not alone. North Korea, China, and even Ukraine-linked groups are likely to exploit the chaos to unleash disruptive and destructive cyberattacks on soft targets across the U.S.

Who’s at Risk?

This isn’t just about governments or global corporations.

Small businesses
Schools
Healthcare operations
Law firms

All are considered soft targets — easy to breach, valuable to exploit, and often unprepared.

Recent patterns show that threat actors are increasingly going after:

Industrial systems
Third-party vendors
Privately owned utilities
Cloud-based infrastructure

One past incident saw Iranian hackers attack the U.S. water sector by exploiting vulnerabilities in Israeli-manufactured control equipment.

What You Need to Know

Iranian-linked attackers use tactics like:

Spear-phishing
Exploitation of unpatched systems
Destructive malware
Credential harvesting
Supply chain compromise

John Hultquist from Google warns that while Iranian cyber activity was once regionally focused, it’s now expanding globally, with U.S. companies firmly on the radar.

“These are sophisticated operators with strategic goals. Hacktivists are becoming cyber proxies, overlapping with state-sponsored agendas,” said Scott Algeier, director of the IT-ISAC and Food & Ag-ISAC.

What You Can Do Right Now

✅ Harden your infrastructure — patch now, not later

✅ Review vendor and supply chain cybersecurity posture

✅ Run internal phishing simulations and employee awareness training

✅ Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools

✅ Enable MFA across every account and service

✅ Monitor for suspicious outbound traffic or anomalies

✅ Prepare an incident response plan — and test it

Final Thought

The battlefield is digital, and the front line may run straight through your network. If you operate any form of critical service — especially in healthcare, education, law, or utilities — you are a target.

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Aflac Hit in Insurance Industry Hacking Spree

June 21, 2025

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20 min read

Don’t Let the Spider Bite 🕷️

Aflac Hit in Insurance Industry Hacking Spree — Is Your Business Next

Another day, another breach — and this time, it’s big. Insurance giant Aflac has confirmed a cyber intrusion potentially exposing sensitive client data, including Social Security numbers, insurance claims, and health information.

This isn’t an isolated incident. In the last few weeks, Erie Insurance and Philadelphia Insurance Companies have also fallen victim to a coordinated wave of cyberattacks. The culprit? A young but aggressive threat actor group known as Scattered Spider, notorious for social engineering and lightning-fast infiltration.

What Happened?

Aflac, one of the largest providers of supplemental health insurance in the U.S., disclosed that attackers breached their systems using social engineering tactics — impersonating tech support staff to trick employees into giving up access.

Despite Aflac detecting and stopping the intrusion within hours (and reporting that no ransomware was deployed), the scale of potential exposure is massive. The FBI and cybersecurity experts are now urging all companies in the insurance and healthcare space to harden their defenses immediately.

Why This Matters for SMBs, Healthcare, Law Firms, and Schools

You don’t need to be a Fortune 500 company to become a target. Scattered Spider doesn’t discriminate — they’ve gone after casinos, retailers, schools, and now the insurance sector.

If your employees use weak passwords, skip MFA, or get tricked by a fake IT call, your entire business could be paralyzed in under 24 hours.

Imagine a school system locked out of student data. A law firm’s case files leaked. A small healthcare clinic’s patient records exposed. It’s not just embarrassing — it’s catastrophic.

What You Can Do Today

Train your staff to spot social engineering — no, that “tech support” caller isn’t who they claim.
Implement real-time threat monitoring and endpoint detection (EDR).
Enable MFA across all cloud and SaaS platforms.
Review your disaster recovery and incident response plan.
And please — ditch the “default” admin password.

Final Thought

This isn’t just about Aflac. It’s about every business that handles sensitive information. The next breach headline could have your name in it — unless you’re prepared.

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Cybercrime Crackdown: Ukraine Extradites Key Ryuk Hacker to U.S.

June 19, 2025

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20 min read

Cybercrime Crackdown: Ukraine Extradites Key Ryuk Hacker to U.S.

A global ransomware ring faces justice as cybercriminal responsible for over 2,400 attacks is handed over to U.S. authorities

In a decisive move against cybercrime, Ukrainian authorities have extradited a member of the infamous Ryuk ransomware gang to the United States. The extradition follows the hacker’s arrest in Kyiv and confirms international coordination in combating large-scale digital threats that have cost organizations over $100 million worldwide.

This individual is tied to more than 2,400 cyberattacks targeting companies across the U.S., France, Norway, Germany, and Canada. These attacks leveraged encryption viruses to paralyze systems and extort cryptocurrency in exchange for data decryption.

Why This Matters to Your Organization

Whether you’re managing a healthcare practice, law firm, school, or small business, this story is a clear wake-up call:

Ransomware isn’t just a risk for billion-dollar corporations — it’s targeting anyone with a network and data.

Many of the affected companies were compromised through common vulnerabilities:

Poor password hygiene
Unpatched systems
Remote desktop exposure
Lack of incident response planning

The Ryuk gang’s tactics emphasize how attackers infiltrate quietly, encrypt rapidly, and demand high ransom, often draining critical resources.

Lessons for SMBs and IT Leaders

Review your endpoint defenses. Advanced ransomware detection tools like EDR and XDR should be in place.
Conduct vulnerability scans. Don’t wait for hackers to find the gaps — find them first.
Back up your data. Maintain offsite, immutable backups tested for recovery.
Train your staff. Social engineering remains the most common entry point.
Monitor your network. Use behavioral analytics and 24/7 monitoring to spot anomalies.

The arrest of one Ryuk operator is a win — but many others are still operating. This isn’t the end of the story. It’s a reminder:

If your data isn’t protected, it’s already a target.

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Loose Change, Leaked Data

June 19, 2025

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20 min read

Loose Change, Leaked Data

Three Major Banks Just Got Breached — Is Your Info Next?

In the latest reminder that even industry giants aren’t immune, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and TD Bank have each reported breaches affecting customer financial and personal data.

While each incident involved relatively few individuals on paper, the nature of the compromised information — Social Security numbers, account numbers, transaction histories, and more — should be a red flag for anyone who trusts big institutions to keep their data locked down.

What Happened?

Chase reported four separate incidents involving employees accessing customer accounts without authorization, and accidentally displaying transaction data from one customer to another.
Bank of America lost documentation in transit that included a customer’s full identity and banking info.
TD Bank revealed that a former employee accessed sensitive customer data for over a month — including SSNs and account activity.

What It Means for SMBs, Schools, Healthcare, and Law Firms

This isn’t just a “big bank problem.”

If global institutions with robust compliance teams and security budgets can fall victim to insider threats, data mishandling, and process failures, what’s protecting your business?

Small businesses often skip layered security controls like:

Role-based access
Insider threat detection
Encryption-at-rest policies
Regular data access audits

…because they assume, “We’re too small to be a target.”

But it’s precisely this false sense of security that attackers — and even negligent employees — exploit.

Don’t Be the Next Data Breach Headline

If your employees have more access than they need, if you don’t know who accessed what and when, or if you’re not running regular security reviews and audits — you’re running blind.

➡️ Gigabit Systems helps businesses of all sizes lock down sensitive data, monitor user behavior, and ensure you pass compliance checks with confidence.

Let’s protect your clients, your reputation, and your future — before your name ends up in a breach notification.

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Work Smarter, Not Harder: 9 Tasks ChatGPT Can Do For You!

June 18, 2025

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20 min read

Work Smarter, Not Harder: 9 Tasks ChatGPT Can Do for You

Let AI handle the grunt work—so you can focus on what matters

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape how we live and work, small business owners, legal professionals, healthcare providers, and educators are discovering that ChatGPT isn’t just for techies or curiosity—it’s a productivity powerhouse.

From planning projects to breaking down complex topics, AI can eliminate hours of low-value tasks. Here are nine real-world use cases where ChatGPT can save you time—and make your workday smoother.

1. Writing Professional Emails

Struggling to find the right tone or words? ChatGPT can draft clear, polished emails in seconds. All you need to do is give it context. Want it warmer? More assertive? It adjusts with just a prompt. Final touch? Make it sound like you.

2. Generating Itineraries & Schedules

Need to plan a business trip or onboarding agenda? Skip the hours of research. ChatGPT can create detailed schedules or travel plans tailored to your needs—down to daily breakdowns and preferences.

3. Explaining Complex Concepts Simply

Whether it’s HIPAA compliance or DNS filtering, ChatGPT breaks down difficult topics into bite-sized explanations—great for onboarding, team training, or even client education.

4. Helping with Big Decisions

AI won’t make your life choices, but it can help clarify them. Need to weigh a job offer? Decide on a software vendor? ChatGPT helps you map pros and cons logically—minus the emotional fog.

5. Breaking Down Projects Strategically

Whether launching a new service or redesigning your website, ChatGPT can outline a full project plan, set milestones, and help organize your next steps.

6. Compiling Research Notes

Instead of clicking through dozens of tabs, ChatGPT summarizes topics, builds timelines, and even creates profiles or comparisons for you. It’s your research assistant—without the payroll.

7. Summarizing Content

From meeting transcripts to 5,000-word legal blogs, ChatGPT delivers crisp summaries that highlight what matters. Perfect for professionals who need to stay informed without spending hours reading.

8. Creating Flashcards or Study Guides

Whether you’re onboarding new staff or prepping for a certification exam, ChatGPT can generate flashcards in Q&A or multiple-choice formats to help lock in learning fast.

9. Practicing for Interviews

Need to prep for a client pitch, investor meeting, or hiring interview? Let ChatGPT play mock interviewer—customizing questions, offering feedback, and helping you polish responses in real time.

Final Thoughts

AI isn’t here to replace you—it’s here to empower you. Businesses that know how to delegate to automation tools will outpace competitors still doing everything manually. Whether you run a clinic, a law firm, or a school, start small—automate one task. Then scale up.

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A coordinated cyberattack dismantles Iranian Banks

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20 min read

A coordinated cyberattack dismantles Bank Sepah’s data. But was this the first shot in a wider digital war?

In a chilling escalation of digital warfare, a hacking group known as Gonjeshke Darande (“Predatory Sparrow”) has claimed responsibility for a devastating breach targeting Iran’s Bank Sepah, a financial institution under US sanctions and reportedly linked to the IRGC’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

According to statements released by the group on X (formerly Twitter), the attack destroyed critical data and disrupted services nationwide, citing internal collaborators as part of the operation.

“This is what happens to institutions dedicated to maintaining the dictator’s terrorist fantasies.” — Predatory Sparrow

While Israel maintains official silence, cybersecurity experts and geopolitics analysts are closely watching — especially given the group’s history with high-profile cyberattacks, including those on Iranian gas stations and industrial sites.

Why this matters for SMBs, law firms, healthcare and schools

You don’t have to be a military bank to be a target.

Sophisticated attacks like these often begin with small cracks — a phishing email, an outdated VPN appliance, or a compromised vendor login. Hackers are no longer just after government assets — they’re exploiting anyone connected to valuable networks.

If your organization handles financial data, personal information, or serves regulated sectors, the same tools used in international cyberwarfare — wipers, remote access malware, DNS poisoning — could hit your infrastructure.

What you should be asking now:

🔍 Have we segmented sensitive data away from public-facing systems?
🔐 Are all critical systems protected with MFA and endpoint detection?
🛡️ Do we have an incident response plan that includes nation-state threats?
🔁 When was our last tabletop exercise simulating a ransomware or wiper attack?

Final Word:

The digital battlefield is no longer “out there.” Whether it’s a hacker-for-hire or a state-sponsored actor, their targets increasingly include your servers, your users, and your data.

70% of all cyberattacks target small businesses. I can help protect yours.

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