New York City is on ''ultra high alert'' for cyber attacks from Russia as the United States has placed crippling sanctions on the country for its invasion of neighboring Ukraine, officials said Monday.

New York state is at an ''increased risk,'' and the city has seen more attempts, officials said at a news conference on Monday at New York Police Department headquarters in Manhattan.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., along with New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller and NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, held the press conference to make businesses aware of cybersecurity resources, ABC 7 reported.

The city is typically on ''high alert'' for cyber attacks, Miller said, but ''ultra high'' is used when possible cyber threats are from ''state actors.''

''The Russian state actor, when tensions rise, increases malicious cyber attacks from both tactical — to disable systems that may be running against them from an adversary — and strategic — to be able to put pressure on other entities, be they allies or people in their interest to disable,'' Miller said.

''So we get that we are in a heightened threat and we have been gearing up for that heightened threat to come along from our normal high alert to ultra high alert and that's where we are, and it's working.''

Fraser said, ''We have seen an uptick [in cyber threats], but we are not aware of any campaign that's explicitly targeting the city itself.''

Gillibrand pointed to last year's cyber attack against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which raised concerns about the city's cyber-protection.

''Russia's military attack on Ukraine's cities and buildings have happened in conjunction with cyberattacks waged on Ukraine's critical infrastructure — from its banks, to departments of government,'' Gillibrand said, according to Fox News.

''And there's no guarantee that those attacks will be limited to Ukraine. Following the sanctions that the U.S. and our allies have levied on Russia, there's an increased risk that Russia will carry out retaliatory cyberattacks, particularly against New York state infrastructure and individuals.''

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