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Volume 22 — Issue 26 | June 30, 2022

Two NIOSH safety notifications for respirator equipment

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) tracks respirator user notices issued by manufacturers.  These manufacturers’ notices alert users about any conditions or risks that may exist with a NIOSH-certified respirator product. As conditions or risks are discovered, NPPTL will post manufacturer information about these issues on its website.

Recently, NPPTL posted two user notices that may impact certain respirators used by fire and emergency medical services (EMS) providers.

The first notice, issued in May 2022, is for several 3M Scott SCBA Air Pak models manufactured between November 1, 2019, and April 12, 2022.

3M Scott has received a small number of reports for these models referencing the primary and/or secondary reducing valves missing certain high pressure air filters. If filters are missing from the reducer, the potential exists that the user could experience a leak at the reducer seat retainer. This Notice details the models impacted and actions you should take to ensure your SCBA contain the proper filters.

The second notice, issued June 20, 2022, concerns certain AirBoss Defense (ADG) FlexAir powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs).

From April to July 2020, ADG supplied FlexAir PAPRs to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to facilitate pandemic response. To meet scale and pace of this requirement, the ADG contract with FEMA did not require the equipment to have NIOSH certification. In preparation for the end of the COVID Public Health Emergency (PHE), any remaining units supplied for use in occupational settings under this contract should either be retrofitted for continued use as a NIOSH-approved respirator or taken out of service. ADG provides instructions in its Notice on how to identify units matching these criteria and who to contact for more information on what to do.

NIOSH’s Certified Equipment List (CEL) and NPPTL’s Respirator User Notices Issued by Manufacturers are good resources for fire and EMS providers to consult whenever there are questions or concerns about the safety or performance of their PPE.

You can sign up for the NPPTL Listserv to receive email alerts when user notices from manufacturers are posted to NPPTL’s website. You can also contact NPPTL with any questions or concerns regarding PPE.

(Source: NPPTL)

Highlights

Two NIOSH safety notifications for respirator equipment

Fireworks safety for the Fourth of July and the Independence Day holiday

FEMA’s CBRN Office releases third edition of Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation

National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab offers training and technical assistance for community-oriented, constitutional policing

Cyber Threats

The U.S. Fire Administration operates the Emergency Management and Response – Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC).

For information regarding the EMR-ISAC visit www.usfa.dhs.gov/emr-isac or contact the EMR-ISAC office at: (301) 447-1325 and/or fema-emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.

Fireworks safety for the Fourth of July and the Independence Day holiday

Fireworks safety is a constant concern, especially around the Fourth of July and the Independence Day holiday.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that in the month around the Independence Day holiday, over 200 people on average go to the emergency room every day with fireworks-related injuries. The CPSC’s 2021 Fireworks Annual Report found that last year, an estimated 8,500 fireworks-related injuries (74% of the total estimated fireworks-related injuries in 2021) occurred between June 18 and July 18, 2021.

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) recommends attending a public fireworks display put on by professionals and refraining from using consumer fireworks at home. The best way to stay safe from fireworks is to not use them.

Fire safety educators can benefit from the educational resources provided by the USFA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA):

• The USFA has a page dedicated to educating the public about safe handling of fireworks.
• The USFA also provides a variety of summer outreach materials to help increase awareness and communicate fire safety messages around summertime burn safety, grilling, and outside fire safety.
• The CPSC’s Fireworks Information Center includes statistics on fuel, lighters and fireworks injuries and safety outreach materials for consumer fireworks products.
• The NFPA publishes a fireworks safety tip sheet, social media cards, and other resources on its fireworks safety page.

In jurisdictions that have adopted NFPA 1124 – Code for the Manufacture, Transportation, and Storage of Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles, code enforcement officials may want to review the current 2022 edition as well as consult with their State Fire Marshal’s Offices for current laws regarding permissible personal fireworks.

Emergency medical services providers are also encouraged to review their protocols for burns, hand, head, eye, and facial injuries as these are the most common types of wounds associated with fireworks.

(Sources: USFA, CPSC, NFPA)

FEMA’s CBRN Office releases third edition of Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Office recently released the third edition of its Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation.

The Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation describes the considerations, planning factors, and available resources needed for emergency planners to construct their own nuclear detonation response plans. The Planning Guidance focuses on the first 24 to 72 hours after a detonation when critical early actions can save many lives.

Updates since the second edition of the Planning Guidance in 2010 include:

• Focus on evolving nuclear threats. The 2010 Planning Guidance focused on 10 kiloton and smaller-yield detonations consistent with the threat of nuclear terrorism, all occurring at the Earth’s surface. This Third Edition addresses an expanded range of threat scenarios, including threats with much larger explosive yields and nuclear devices that can deliver detonations elevated above the surface that can increase the scale of the blast.
• New research, best practices, and response resources.
• A new chapter on the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS), which enables state, local, tribal, and territorial officials to send warnings and key messages during the response.

This guidance was developed by a federal interagency committee led by FEMA’s CBRN Office. The CBRN Office researches, develops, builds, manages and advises FEMA’s CBRN risk-based strategies, policies, plans, operations, tools, training, exercises, partnerships and outreach to mitigate the risks and consequences of CBRN events.

You can find the Third Edition of Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation within the CBRN Office’s collection of emergency management tools for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards.  

(Source: FEMA CBRN Office)

National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab offers training and technical assistance for community-oriented, constitutional policing

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) recently launched its Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab, serving as a resource hub for free training and technical assistance to law enforcement.

The Knowledge Lab is designed to assist law enforcement agencies, communities, and researchers in promoting public safety through constitutional policing and stronger community relationships. It is intended to grow and adapt over time to meet the needs of law enforcement agencies and communities.

The Knowledge Lab will build on multiple Justice Department initiatives designed to support best practices in policing in America, including the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS Office) Collaborative Reform Initiative, announced in March.

The ultimate role of the Knowledge Lab is to assist the field in discerning which programs and approaches have been effective and how they may be implemented in individual communities.

Law enforcement agencies nationwide can use the Knowledge Lab’s research summaries, profiles of best practices, training curricula and a roster of constitutional policing experts to support their needs. The Knowledge Lab will make all Justice Department consent decrees and associated materials available online to allow agencies to learn from in-the-field experience about how best to promote a positive and healthy relationship between the police and the communities they serve. The Lab’s Resource Index will be a vital link for law enforcement leaders to use as they develop and implement crime reduction strategies.

The Knowledge Lab is managed by the BJA, a division of the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP), through a partnership with the National Policing Institute.

To learn more, see the DOJ’s press release, the BJA’s announcement, and the Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab website at leknowledgelab.org.

(Source: DOJ)

Cyber Incident Assistance

MS-ISAC
SOC@cisecurity.org
1-866-787-4722

IdentityTheft.gov

IC3

Cybercrime Support Network

General Information

StopRansomware.gov

CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog

FTC scam list

CISA alerts

Law Enforcement Cyber Center

TLP Information

CISA releases second version of guidance for secure migration to the cloud

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in collaboration with the United States Digital Service (USDS), and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), published the second version of Cloud Security Technical Reference Architecture (TRA) on June 23. The Cloud Services TRA is designed to guide agencies’ secure migration to the cloud by defining and clarifying considerations for shared services, cloud migration, and cloud security posture management.

In consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, the three agencies adjudicated more than 300 public comments received in September 2021. A summary of the feedback received, as well as a Response to Comments (RTC), is available in the Response to Comments for Cloud Security Technical Reference Architecture.

(Source: CISA)

Ship controls identified as another major attack surface

Back in 2019, a container ship sailing for New York experienced a malware attack. The attack never compromised ship controls, but startled authorities. The UN’s International Maritime Organization issued cyber security guidelines for the industry to adopt in 2021, but experts warn many shipping companies are doing the bare minimum, even as they expand connectivity to shipping vessels. Added to this is the patchwork of systems from different vendors aboard each ship, making it difficult to make sure patches are applied. It’s believed the occurrence of cyber incidents in shipping is vastly underreported, with the Coast Guard calling for greater information sharing in the industry.

(Source: CISO Series)

2022 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses

The Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute, sponsored by CISA and operated by MITRE, has released the 2022 Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses list. The list uses data from the National Vulnerability Database to compile the most frequent and critical errors that can lead to serious vulnerabilities in software. An attacker can often exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system, obtain sensitive information, or cause a denial-of-service condition. This year’s list also incorporates updated weakness data for recent Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure records in the dataset that are part of CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review the 2022 CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses and evaluate recommended mitigations to determine those most suitable to adopt.

(Source: CISA)

CISA releases guidance on switching to Modern Auth in Exchange Online before October 1

CISA has released guidance on switching from Basic Authentication (“Basic Auth”) in Microsoft Exchange Online to Modern Authentication ("Modern Auth") before Microsoft begins permanently disabling Basic Auth on October 1, 2022. Basic Auth is a legacy authentication method that does not support multifactor authentication (MFA), which is a requirement for Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies per Executive Order 14028 - Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. Although this guidance is tailored to FCEB agencies, CISA urges all organizations to switch to Modern Auth before October 1 and enable MFA.

CISA recommends all organizations review Switch to Modern Authentication in Exchange Online Before Basic Authentication Deprecation and prioritize moving to Modern Auth. For more information, CISA recommends reviewing Microsoft’s Deprecation of Basic Authentication in Exchange Online documentation and the associated Exchange Team blog post, Basic Authentication Deprecation in Exchange Online.

(Source: CISA)

Malicious cyber actors continue to exploit Log4Shell in VMware Horizon systems

CISA and the United States Coast Guard Cyber Command (CGCYBER) have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) to warn network defenders that cyber threat actors, including state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) actors, have continued to exploit CVE-2021-44228 (Log4Shell) in VMware Horizon® and Unified Access Gateway (UAG) servers to obtain initial access to organizations that did not apply available patches.

CISA and CGCYBER encourage users and administrators to update all affected VMware Horizon and UAG systems to the latest versions. If updates or workarounds were not promptly applied following VMware’s release of updates for Log4Shell, treat all affected VMware systems as compromised.

(Source: CISA)

NIST: Applying the Cybersecurity Framework for the Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services, draft open for comment

The national and economic security of the United States is dependent upon the reliable functioning of the nation’s critical infrastructure. Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services are widely deployed throughout this infrastructure. In a government-wide effort to mitigate the potential impacts of a PNT disruption or manipulation, Executive Order (EO) 13905, Strengthening National Resilience Through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation and Timing Services was issued on February 12, 2020.

NIST’s Foundational PNT Profile: Applying the Cybersecurity Framework for the Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Services (PNT Profile) was created by using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and can be used as part of a risk management program to help organizations manage risks to systems, networks, and assets that use PNT services. This Revision includes five (5) new cybersecurity framework (CSF) subcategories, and two (2) new appendices.

NIST encourages those interested to submit comments on the draft PNT Profile by August 12, 2022 using the comment template provided (Microsoft Excel file download).

(Source: NIST)

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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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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