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March 22, 2016 Edmonton,, Alberta, Canada
Bob Janusaitis has been accepted in the Executive Master of Public Service Administration at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Bob will begin the inaugural program in the summer of 2016.
As previously reported by the media in and after July 2015, security researchers evaluating automotive cybersecurity were able to demonstrate remote exploits of motor vehicles. The analysis demonstrated the researchers could gain significant control over vehicle functions remotely by exploiting wireless communications vulnerabilities. While the identified vulnerabilities have been addressed, it is important that consumers and manufacturers are aware of the possible threats and how an attacker may seek to remotely exploit vulnerabilities in the future. Third party aftermarket devices with Internet or cellular access plugged into diagnostics ports could also introduce wireless vulnerabilities.
Modern motor vehicles often include new connected vehicle technologies that aim to provide benefits such as added safety features, improved fuel economy, and greater overall convenience. Aftermarket devices are also providing consumers with new features to monitor the status of their vehicles. However, with this increased connectivity, it is important that consumers and manufacturers maintain awareness of potential cyber security threats.
Full article: http://www.ic3.gov/media/2016/160317.aspx
Critical space infrastructure faces crippling missile strikes, small satellites, lasers.
China and Russia are preparing to attack and disrupt critical U.S. military and intelligence satellites in a future conflict with crippling space missile, maneuvering satellite, and laser attacks, senior Pentagon and intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday.
Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of the Air Force Space Command, said the threat to U.S. space systems has reached a new tipping point, and after years of post-Cold War stagnation foreign states are focused on curbing U.S. space systems.
Full article: http://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-russia-planning-space-attacks-on-u-s-satellites/
The Department of Justice is expected to announce charges against up to five Iranians believed to be tied to the 2013 hacking of a New York dam, a law enforcement source told Fox News.
The DOJ is expected to make the announcement sometime in the coming days, according to the source. The individuals are believed to have connections within the Iranian government.
The hackers allegedly infiltrated the control system of the Bowman Ave Dam in Rye Brook, N.Y., which is about 20 miles outside New York City, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. The breach raised fears of the vulnerabilities of the United States' infrastructure to foreign hackers. It also came at a time that the Iranians were on the offensive in attacking U.S. banks.
Full article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/10/doj-expected-to-charge-5-iranians-in-2013-hacking-new-york-dam.html?intcmp=hpbt2
Gen. Joseph L. Votel (left), head of the Special Operations Command, has been nominated to become the commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State group. Lt. Gen. Raymond A. Thomas.
The commander of the U.S. Cyber Command warned last week that he expects a major cyberattack on critical infrastructure in the United States in the future.
“It is only a matter of the ‘when,’ not the ‘if’ we’re going to see a nation-state, group or actor engage in destructive behavior against critical infrastructure in the United States,” Adm. Mike Rogers, Cyber Command chief and director of the National Security Agency, warned in a speech March 2.
Full article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/9/inside-the-ring-infrastructure-cyberattacks/?page=all#pagebreak
Released: 4-Mar-2016 9:00 AM EST
Source Newsroom: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Newswise — The recent cyber attack on Ukraine’s power grid highlights a new challenge for the United States: not only protecting our electric system against such attacks, but also ensuring that utilities can rapidly restore power if the grid goes down.
Decades of experience with hurricanes and other natural hazards has helped utilities hone their ability to restore power in Superstorm Sandy and other massive blackouts. However, sophisticated cyber adversaries could strike the grid in entirely different ways, by corrupting the integrity of utility control systems and disrupting other vital grid operations and components.
The challenges for restoring power after such attacks will be starkly different as well. In Sandy, power companies from as far away as California could send power restoration teams to the stricken region, safe in the knowledge that their own utilities would escape the storm. A nationwide cyber attack will strip away that sense of safety and fray the mutual assistance system that lies at the heart of the U.S. power restoration system.
Full article: http://www.newswise.com/articles/how-america-s-electric-utilities-can-speed-recovery-from-cyber-induced-blackouts
The next-generation fire suit could have a multitude of technological features.
Manuel Navarro has a relatively simple request. He would just like to know: Where is everybody?
“For years we’ve talked about knowing precisely where our firefighters are within an incident, and no one has come up with the best way to do that,” said Navarro, a division chief in the Menlo Park, Calif., fire department. He also serves on the technology council of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. “We go on the radio and say, ‘Do you have all your people?’ But we don’t know where those people are. They may not know it themselves. For us, that is a massive safety issue.”
For years technology has been promising to fix the issue but, like many in the first responder community, Navarro has been less than impressed. “Just about every firefighter has an iPad,” he said. “But if I get to an active incident and you have your nose down in the computer not watching what is going on, I’m going to be talking to you later. You aren’t there to take pictures and take notes.”
Technology has created a society that allows for unprecedented connectivity. In a matter of seconds, we can contact a family member miles away, a business partner across the country, or a total stranger across the globe. Now, thanks to an innovative new program in Houston, Texas, technology even allows us to connect instantly with a doctor in times of need.
The program is known as ETHAN (Emergency TeleHealth And Navigation), and its creator, David Persse, MD, FACEP, says it allows first responders not only the ability to connect their non-emergency patients with physicians in a moment’s notice, it allows EMS providers the ability to deliver much more responsive, specialized care to patients requiring something other than an ambulance ride to the ED.
Full article: http://www.jems.com/articles/supplements/special-topics/ems-10-innovators-in-ems-2015/emergency-telehealth.html
On a typical day near Houston's Barker and Addicks reservoirs, it's quite beautiful in the 26,000-acre recreational green space.
But then it rains.
The two dams are among six in the nation deemed "extremely high risk" by the US Army Corps of Engineers, according to Houston Public Media. They are located on either side of the Katy Freeway at Highway 6.
Full article: http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Two-Houston-dams-among-extremely-high-risk-6875135.php?cmpid=fb-mobile
