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Cyberthreats Related to Russia/Ukraine Conflict

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AAFCPAs reminds clients to anticipate cyberthreats as the Russia/Ukraine crisis continues to escalate.

“The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently issued a warning of the risk of Russian cyberattacks spilling over onto U.S. networks, which follows previous CISA warnings on the risks posed by Russian cyberattacks for U.S. critical infrastructure,” reported Harvard Business Review. “The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned European financial institutions of the risk of retaliatory Russian cyber-attacks in the event of sanctions and related market disruptions.”

CISA has prioritized analysis of vulnerabilities that have been used by Russian cyber threat actors. As a result of this analysis, they added 95 additional vulnerabilities to their known previously exploited vulnerabilities catalog.

Every organization—large and small—must be prepared to respond to disruptive cyber activity. CISA recommends all organizations—regardless of size—adopt a heightened posture when it comes to cybersecurity and protecting their most critical assets.

Recent attacks range from basic phishing schemes and bad actors posing as humanitarians, to more sophisticated, organized attacks on governments and financial institutions.

AAFCPAs reminds clients to be cyber smart. Communicate with your employees (and families) and educate them about risks. We can see the physical results of war on our TVs and in our social media, but we cannot as easily see cyber warfare. And often, victims of a cyber-attack may not even realize they’ve been breached.

Effective cyber defense is a long game requiring sustained strategic investment, and the first step is understanding your vulnerabilities. AAFCPAs advises clients to implement managed security tools (i.e. 24x7x365 monitoring of systems and devices) to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impact of cyber-attacks.

If you have questions, please contact Vassilis Kontoglis at 774.512.4069, vkontoglis@nullaafcpa.com; James Jumes at 774.512.4062, jjumes@nullaafcpa.com; or your AAFCPAs Partner.