3rd Party Risk Management , Application Security , Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery

Sound Off: How Can Banks Prepare for Russia-Ukraine Crisis?

"Sound Off" is a new video series that explores one topical question, in depth, with information security and privacy leaders.

See Also: 2024 CISO Insights: Navigating the Cybersecurity Maelstrom

As Russia has invaded Ukraine, the likelihood of nation-state cyberattacks, or collateral damage, continues to escalate, and banks remain a top target. On this week's "Sound Off," David Pollino, former CISO of PNC Bank, discusses how financial institutions should - and must - strengthen their incident response plans.

"One of the things that we saw in years past is similar to what we've been seeing recently: the emergence of denial-of-service attacks that can be crippling. U.S. financial institutions could be targeted but if the conflict increases, there could also be the opportunity for home users or even small to medium-sized businesses to be used to attack each other or to attack financial institutions, or to cause disruption in commerce, within the countries that are being targeted," he says.

In a video interview with Information Security Media Group, Pollino discusses:

• Threats that security teams in financial intuitions should plan, prepare and practice for;
• Critical components of tabletop exercises, as well as surprise elements to introduce;
• How to include disinformation campaigns in the CISO's playbook.

Pollino has over 25 years of experience in information security, fraud prevention and risk management. He has focused on financial services for 20 years and was the chief information security officer of Bank of the West and a divisional CISO at PNC. He has held multiple leadership positions in security and fraud, including Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual and Charles Schwab. Pollino has authored multiple books and white papers focused on cybersecurity and fraud.

"Sound Off" runs weekly. Don't miss our previous installments, including the Feb. 14 edition with the creator of Zero Trust, John Kindervag, who analyzes the OMB Zero Trust strategy and the Feb. 21 edition with attorney Lisa Sotto, who conducts a post-mortem on the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack.