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Volume 22 — Issue 28 | July 14, 2022

International study finds that “occupational exposure as a firefighter causes cancer”

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), recently published a summary of its assessment on the carcinogenicity of occupational exposure as a firefighter in the journal The Lancet Oncology.

The IARC’s assessment concludes that “occupational exposure as a firefighter causes cancer.”

While various studies have already shown that firefighters have a higher incidence of certain cancers than the general population, this study is notable for several reasons.

• Because this study uses occupational epidemiology (the study of the health of populations of workers) as a method and it successfully links cancer risk to the occupation of firefighting itself, its findings have many implications for safety policies in the firefighting profession. The evaluations made by the IARC Monographs are often used as a basis for national and international policies, guidelines, and recommendations to minimize cancer risks.
• The study is very large in scope, covering firefighter populations in multiple countries, including the United States, Australia, Norway, and others. The study integrated findings from 52 cohort and case-control studies, 12 case reports, and seven meta-analyses.
• This study is a re-evaluation of the cancer hazards associated with firefighting conducted by IARC in 2007. The 2007 study classified the occupation of firefighting in Group 2B, “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” This 2023 study reclassifies firefighting as Group 1, “carcinogenic to humans.” This is the highest hazard category in the IARC Monographs classification system.
• The study’s “Group 1” classification of the firefighting occupation applies to men and women, career and volunteer personnel, and both structural and wildland firefighting occupations around the world.

To learn more about this study, see the information on the IARC’s website, including a Q&A, press release, and infographic summarizing the study’s findings. You can access the summary of the study on The Lancet Oncology’s website by creating a free account. The full, detailed assessment is forthcoming in 2023, and will be published as IARC Monographs Vol. 132: Occupational Exposure as a Firefighter.

(Source: IARC)

Highlights

International study finds that “occupational exposure as a firefighter causes cancer”

SAFECOM and NCSWIC release case study on Nashville Christmas Day Bombing, focusing on emergency communications dependencies

Getting ready for the launch of 988, the new number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, webinar July 21

Virtual chemical response training from the Center for Domestic Preparedness

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.

SAFECOM and NCSWIC release case study on Nashville Christmas Day Bombing, focusing on emergency communications dependencies

Last month, SAFECOM and the National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators (NCSWIC) released Communications Dependencies Case Study: Nashville Christmas Day Bombing. This case study is part of a series that builds on SAFECOM and NCSWIC’s Public Safety Communications Dependencies on Non-Agency Infrastructure and Services document.

The Nashville Christmas Day Bombing involved an explosion in front of a commercial communications facility which caused damage to the structures in the immediate area and caused consumer telephone and internet outages, as well as 911 outages as far as Alabama and Kentucky. The 911 outages impacted some centers for over a week. It disrupted about 170 public safety answering points (PSAPs). Telephone, data, and internet outages were seen as far as Atlanta, Georgia.

The case study provides public safety officials with knowledge to better prepare for severe communications outages and work with commercial providers and other partners to maintain and restore service. It outlines a timeline for the event and the significant challenges and impacts posed by the bombing on public safety communications. The document describes key takeaways and associated best practices related to communications resiliency; cascading impacts of the explosion including power outages and flooding; and the need for forensic investigation.

Access the Communications Dependencies Case Study: Nashville Christmas Day Bombing on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security’s (CISA’s) SAFECOM website.

For questions about the case study, contact SAFECOMGovernance@cisa.dhs.gov or visit cisa.gov/safecom/technology for additional SAFECOM and NCSWIC technology resources.

(Source: SAFECOM)

Getting ready for the launch of 988, the new number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, webinar July 21

Beginning July 16, the telephone number to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, an existing hotline composed of a national network of call centers, will shift to 988. In accordance with the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act signed in 2020, this three-digit number will be adopted universally and will connect individuals to call centers staffed by trained crisis workers or volunteers in every state.

State legislatures are in the process of introducing and passing legislation in preparation for the rollout of 988, considering necessary components for implementation like telecommunications charges and funding schemas, workgroups to drive 988 policy, and how to integrate this into existing crisis call systems.

Law enforcement, emergency medical services (EMS), and 911 telecommunicators and dispatchers coordinate with various mental health services on a regular basis. The intent with the launch of the 988 hotline is to continue to divert the handling of callers who are experiencing a mental health crisis away from emergency response and instead directly connect these callers with the mental health services they need. As the delivery of mental health services evolves over the next few years, some aspects of coordination between emergency services and mental health services will also change.

Learning and partnering opportunities are available to law enforcement, EMS, and 911 personnel as these services adapt to the changes that will come with the launch of 988.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) Office of EMS (OEMS), in collaboration with the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the agency leading the rollout of the 988 hotline, is hosting a webinar on Thursday, July 21 at 3 p.m. EST, Working Together: How 988, Crisis Response, and EMS Can Improve Community Care. NHTSA OEMS and SAMHSA representatives will discuss opportunities for collaboration between the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988), crisis response and EMS communities. EMS clinicians will hear from their peers engaging with 988 and crisis response teams about challenges and successes, and how to navigate interoperability between 911, 988, EMS, and other response agencies.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) National 911 Program hosted a webinar in September 2021 targeted to 911 telecommunicators. Representatives from SAMHSA and Vibrant Emotional Health, the agency contracted by SAMHSA to administer the 988 dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, discuss information on the implementation of 988 and what 911 needs to know to prepare. This webinar, Implementing 988 for Mental Health Emergencies, is now available on-demand, along with the slide presentation and a transcript of the Q&A session.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG Justice Center) created a 2-page fact sheet for law enforcement on How to Use 988 to Respond to Behavioral Health Crisis Calls and a tip sheet on Successfully Implementing Crisis Stabilization Units, with links to examples of model programs implemented by local agencies. These resources are available within the CSG Justice Center’s Law Enforcement-Mental Health Collaboration Support Center.

(Sources: NHTSA OEMS, National 911 Program, CSG Justice Center)

Virtual chemical response training from the Center for Domestic Preparedness

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) has added two new courses to its distance learning library:

• TRO AWR-916-W - Toxic Gas-Forming Reactions Training (TRO).
• Post-BAR PER-930-W - Post-BioWatch Actionable Result Sampling Refresher Training (Post-BAR).

Both web-based courses are an hour long. They were developed in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.

The Toxic Gas-Forming Reactions Training course helps public safety operators and first responders recognize, identify, and respond to toxic gas threats. It also equips public safety operators and first responders with tools to increase situational awareness of chemical threats. This course will help the student identify the major “knockdown” toxic chemical gases and become familiar with materials and equipment used to produce these toxic chemical gases.

The Post-Biowatch Actionable Result (BAR) Sampling Refresher teaches responders how to conduct environmental sampling following a BioWatch Actionable Result, in accordance with established standard operating procedures. The self-paced, web-based training is easily accessed on a computer or compatible mobile device by responders in jurisdictions which are part of the BioWatch Program, as well as others interested in it.

These two new courses join more than 20 other self-paced, web-based training offerings on the CDP web site that responders can access from anywhere using a computer or compatible mobile device.

To view the complete list of online offerings from CDP, visit https://cdp.dhs.gov/online_course.

(Source: CDP)

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 orders agencies to patch new Windows zero-day used in attacks

CISA has added an actively exploited local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows Client/Server Runtime Subsystem (CSRSS) to its list of bugs abused in the wild. This high severity security flaw (tracked as CVE-2022-22047) impacts both server and client Windows platforms, including the latest Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 releases. Microsoft has patched it as part of the July 2022 Patch Tuesday, and it classified it as a zero-day as it was abused in attacks before a fix was available.

Although the binding operational directive (BOD 22-01) issued in November 2021 only applies to U.S. federal agencies, CISA also strongly urges all organizations across the US to fix this Windows CSRSS elevation of privilege bug to thwart attackers' attempts to escalate privileges on unpatched Windows systems.

(Source: Bleeping Computer)

Microsoft releases open source toolkit for generating SBOMs

Software giant Microsoft has open-sourced its internal tool for generating SBOMs (software bill of materials) as part of a move to help organizations be more transparent about supply chain relationships between components used when building a software product. The tool, called Salus, works across platforms including Windows, Linux, and Mac to generate SBOMs based on the SPDX specification. Redmond's decision to open source the Salus tool is directly linked to the U.S. government’s push for mandatory SBOMs to provide software transparency in the face of supply chain attacks.

(Source: Security Week)

CISA Cyber Incident Response Training, upcoming webinars

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) offers no-cost cybersecurity incident response training for government employees and contractors across federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government, as well as educational and critical infrastructure partners. Course types include Awareness Webinars and Cyber Range Training. These courses provide valuable learning opportunities for everyone from cyber newbies to veteran cybersecurity engineers.

Upcoming 1-hour webinars include:

• IR 107: Introduction to Log Management, on Friday, July 22 from 11 to 12 p.m. EST.
• IR 109: Defend Against Ransomware Attacks, on Tuesday, July 6 from 11 to 12 p.m. EST.

To register for these and future events in CISA’s Incident Response Training series, visit CISA’s Cybersecurity Training Event Catalog. To learn more about how CISA may assist potentially impacted entities after a cyber incident, visit the Cyber Incident Response page.

(Source: CISA)

Breaking down the BlackCat ransomware operation

The BlackCat ransomware group is making quite a name for itself. In a FLASH alert published in April 2022, the FBI revealed that the operation had infected more than 60 victims since first surfacing in mid-November 2021.

The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) has seen this uptick in BlackCat activity on its end, too. Indeed, a member organization of the MS-ISAC recently underwent an incident response after a locked account revealed that an unknown cyber threat actor (CTA) was remotely controlling several of their PCs.

BlackCat stands out among other ransomware operations for the following reasons: it's a possible rebranding of DarkSide, it's written in Rust, it pays affiliates a comparatively larger share than similar schemes, and it's responsible for launching one of the first public data leaks sites.

(Source: Center for Internet Security)

Honda redesigning latest vehicles to address key fob vulnerabilities

Honda said it is addressing a spate of recently discovered vulnerabilities in its newly designed models after researchers found bugs affecting the key fob systems in its vehicles dating back to 2012.

Earlier this year, Honda was forced to address CVE-2022-27254 – a replay vulnerability affecting the Remote Keyless System in Honda Civics made between 2016 and 2020. That bug allowed researchers to eavesdrop on the unencrypted radio frequency signal and recreate it, giving them the ability to open and start vehicles.

In an effort to deal with this issue, Honda and other car manufacturers developed a rolling code system in keyless entry systems that mitigates this vulnerability by using a Pseudorandom Number Generator (PRNG) to create several different codes between the key fob and the car.

But this week, security researchers from Star-V Lab released a report showing how the rolling code system could be exploited.

(Source: The Record)

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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