Intelligence

The Russia-Ukraine conflict, and its accompanying potential for cyber activities, was a key focal point for the global financial sector in 2022. FS-ISAC’s Global Intelligence Office coordinated regional and global intelligence gathering and disseminated it out to members, helping the entire sector stay informed and coordinated and contributing to the global view that the financial sector’s cyber defenses are extremely mature.

Below is a summary of our activities supporting the sector during a time of high concern for the potential of concentrated attacks targeting the sector by a highly capable adversary and its allies.

Threat Intelligence Committees and the Global Cyber Threat Level

The Cyber Threat Level (CTL) is an industry barometer of cyber risk set by regional Threat Intelligence Committees (TICs) made up of members. As the conflict ramped up, our three regional Threat Intelligence Committees (TICs) convened to discuss what members were experiencing due to the war, what their firms were preparing for, what they felt the CTL for the region should be, and providing guidance for members on what to do in an ELEVATED CTL environment.

The Global CTL remained at ELEVATED (the second highest of 4 levels) from February until May, the longest ever span for the global CTL to be so high.

  Dedicated Communications Channels

• The Russia-Ukraine Connect (secure member chat) channel was created to discuss cyber activities facing the sector and geopolitical triggers that may lead to further events for 1330 members
• Two all-member Spotlight Calls on the potential for cyber action and preparedness were attended by 3000 members each
• Frequent consolidated alerts via Share, our intelligence sharing platform, with running lists of alerts, articles, materials