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Volume 22 — Issue 36 | September 8, 2022

Suicide Prevention Awareness resources for emergency responders

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about this stigmatized topic and learn ways you can help someone who may be struggling.

Suicide in the emergency services is more prevalent than in the general population. Statistics in a May report from the Ruderman Family Foundation show that more first responders die of suicide than in the line of duty each year. This report is an update on the Foundation’s 2018 White Paper, which had the same findings. The study also found that public safety personnel are five times more likely to suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression than their civilian counterparts, leading to higher rates of suicide.

This year, several new programs and resources are available help address the issue of emergency responder suicide.

Last month, the Public Safety Officer Support Act was signed into law, expanding the death and disability benefits under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program. Significantly, the law recognizes first responder work-related suicides as line-of-duty deaths. The program now extends benefits to the families of first responders who die by suicide and to responders who have been disabled by traumatic experiences like mass shootings or mass casualty incidents.

For law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began collecting data on law enforcement suicides and attempted suicides in January this year. The Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection is currently housed on the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal, with several reports on the program’s pilot and progress so far published to the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. This data collection aims to better understand the nature of law enforcement officer suicides so that better interventions can be developed.

For wildland firefighters, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s (NWCG’s) Mental Health Subcommittee is recognizing 2022 Suicide Prevention Week with seven days of messaging to support wildland firefighter health and wellbeing. NWCG encourages firefighters to use these materials to start a conversation about maintaining mental health and wellness with coworkers and to learn new ways of caring for yourself and others throughout the year.

For fire and emergency medical services, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) recommends that departments include its course, Preventing and Coping with Suicide in the Fire & Emergency Services, in their training schedules for this month. This course is provided free of charge via NVFC’s Virtual Classroom. Additionally, the NVFC’s Share the Load™ Support Program for Fire and EMS offers many resources, including a continually updated Directory of Behavioral Health Professionals who are vetted by the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA) as either having firsthand experience with the fire and emergency services or who have completed a training course through the FBHA to educate them on the fire service and the specific challenges they face.

Finally, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can still be reached at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), however, the hotline was assigned a new 3-digit number this year: 988. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has created a 988 Partner Toolkit so that governments, states, territories, tribes, crisis centers, and other partners can speak with one voice to spread the word about how the new hotline will work. SAMHSA encourages agencies to use these communication outreach materials and build on them to meet the needs of your specific audiences.

(Sources: Various)

Highlights

Suicide Prevention Awareness resources for emergency responders

DHS releases report on protecting critical infrastructure from an electromagnetic pulse event

National Preparedness Month: Build a Lasting Legacy

CISA ESS Webinar: Local Emergency Planning Committees – An Overview on Spill Reporting and Enhanced Coordination

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.

DHS releases report on protecting critical infrastructure from an electromagnetic pulse event

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has just announced the release of a report with operational approaches to protect critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid, communications equipment, water and wastewater systems, and transportation modes from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

An EMP event can be a naturally occurring geomagnetic storm, which can happen when severe space weather creates a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere. An EMP event could also be man-made, such as when a burst of electromagnetic energy from a nuclear explosion is produced in the atmosphere.

Whether natural or man-made, an EMP event is capable of disrupting or damaging the electrical components that are used throughout our infrastructure, disrupting power lines, telecommunications, and other electronic equipment.

The National Public Warning System (NPWS) is one component of our critical infrastructure that could potentially be disrupted by an EMP event. This system ensures the President of the United States can communicate with Americans in the event of a national emergency.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Program equips 77 private sector radio broadcast stations with EMP-protected backup transmitters, communications equipment, and power generators that would enable the station to broadcast national emergency information to the public in the event of an EMP event.

As part of a broader DHS effort to ensure critical infrastructure and emergency response systems are protected against EMPs, FEMA conducted high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) testing on the NPWS equipment to evaluate its operational resiliency. The testing confirmed the effectiveness of protection for NPWS stations, showing they could withstand the effects of an EMP in accordance with military specifications.

The best practices and design principles noted in this 16-page report, Electromagnetic Pulse Shielding Mitigations: Best Practices for Protection of Mission Critical Equipment, can be implemented by critical infrastructure owners and operators who seek to secure their assets against EMP in a similar manner to the NPWS equipment. It covers mitigation measures to harden a broad range of assets, including communications, networking, and other electronics equipment as well as entire rooms and buildings.

This report is a collaborative effort between the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), FEMA’s IPAWS Program, and the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

You can download the report on DHS’s website.

(Source: DHS)

National Preparedness Month: Build a Lasting Legacy

FEMA has launched its 2022 Ready Campaign in observance of National Preparedness Month in September. This 30-day messaging campaign is meant to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time.

This year’s theme is “A Lasting Legacy,” and is meant to underscore the importance of protecting the life we have built for ourselves and our future generations.

Because disasters disproportionately impact several communities, including people with disabilities, older adults, rural residents and especially communities of color, FEMA kicked off National Preparedness Month in partnership with Howard University, one of the nation’s preeminent Historically Black Colleges and Universities. As part of FEMA’s ongoing approach to advance accessibility and cultural competency in boosting the nation’s preparedness, FEMA and the Ad Council created new Public Service Announcements developed specifically to reach Black and African American communities, which will air nationwide.

FEMA calls on emergency managers to be its 2022 Ready Campaign ambassadors by taking three simple actions and encouraging your loved ones to do the same:

• First, sit down with your family and write an emergency plan unique to your needs. Visit gov/plan for more information.
• Second, download the FEMA App for a suite of resources you may need before, during, and after disasters. The free app is available for iOS or Android
• Third, use this fillable form to help record important personal information you may need after a disaster.

The FEMA app, now available in English and Spanish, has just undergone its most significant update in ten years. It now has a more modernized mobile user interface, personalized and location-specific information and alerts, highly customizable notifications, and more. You can learn more about how the app has been updated on the latest episode of FEMA’s podcast, Before, During, and After (Episode 99).

On ready.gov/september, FEMA provides social media toolkits that you can use to amplify Ready.gov’s disaster preparedness messages throughout the month.

(Source: FEMA)

CISA ESS Webinar: Local Emergency Planning Committees – An Overview on Spill Reporting and Enhanced Coordination

CISA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have partnered to host a webinar focused on Local Emergency Planning Committees.

Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) are community-based organizations that assist in preparing for emergencies by conducting hazard identification, vulnerability analysis, and risk assessment activities within their jurisdictions. Under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), LEPCs are required to develop an emergency response plan based on the volumes and types of chemicals found in, or transported through, their communities. Plans are developed by LEPCs with local government and community stakeholder participation. There is one LEPC for each of the more than 3,000 designated local emergency planning districts.

The webinar will discuss the benefits and requirements associated with a Risk Management Program (RMP), best practices for responding to a chemical release, key recommendations for accident prevention, and actions to enhance emergency response coordination.

This webinar is part of CISA’s Emergency Services Sector Resilience Development Webinar Series (ESS - RDWS). This series is facilitated by the Emergency Services Sector Management Team. It is a quarterly webinar series that focuses on topics of interest to ESS stakeholders.

The target audience for this webinar series is homeland security, public safety, emergency management and emergency response personnel.

The webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, at 1 p.m. EDT. Advanced registration is not required. Go to share.dhs.gov/essandepawebinar/ to join the webinar at the scheduled time.

For more information or to seek additional help, contact the Emergency Services Sector Management Team at EmergencyServicesSector@cisa.dhs.gov.

(Source: CISA)

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: #StopRansomware: Vice Society

CISA, the FBI, and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA), #StopRansomware: Vice Society, to disseminate tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with Vice Society actors identified through FBI investigations as recently as September 2022. Vice Society uses ransomware attacks against the education sector to gain access to, and threaten exposure of, sensitive personal information regarding students and staff for financial gain.

CISA encourages organizations to review #StopRansomware: Vice Society for more information. Additionally, see StopRansomware.gov for guidance on ransomware protection, detection, and response.

(Source: CISA)

Surge of QakBot activity using malspam, malicious XLSB files

The MS-ISAC is observing an uptick in U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) QakBot activity aligned with open-source reporting. This includes the research project abuse.ch, which found that 74% of the malware payloads received in April 2022 were for QakBot.

(Source: Center for Internet Security)

HC3 Threat Brief: Emerging Technology and Security for the HPH

Modern information technologies are having a profound effect on the health sector, but they also bring with them security considerations.

This Threat Brief from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) covers emerging information technologies that are, or may soon be, used by the Healthcare and Public Health Sector (HPH), including artificial intelligence, 5G cellular technologies, nanomedicine, smart hospitals, and quantum computing and cryptography technologies. Potential benefits of these emerging technologies are discussed along with the cybersecurity risk assessment considerations for each.

(Source: HHS HC3)

Killnet Group targeting Ukraine supporters with DDoS attacks

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has produced a monumental shift in the threat landscape. It has motivated state-sponsored groups around the world to try to capitalize on the conflict. The war has also driven cyber threat actors to take sides. Some even went so far as to vocalize threats against critical infrastructure organizations and other potential targets in the opposed country. This blog will examine Killnet, one such state-sponsored group that is acting on Russia's behalf.

(Source: Center for Internet Security)

CISA to formally solicit industry feedback on cybersecurity incident reporting rules

Federal cyber officials will formally ask industry leaders “in the next couple of days” to help shape the regulatory structure for cybersecurity incident reporting, Jen Easterly, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said Wednesday.

The incident reporting framework follows the new law that President Biden signed in March requiring that critical infrastructure owners and operators to report major cyberattacks to CISA within 72 hours and ransomware attacks within 24 hours.

CISA has said that it will use the reports to rapidly deploy resources to victims under attack and share information with network defenders.

(Source: CyberScoop)

The InfoGram is distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures.

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.

Disclaimer of Endorsement:
The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement of the linked websites or the information, products or services contained therein. Reference to any specific commercial products, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the EMR-ISAC or the U.S. government.

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