By Elizabeth Dilts Marshall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. banks are preparing for retaliatory cyber attacks after Western nations slapped a raft of stringent sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine https://www.reuters.com/world/india/war-with-ukraine-putin-puts-nuclear-deterrence-forces-alert-2022-02-27, cyber experts and executives said.

Tensions between Russia and the West escalated on Saturday as the United States and its allies moved to block https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-announces-new-russia-sanctions-with-us-others-including-swift-2022-02-26 some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/swift-block-deals-crippling-blow-russia-leaves-room-tighten-2022-02-27 and placed curbs on the Russian central bank’s international reserves.

Western nations have warned since weeks about the possibility of massive cyber attacks by Russia or its supporters. Some executives suggested the recent measures might be the catalyst.

Steven Schweitzer from the Swarthmore Group, New York, said that there will be retaliatory actions taken. He believed that it would involve some cyber attacks.

According to cybersecurity experts, global banks have become top targets of cyber attacks during peacetime.

Ransomware and other malware attacks are some of the potential threats that they’re preparing for. Denial-of-service attacks, which can take down websites and data wiping, and possibly theft are all possible.

Banks are extremely prepared. “Banks are extremely prepared. They’ve taken out all their playbooks, and they’re practicing, practice, practicing,” Valerie Abend from Accenture’s Global Financial Services Security Group (NYSE:).

The largest U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:), Citigroup Inc (NYSE :), Bank of America Corp(NYSE :), Wells Fargo (NYSE:) & Co, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:) did not reply to inquiries for comment, or declined to talk about their cybersecurity plans.

Global banks, as guardians of vital national financial infrastructure are subject to stringent operational risk rules. They also have the most rigorous cyber security standards, according to cyber specialists.

According to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association that led the exercise, it is a common industry practice to plan for cyberattacks.

Abend stated that banks have been working together to make sure their incident response teams are ready for any emergency, and they were more vigilant in the lead up to the invasion.

New York Department of Financial Services and U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warn private businesses to remain vigilant against cyber threats.

Teresa Walsh is the global head for intelligence at Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center. This international organization shares cyber intelligence.

They’ve only been warning you in general. Be prepared. Walsh said that we are working to give it more detail.

Walsh claimed that banks are currently imagining possible risk scenarios, based upon the tactics used by Russian hackers in the past. The 2020 SolarWinds Corp software breach https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hackers-solarwinds-breach-stole-data-us-sanctions-policy-intelligence-probes-2021-10-07 that gave hackers access to hundreds of companies using its products, is top of mind.

That has increased lenders’ focus on third-party providers such as big cloud and software-as-a-service firms. Even though banks are known for their strict IT compliance and large IT budgets they could lose data if these providers hack.

According to Walsh and Abend, banks are asking such partners to make sure they follow the correct security protocols.

Walsh explained that the bank IT system security team is also on “threat hunt” looking for possible malicious behaviours.

Walsh said, “It is all about being prepared rather than waiting until the crisis occurs.”