SAP NS2’s Mark Testoni on Potential Iranian Cyber Attacks

Mark Testoni, CEO of SAP National Security Services and a four-time Wash100 award winner, said potential Iran-backed cyber attacks against the U.S. will be based on motivations, Fox Business reported Wednesday.

“Historically, Iran has used DDS against financial services institutions and targeted individuals who have criticized the country,” Testoni said. “If they choose to make a statement, they may set their sights on a company or agency with many customers or constituents. The motivation here is to undermine public and consumer trust in these institutions.”

He noted Iran is likely to target the government, financial services, health care and utilities if it decides to cause disruption of critical infrastructure. “Whatever they do will lay into the geopolitics of what is going on currently. My sense is that they do not want to lose this high ground from a PR perspective that they’ve created,” Testoni added.

Testoni called on companies to fight cyber attacks through the use of analytics capabilities, standard firewalling and patching.