COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina health officials are looking for cyber security threats as they get ready to rollout the COVID-19 vaccine.
While people prepare to receive the vaccine, experts like Brian Bannister, the Chief Information Security Officer for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, are looking to protect people from getting taken advantage of.
"As far as cyber security related to the vaccine, there's a whole lot going on right now" said Bannister. "All across the country, we're seeing attacks off of our threat feeds on facilities, on the supply chains and on health departments, hospitals systems and anyone distributing the vaccine."
The primary thing the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is seeing is phishing emails and the compromises of systems wanting ransom.
Bannister has a couple of safety tips people should keep in mind.
"First of all, social media is really popular these days and there's a lot of misinformation spread. I tell all of our citizens to get all of your data from the FDA, reliable sources and www.scdhec.gov," explained Bannister. "We publish all the information related to the vaccine. Just make sure you're getting that information from those feeds and not necessarily off of Facebook."
DHEC has partnerships with SLED, the Department of Homeland Security and the Cyber Infrastructure Security Administration to determine threats. They also check in with other organizations to see what issues they're experiencing.
"Unfortunately in these times such as COVID, we saw this at the onslaught of the pandemic when it first began. It's an opportunity for cyber criminals and other malicious actors take advantage of people," said Bannister. "With the vaccine on its way, we see that as a big challenge for individuals."
Bannister wants people to keep in mind that DHEC will not reach out to you over the phone, email or text to register for the vaccine or to charge you a fee for the vaccine.
"Just keep good cyber hygiene, stay vigilant, pay attention," said Bannister. "If you see something, say something. The more information we have, as far as cyber security professionals, the better job we can do."
Anyone with questions, concerns, or information they need to verify is encouraged to call DHEC.
If someone thinks they've been a victim of a scam, they should contact their local law enforcement. They can also contact the Department of Consumer Affairs for South Carolina.