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Volume 23 — Issue 19 | May 11, 2023

New NIST report measures PFAS levels in firefighter gear

The presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in firefighter turnout gear has raised significant concern recently. PFAS are a category of manufactured chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting (NFPA 1971) requires that firefighter gear meet certain criteria for resistance to heat, water, and other hazards. Since the properties of PFAS can impart water and oil resistance to fabrics, these substances are often used in firefighter gear to help it meet these safety standards.

However, for firefighters who already face increased cancer risk from fire-related exposures to smoke and soot, as well as vehicle exhaust and other hazardous materials, PFAS in bunker gear is just one more pathway for exposure to potential carcinogens. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has been advocating for removal of PFAS in bunker gear, stating that it is an “unnecessary occupational threat.”

This month, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the release of a report that contributes much-needed evidence to help decision-makers and manufacturers improve the safety of firefighter gear. NIST conducted an in-depth examination of a range of textiles used in turnout gear coats and pants, which are constructed in three layers – an outer shell, a moisture barrier, and a thermal barrier. The results of this research further cement our understanding of what is inside the gear.

The research showed that the amount of PFAS present varies widely between manufacturers and layers, with the highest PFAS concentrations observed in the outermost two layers. The results of the study suggest that selecting optimal combinations of fabrics for each layer could significantly reduce the amount of PFAS present in turnout gear.

This research is part of a larger effort by NIST to examine public health risks to first responders related to PFAS. NIST is completing a similar study of PFAS in new and stressed hoods, gloves, and wildland gear.

Future work by NIST will examine the effect of typical use on the types and concentrations of PFAS in firefighter gear textiles, since higher PFAS concentrations have been observed in used fire fighter gear compared with new firefighter gear. Additionally, exposure to heat, ultraviolet irradiation, and laundering have been found to alter PFAS concentrations in durable water repellent (DWR) treated textiles. Future work will also test for PFAS in dust collected from fire stations, and NIST plans to study the amount of PFAS released from firefighter gear textiles when exposed to simulated sweat.

You can read NIST’s news release and the full report on NIST’s website to learn more about this research. FirefighterCloseCalls.com provides an overview of the report, along with an important reminder to firefighters to maintain a healthy lifestyle, get regular health screenings, and to sign up for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) newly launched National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer.

(Sources: NIST, IAFF, NFPA, FirefighterCloseCalls.com, NIOSH)

Highlights

New NIST report measures PFAS levels in firefighter gear

Hurricane season is just around the corner

May is Building Safety Month: The importance of modern building codes

Two upcoming webinars on public safety communications technology and policy

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.

Hurricane season is just around the corner

Hurricane season starts May 15 for the Eastern Pacific region and June 1 for the Atlantic and Central Pacific regions.

In April, Colorado State University released its extended range forecast for the 2023 Atlantic basin hurricane season. Colorado State predicts we will have slightly below average activity this season. It is forecasting 13 named storms, six hurricanes, and two major hurricanes.

At the same time, the Weather Company’s meteorologists explain that there is larger-than-normal uncertainty in this year’s extended range forecasting. This is because two opposing forces are at work this season – much warmer sea surface temperatures, which tend to increase the strength of hurricanes, versus a stronger El Niño, which tends to lessen the number and intensity of storms.

Emergency management agencies can prepare for the 2023 hurricane season by staying up to date on weather prediction and forecasting products, as well as the latest tools and training to help with their decision-making and guidance to the public.

The National Hurricane Program hosted its annual Interagency Coordinating Committee on Hurricanes (ICCOH) meeting from March 13-17, 2023. This year’s meeting took a retrospective look at the 2022 hurricane season from federal and state participants and offered briefings with lessons learned and updates made in the past year to hurricane tools and resources for emergency managers.

The ICCOH staff created a 2023 Interagency Coordinating Committee on Hurricanes Virtual Meeting Room. In the room, stakeholders can find all the presentations delivered at the annual meeting, as well as in-depth briefings on updates to National Hurricane Center products and services for 2023. The virtual meeting room is a wealth of valuable information to emergency management agencies and will remain live throughout hurricane season to support state, local, tribal and territorial stakeholders and federal partners in their hurricane preparedness efforts.

Two of the most significant updates to hurricane forecasting products for 2023 are:

• NOAA has upgraded its Probabilistic Storm Surge (P-Surge) model — the primary model for predicting storm surge associated with high-impact weather like hurricanes and tropical storms. The model now includes forecasts for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the ability to run models for two storms simultaneously, and more accurate modeling of water inundation along the coast.
• The National Hurricane Center (NHC) will extend the time frame on its potential storm formation outlooks from five days to seven days with both 2-day and 7-day formation probabilities provided. The NHC has been internally testing the accuracy of a seven-day outlook for several years. Now that this capability is live (no longer experimental), decision-makers and the public will have more lead time to prepare when a storm has the potential to make landfall.

To stay informed and prepared for the 2023 hurricane season, also be sure to check out NOAA’s 2023 Hurricane Awareness webinar series, happening this month, and the National Hurricane Program’s 2023 training webinars on HURREVAC, its hurricane evacuation timing decision support tool, coming up in June. 

(Sources: NOAA, FEMA, ICCOH)

May is Building Safety Month: The importance of modern building codes

May is Building Safety Month. This year’s campaign, “It Starts with You,” reinforces the need for the adoption of modern, regularly updated building codes. The International Code Council (ICC) is sharing educational materials throughout the month, with weekly themes to help individuals, families and businesses understand what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures.

We are now in Week 2 of Building Safety Month. This week’s theme is “Building Safety Professionals and You.” This week, the ICC is emphasizing the important role that building safety professionals such as building officials, plans examiners, permit technicians, fire marshals and others, play in keeping the nation’s homes, schools and businesses safe. For week 2 of Building Safety Month, the ICC has posted a series of posters, fact sheets, and social media materials that can be used to educate others about the importance of code officials in keeping buildings safe.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is also observing Building Safety Month with steps the public can take to make their homes safer and stronger. Modern building codes ensure that your home is safe not just on blue sky days, but also built using the latest practices and standards to protect against natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires. This month, FEMA is highlighting www.InspectToProtect.org. Anyone can use this resource to find the current building codes adopted in their local area, the kinds of modifications they can make to make their home safer and stronger, whether their code is up to date, and their community’s disaster history.

Emergency managers, building code officials, and policy makers can also benefit from FEMA’s Building Science resources, which provide tools for hazard mitigation stakeholders to create more disaster-resilient communities and reduce loss of life and property through the adoption of modern building codes.

(Sources: ICC, FEMA)

Two upcoming webinars on public safety communications technology and policy

NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program and the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) are holding a webinar next week on Tuesday, May 16, from 3-4 p.m. EDT (1-2 p.m. MDT). The webinar, En Route to 5x5: What to Expect, will provide a sneak peak into the sessions and demonstrations that will take place at the upcoming 5x5 Public Safety Innovation Summit, which will be held as an in-person event from June 28-30, 2023, in San Diego, California. The Summit evolves from PSCR’s Public Safety Broadband Stakeholder Meeting, which has been held annually since 2010. The purpose of this reimagined summit is to bring public safety, academia, government, and industry leaders together to discuss the current state of public safety communications technology and drive advancements in research, development, and deployment.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is hosting a webinar on Friday, May 19 at 3 p.m. EDT, Strengthening 911 Systems: State Policy Options. The webinar will feature the National 911 Program Coordinator, the Washington State 911 Coordinator, and the Executive Director of the North Carolina 911 Board. Speakers will discuss the use of improved technology, funding and other tools available to policymakers to enhance their state’s existing 911 systems. This webinar is part of NCSL’s Energy, Environment and Transportation 2023 Spring Webinar Series.

Both webinars are free and open to anyone interested.

(Sources: NIST, NCSL)

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 and partners disclose Snake malware threat from Russian cyber actors

On May 9, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and partners released a joint advisory for a sophisticated cyber espionage tool used by Russian cyber actors. Hunting Russian Intelligence “Snake” Malware provides technical descriptions of the malware’s host architecture and network communications, and mitigations to help detect and defend against this threat.

CISA urges organizations to review the advisory for more information and apply the recommended mitigations and detection guidance. For more information on FSB and Russian state-sponsored cyber activity, please see the joint advisory Russian State-Sponsored and Criminal Cyber Threats to Critical Infrastructure and CISA’s Russia Cyber Threat Overview and Advisories webpage.

(Source: CISA)

Iranian state-sponsored hackers exploiting printer vulnerability

On Friday, Microsoft said two nation-state actors they call Mint Sandstorm and Mango Sandstorm have been attacking companies running unpatched versions of PaperCut software, which is used widely by government agencies, universities, and large companies around the world.

The vulnerability – tracked as CVE-2023–27350 – was initially disclosed on March 8, and last month the company published an urgent update to an advisory recommending companies install a patch for the vulnerability. “We have evidence to suggest that unpatched servers are being exploited in the wild,” the company said.

Since that advisory, several ransomware groups, including Clop and LockBit, have been seen exploiting the bug, according to Microsoft.

(Source: The Record)

HC3 Sector Alert: Veeam Backup & Replication Latest Threat Actor Target

Cyber attacks launched by threat actors against Veeam Backup & Replication are on the rise. Veeam Backup & Replication (VBR) is a software product created by Veeam Software that is used to back up, replicate, and restore data on virtual machines (VMs). What makes this threat significant is that in addition to backing up and recovering VMs, it is used to protect and restore individual files and applications for environments such as Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint, which are used in the HPH sector. Veeam Backup & Replication also has the ability to provide transaction-level restores of Oracle and Microsoft SQL databases. HC3 recommends that all HPH sector entities be aware of suspicious activity, keep systems up to date, and immediately patch any vulnerable systems.

Read the full Sector Alert from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3).

(Source: HHS HC3)

Cisco warns of new ‘Greatness’ phishing-as-a-service tool seen in the wild

A new phishing-as-a-service (PaaS) tool is allowing rookie hackers to incorporate “some of the most advanced” features into their cyberattacks, researchers warned Wednesday.

Similar to other criminal services, PaaS platforms lower the bar to entry for cybercrime, offering unskilled hackers the ability to automate the tasks involved in tricking victims into entering their credentials on a fake login page. 

The report from Cisco’s Talos threat intelligence team says the new service is called “Greatness” and was first seen in mid-2022 — with spikes in activity in December 2022 and March 2023 based on the number of attachment samples available on VirusTotal.

(Source: The Record)

Justice Department targets 13 websites linked to DDoS-for-Hire

On May 8, the Justice Department announced a court-authorized seizure of 13 Internet domains linked to stressor or booter platforms, more formally known as DDoS-for-hire services.

This is the third wave of US law enforcement action against these kinds of services that allow users to pay for distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS), which overload targeted machines with an onslaught of information and disrupt operations, including accessing the Internet. Thousands of users pay for these services to launch millions of attacks against countless organizations, including schools, universities, government websites, and financial institutions, the Justice Department said in the release.

(Source: DarkReading)

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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