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 March 25, 2024
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NJOHSP Joins State in Hosting First-Ever Ramadan Iftar
 This month marked a historic occasion as the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and the New Jersey State Police joined the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General for an inaugural State-hosted Ramadan Iftar at the Trenton War Memorial in Trenton, New Jersey. More than 250 federal, State, county and local law enforcement officials, along with Muslim and interfaith community leaders, attended the March 19 event. The gathering focused on the State's efforts to build bridges between law enforcement and New Jersey's Muslim community while highlighting Ramadan, an Islamic holy month comprised of fasting, prayer, reflection and community. While attending the Iftar, a daily meal held at sunset to break fast, NJOHSP Deputy Director Dan Engelhardt provided an update on the agency’s many outreach initiatives to the state’s faith-based communities, highlighting the Interfaith Advisory Council and the federal and State nonprofit security grant programs.
Additional Resources
Interfaith Advisory Council | NSGP Grant Programs
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Terrorism At a Glance
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 NJCCIC: Beware of AI Tax Scams
 The New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell is warning of cybercriminals' continued efforts to steal sensitive personal data, including personally identifiable information, financial information, such as W-2s, banking information, account credentials and more. With tax season in full swing, bad actors may leverage the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence in tax scams, using AI-generated images and videos, as well as voice cloning technologies to impersonate legitimate and trusted tax authorities like the Internal Revenue Service. Threat actors target vulnerable people through email, phone, text messaging and social media platforms to lure them into disclosing their information and initiating fraudulent transactions. For example, threat actors may claim a tax refund is due or send information to track the status of tax refunds via phishing emails or text messages. These phishing emails and text messages may include links that, if clicked, direct targets to spoofed IRS websites. Once threat actors capture or steal the victim’s information, they can use it to file fraudulent tax returns on the victim's behalf and steal their tax refunds. The NJCCIC recommends users safeguard their information and accounts and employ an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) from the IRS before filing a tax return. Additionally, NJCCIC encourages users to exercise caution with unsolicited communications and refrain from divulging sensitive information without verifying the requestor. Visit the NJCCIC website for additional information.
Additional Resources
Incident Reporting | NJCCIC Membership
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 US Warns Governors of Foreign Hackers' Water Infrastructure Cyberattacks
 Photo credit: Steve Helber/Associated Press.
U.S. government officials warned state leaders March 19 to take cybersecurity measures to protect against ongoing threats to U.S. water systems by foreign hackers linked to Iran and China. “These attacks have the potential to disrupt the critical lifeline of clean and safe drinking water, as well as impose significant costs on affected communities,” stated U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan in correspondences to governors. They also noted that drinking water and wastewater facilities are attractive targets to hackers because these utilities often lack the resources and technical capacity to adopt the latest cybersecurity practices. Sullivan and Regan cited a November 2023 attack in which cybercriminals, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, disabled a controller used at a Pennsylvania water facility. The incident stemmed from the facility's officials neglecting to change the default manufacturer password. Sullivan and Regan also called out Chinese hacking group, Volt Typhoon, for compromising information technology of drinking water and other critical infrastructure systems in the U.S. and its territories.
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Contact Information
For more information, please contact communications@njohsp.gov.
The NJOHSP Weekly Bulletin is a weekly publication of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and is intended to provide our constituents with finished intelligence and resiliency publications and announcements. Please visit njohsp.gov/connect/weekly-bulletin to read previous bulletins.
Report Suspicious Activity: Call 1-866-4-SAFE-NJ or email tips@njohsp.gov.
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