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Volume 23 — Issue 4 | January 26, 2023

New training from FSRI: Science of Fire and Explosion Hazards from Lithium-Ion Batteries

Underwriters Laboratories’ (UL’s) Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) has just released a free, online training module, Science of Fire and Explosion Hazards from Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Lithium-ion battery-powered devices are everywhere. They can be found in consumer products like laptops, cell phones and power tools, on our roadways in electric vehicles, electric scooters and other electric mobility devices, and they are even being used to support the nation’s electric power grid.

Along with their increased use, fires involving various lithium-ion battery products have also increased at an alarming rate, resulting in numerous injuries and fatalities. Even when the initial cause of a fire was not the lithium-ion battery-powered device, the involvement of these batteries can increase the intensity and magnitude of the fire.

FSRI’s new online training draws on its foundational research conducted to date with lithium-ion batteries. The course aims to help firefighters better understand the physical phenomena that determine how hazards develop during lithium-ion battery incidents.

The lessons are supported by video footage from FSRI’s lithium-ion battery experiments which capture the physical phenomena and illustrate the hazards in action.

Firefighters can use the foundational understanding of the hazards gained from this course to develop strategies to mitigate the associated risks.

The course is estimated to take about one hour to complete. It is self-paced and offers a certificate of completion after successfully passing a short multiple-choice test.

Accessing the course requires a free account with FSRI’s Fire Safety Academy. Once logged into the Fire Safety Academy, visit the course page to launch the course.

You can learn more about FSRI’s ongoing research with lithium-ion batteries and access additional training related to this topic at FSRI.org.

(Source: FSRI)

Highlights

New training from FSRI: Science of Fire and Explosion Hazards from Lithium-Ion Batteries

National Academies publishes report on the chemistry of fires at the wildland-urban interface

New report examines medical response to Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas

Webinars on new ‘Buy America’ preferences for FEMA grant programs

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.

National Academies publishes report on the chemistry of fires at the wildland-urban interface

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) recently published a Consensus Study Report, The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface.

While conventional wildfires are fueled by the burning of vegetation, fires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are fueled by vegetation and fuels from the built environment, such as homes, cars, and other human-made structures. The interaction of these two types of fires can lead to public health effects that are unique to WUI fires.

This study from NASEM was motivated by the growing need to address the public health impacts of WUI fires. Wildland fires are increasing in size and intensity due to more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves and droughts. While wildland fires are growing in size and intensity, urban development continues to expand into wilderness areas. These trends will inevitably lead to a higher potential for human exposures to WUI fires and smoke.

With this study, NASEM first set out to review the state of science surrounding WUI fire emissions and their health impacts. The report examines all aspects of the science of WUI fires, including:

• History of WUI fires and defining characteristics.
• The materials, combustion, and emissions present at WUI fires.
• The atmospheric transport and chemical transformations of WUI fire emissions over time.
• Pollutants of concern for human exposure.
• Methods for collecting data on WUI fires.

The report makes the following two recommendations:

• Establishment of an integrated, multi-disciplinary research agenda for improving understanding of e chemistry, exposures, and health impacts of toxicants resulting from WUI fires.
• Development of tools, resources, and messaging designed to inform a wide variety of decision-makers charged with mitigating wildland and WUI fire impacts.

These two global recommendations are expanded upon in each chapter. If implemented, these recommendations could fill critical data gaps and help inform decision-makers charged with mitigating wildfire impacts on the general public.

You can access and download the full report on NASEM’s website.

(Source: NASEM)

New report examines medical response to Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas

On May 24, 2022, a student at Uvalde High School in Uvalde, Texas, committed one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history at Robb Elementary School, also located in Uvalde. Twenty-one people, including 19 third and fourth grade children, were killed in the attack. Another 17 people were wounded, including three law enforcement officers.

The Texas House of Representatives Investigative Committee released a July 2022 report, which examined the sequence of events during the first 77 minutes of law enforcement response before federal Border Patrol officers made entry into the classroom and disabled the shooter.

While the July 2022 report focused largely on law enforcement response, the emergency medical response which followed the 77-minute siege had not been examined until recently.

Last month, the Washington Post, The Texas Tribune, and ProPublica co-published their findings from a review of previously unreleased records of the period following the 77 minutes siege, during the time victims were removed, triaged, transported and received hospital care.

The Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the May 24 Uvalde school shooting is still ongoing, so autopsy reports have not yet been released. Therefore, it is still unclear whether any of the victims could have survived if the medical response had been different. However, in its examination of the medical response, the report highlights problems with communications, resource management, and a chaotic incident command system.

FirefighterCloseCalls.com provides a summary of the report’s findings. You can read the full report on the websites of The Washington Post, The Texas Tribune, and ProPublica. Firehouse provides additional discussion on the report.

(Sources: The Washington Post, The Texas Tribune, ProPublica, FirefighterCloseCalls.com, Firehouse, Texas House of Representatives)

Webinars on new ‘Buy America’ preferences for FEMA grant programs

The Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA), part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into law in November 2021, requires any infrastructure project receiving federal funding to source their iron, steel, manufactured products and construction materials from the United States, beginning with awards received on or after May 14, 2022.

This new domestic preference requirement for infrastructure projects receiving federal funding will impact 23 grant programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including the Assistance to Firefighter Grant (AFG) Program, the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, and the new State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP).

FEMA is hosting several webinars throughout the month of February to help grant recipients understand what this means for FEMA grant programs as well as the process for seeking waivers.

Each webinar will provide an overview of the requirements and FEMA financial assistance applicability under the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA), FEMA’s waiver authority and waiver types, and a review of additional FEMA resources.

To learn more and register for any of these upcoming webinars, visit FEMA’s website.

(Source: FEMA)

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 Protecting Our Future: Partnering to Safeguard K–12 organizations from Cybersecurity Threats

On Jan. 24, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released Protecting Our Future: Partnering to Safeguard K–12 organizations from Cybersecurity Threats. The report provides recommendations and resources to help K-12 schools and school districts address systemic cybersecurity risk. It also provides insight into the current threat landscape specific to the K-12 community and offers simple steps school leaders can take to strengthen their cybersecurity efforts.

Along with the report, CISA is providing an online toolkit which aligns resources and materials to each of CISA’s three recommendations along with guidance on how stakeholders can implement each recommendation based on their current needs. To read the full report and to access the toolkit, visit Protecting Our Future: Partnering to Safeguard K–12 organizations from Cybersecurity Threats.

(Source: CISA)

CISA, NSA, and MS-ISAC release advisory on the malicious use of RMM software

On Jan. 25, CISA, the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) Protecting Against Malicious Use of Remote Monitoring and Management Software. The advisory describes a phishing scam in which cyber threat actors maliciously use legitimate remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to steal money from victim bank accounts.

CISA encourages network defenders to review the advisory for indicators of compromise, best practices, and recommended mitigations, which highlights the threat of additional types of malicious activity using RMM, including its use as a backdoor for persistence and/or command and control (C2).

(Source: CISA)

FBI confirms Lazarus Group cyber actors responsible for Harmony's Horizon Bridge currency theft

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirmed on Jan. 23 that the Lazarus Group (also known as APT38), cyber actors associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), are responsible for the theft of $100 million of virtual currency from Harmony’s Horizon bridge reported on June 24, 2022.

On Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, North Korean cyber actors used RAILGUN, a privacy protocol, to launder over $60 million worth of ethereum (ETH) stolen during the June 2022 heist. A portion of this stolen ethereum was subsequently sent to several virtual asset service providers and converted to bitcoin (BTC).

The FBI, in conjunction with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Treasury Department, previously published a joint Cybersecurity Advisory in April 2022, describing a malware campaign dubbed "TraderTraitor" that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) used in the Harmony intrusion.

The FBI and partner agencies continue to identify and disrupt North Korea’s theft and laundering of virtual currency, which is used to support North Korea’s ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. The FBI will continue to expose and combat the DPRK’s use of illicit activities—including cybercrime and virtual currency theft—to generate revenue for the regime.

(Source: FBI)

NSA publishes Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) security guidance

The NSA published guidance on Jan. 18 to help Department of Defense (DoD) and other system administrators identify and mitigate security issues associated with a transition to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

IPv6 Security Guidance highlights how several security issues can surface in networks that are new to IPv6, or in early phases of the IPv6 transition. Networks new to IPv6 lack maturity in IPv6 configurations and tools, and dual-stacked networks, which run on IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously, have an increased attack surface.

(Source: NSA)

How AI chatbot ChatGPT changes the phishing game

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s free chatbot based on GPT-3.5, was released on Nov. 30, 2022, and racked up a million users in five days.

By comparison, it took Twitter two years to reach a million users. Facebook took ten months, Dropbox seven months, Spotify five months, Instagram six weeks. Pokemon Go took ten hours, so don't break out the champagne bottles, but still, five days is pretty impressive for a web-based tool that didn't have any built-in name recognition.

ChatGPT is capable of writing emails, essays, code and phishing emails, if the user knows how to ask.

Today, ChatGPT is already able to write emails indistinguishable from those written by humans, in any writing style. It can generate text for social media posts, YouTube video scripts, website content, press releases, reviews—anything and everything an attacker needs to create a fake web presence, a fake persona, or spoof real, existing people.

When it comes to phishing, attackers can start out by using ChatGPT and similar platforms to generate individual realistic-sounding emails. With open-source versions of the technology also rapidly becoming available, those with more advanced skills and access to compromised email accounts will be able to train their AIs on a company's stolen communications. With scripting and automation, they can create an infinite number of mass-produced customized communications using AIs that can learn in real time what works and what doesn't.

(Source: CSO Online)

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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