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Volume 21 — Issue 31 | August 5, 2021 |
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Wildland firefighters are exposed to many of the same naturally occurring respiratory hazards as structural firefighters. They are also exposed to many of the same man-made respiratory hazards, especially when fighting fires in or near the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).
However, unlike structural firefighters, wildland firefighters are unable to use the current standard respirator systems, which are heavy and so bulky that they would take up most of their carrying capacity, leaving no room for the other tools and supplies required for wildland firefighting.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is working with its partners to design and test a new Wildland Firefighter Respirator. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the National Fire Protection Association, the U.S. Forest Service, the International Association of Firefighters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and local Colorado fire departments all contributed to the design and testing of this new Wildland Firefighter Respirator.
The respirator was designed with the needs of wildland firefighters in mind. It is a lightweight mask covering just the mouth and nose. Rather than relying on compressed air tanks, it relies on filtration, and is designed to go a whole shift before needing to be changed. It is a chest-mounted system, weighing less than one-and-a-half pounds. Early on during testing, first responders gave S&T feedback that drawing air through the filter system could be tiring while hiking through wilderness areas, so the Wildland Firefighter Respirator uses an electric blower to force filtered air to the mask, relying on readily available AA batteries for power.
(Source: DHS S&T)
This past Monday, July 30, was World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, an international day of observance established by the United Nations. This year’s theme, Victim’s Voices Lead the Way, highlights the importance of listening to and learning from survivors of human trafficking.
In observance of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a new resource for the law enforcement community.
This new resource is the first-ever Continued Presence Resource Guide, developed by DHS’ Center for Countering Human Trafficking (CCHT), which is led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). This Guide is intended to assist federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies in supporting victims of human trafficking and advancing trafficking investigations and prosecutions.
“Continued Presence” is a temporary immigration designation provided by law enforcement to noncitizens who may be victims of human trafficking, may be witnesses in investigations, or have filed federal civil actions against their traffickers. The Continued Presence Resource Guide provides guidance to local law enforcement on:
- How to identify victims of human trafficking.
- How to prepare and submit an application for Continued Presence in support of a trafficking victim.
- Law enforcement responsibilities once the application is approved or denied.
- Longer-term immigration benefits for trafficking victims that law enforcement can support, such as the T Nonimmigrant Status (T Visa).
You can access the Continued Presence Resource Guide on ICE’s website.
(Source: DHS)
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Office just released a new guidance document, Key Planning Factors and Considerations for Response to and Recovery from a Chemical Incident (Chem KPF). The Chem KPF is targeted to response and recovery planners at the regional, state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) levels.
Considerations beyond all-hazards preparedness planning are required to plan effectively for chemical incidents. FEMA’s Chem KPF includes both strategic and operational issues for consideration when developing response and recovery plans for these incidents.
The document provides an overview of the wide variety of ways an accidental or deliberate chemical incident may occur. Its analyses of chemical incidents across the chemical supply, agricultural and transportation industries serve to identify common factors that all chemical incidents share. These common factors are all essential planning considerations for chemical incidents. The document then defines seven Key Planning Factors (KPFs), which provide guidance for addressing the “core capabilities” outlined in the Oil and Chemical Incident Annex to the Response and Recovery Federal Interagency Operational Plans (OCIA).
Because even emergencies that do not rise to the level requiring a Stafford Act declaration may tax local abilities to respond and recover, the document also includes chapters with guidance on how federal support for response to chemical incidents is organized and activated, and resources to support planning and decision-making for large or complex incidents.
The Chem KPF also includes a comprehensive set of ten appendices with reference materials covering chemical hazard identification resources, chemical incident legislation, notification requirements, federal funding for incident response, and more.
You can access the Chem KPF here, and additional resources supporting planning and response to chemical incidents on FEMA’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Office website.
(Source: Homeland Security Today)
With the uptick in targeted violence and incidents occurring with little to no warning, many houses of worship are developing and updating plans and procedures to ensure the safety and security of their congregations, staff, and facilities.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’) Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (DHS Center) is hosting a webinar to highlight faith- and community-based approaches to ensure the safety of houses of worship in the United States and in Europe.
Emergency planners and managers may benefit from attending this webinar to learn more about how to collaborate with these vital community members when preparing for potential incidents of targeted violence. Fire, emergency medical services, and law enforcement personnel also play an important role in these community partnerships, and in helping to implement the safety measures that protect faith-based and community gatherings.
The DHS Center provides this webinar in partnership with several federal agencies who support and amplify its mission with additional resources, training, and other assistance:
In addition to the assistance provided by the partner agencies listed above, you can also check out FEMA’s website for the DHS Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which provides many additional resources for emergency managers, announcements of upcoming webinars and recordings of past webinars in this series.
The webinar is scheduled for August 17, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. EST. Registration is required for this free event.
(Source: DHS, FEMA)
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NSA releases guidance on securing wireless devices while in public
The National Security Agency (NSA) has released an information sheet with guidance on securing wireless devices while in public for National Security System, Department of Defense, and Defense Industrial Base teleworkers, as well as the general public. This information sheet provides information on malicious techniques used by cyber actors to target wireless devices and ways to protect against it.
CISA encourages organization leaders, administrators, and users to review NSA’s guidance on Securing Wireless Devices in Public Settings and CISA’s Security Tip on Privacy and Mobile Device Apps for information on protecting devices and data.
(Source: CISA)
CISA: China cyber threat overview and advisories
This page provides an overview of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA's) assessment of the Chinese government’s malicious cyber activities. The overview leverages publicly available, open-source intelligence and information regarding this threat. This page also includes a complete list of related CISA publications, many of which are jointly authored with other U.S. government agencies (Note: unless specifically stated, neither CISA nor the U.S. Government attributed specific activity described in the referenced sources to Chinese government actors). Additionally, this page provides instructions on how to report related threat activity.
(Source: CISA)
DDoS attacks largely target the US and the computers and internet sectors
DDoS attack data presented by Atlas VPN found that attackers prefer the United States and the computers and internet sectors as targets. In June 2021 alone, more than a third of DDoS attacks worldwide targeted servers in the U.S.
In June, U.S.-based targets were subjected to 35.3 percent of DDoS attacks. The United Kingdom was targeted by 29.4 percent of attacks, and China was targeted by 18 percent. Other countries, like Japan, Germany, and France, were listed, but they were each targeted by less than 4 percent.
Many enterprising cybercriminals have turned to either buying or selling DDoS as-a-service, giving disgruntled employees, corporate rivals, political actors and kids looking to do mischief easier access to them than ever.
(Source: Tech Republic)
A clever phishing campaign is targeting Office 365 users
The phishers are using various themes as lures, and the emails are sent from email addresses from various top-level domains. The sender addresses contain variations of the word “referral” – e.g., zreffertalt.com.com, refferal.net, irefferal.com, and similar.
The emails are made to look like they point to a shared document stored on Microsoft SharePoint, a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office, and they include Microsoft branding. The fake documents are purportedly staff reports, “pricebook changes,” contain information about bonuses, and so on. But clicking on the link will take users to an Office 365-themed phishing page.
The use of Google’s and Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure to host phishing pages is just one of the ways phishers are trying to evade gateways and email security solutions. This campaign apparently uses other tricks, but Microsoft did not specify which. The company has shared an advanced hunting query defenders can use to block the emails from being delivered.
(Source: Help Net Security)
REvil most popular ransomware variant in 2021 (so far)
The volume of global cyberattack activity increased 125 percent in the first half of 2021 compared with the same time frame last year, the Accenture Cyber Investigations, Forensics & Response (CFIR) team reports in a midyear update.
Their data, which stems from aiding clients in cyberattack recovery and response, indicates the triple-digit increase was primarily driven by Web shell activity, targeted ransomware and extortion operations, and supply chain attacks. Ransomware was the largest malware by category (38% of attacks), followed by backdoors (33%), credential stealers (6%), and droppers and launchers (6%), according to the report.
(Source: Dark Reading)
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The InfoGram is distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. |
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Fair Use Notice:
This InfoGram may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The EMR-ISAC believes this constitutes “fair use” of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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