Business911 International, Inc.

Texas A&M University Recognized As Leader In Cyber-Defense

The technology management program in the College of Education and Human Development has received another boost from the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Texas A&M was recently designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) for Cyber Defense both in education and research.

“This helps to put the technology management program on the map as a singularly vital contributor to the cyber education and initiatives at Texas A&M. We have the only undergraduate cybersecurity course that’s offered at the university. It’s coupled with digital ethics and that course helped make this whole thing possible,” explained Dr. Trez Jones, clinical assistant professor who also works half-time at the Cybersecurity Center.

Full article: http://today.tamu.edu/2016/06/14/university-recognized-as-leader-in-cyber-defense/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tamuNewsHeadlines+%28www.tamu.edu+News+Headlines%29

Space Weather - A Historic Shift in Emergency Preparedness

Article Detail - Domestic Preparedness

by Charles (Chuck) Manto

Wed, June 15, 2016

For the first time since the demise of the civil defense program of the Cold War, the federal government has made one of the most significant modifications to its emergency preparedness message. A three-day emergency kit is no longer sufficient to prepare for emerging threats, whether coming from Earth or from space.

Article Detail - Domestic Preparedness

Instead of implying that U.S. communities can always count on being rescued from any disaster in four days – requiring three days of food and water to stay comfortable – the implication now is that local communities might not always receive assistance for a much longer period of time. The source of this change is the new Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan, which were released on 29 October 2015 and explained again at an April 2016 Space Weather Workshop.

The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center hosted its annual Space Weather Workshop in Broomfield, Colorado, the week of 27 April 2016. This year was special because of the intimate involvement of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which provided keynote addresses and the 2015 promulgation of the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan.

 

 

 

 

Of special interest to the emergency management community is the second of six goals of the strategy that contain the following four elements:

1. “Complete an all-hazards power outage response and recovery plan: for extreme space weather events and the long-term loss of electric power and cascading effects on other critical infrastructure sectors;

2. Other low-frequency, high-impact events are also capable of causing long-term power outages on a regional or national scale.

3. The plan must include the Whole Community and enable the prioritization of core capabilities.

4. Develop and conduct exercises to improve and test Federal, State, regional, local and industry-related space weather response and recovery plans: Exercising plans and capturing lessons learned enables ongoing improvement in event response and recovery capabilities.”

 

 

Full article: http://www.domesticpreparedness.com/First_Responder/Emergency_Management/Space_Weather_-_A_Historic_Shift_in_Emergency_Preparedness/

INMA Joint Conference with ASIS and (ISC)2

 

The InfraGard National Members Alliance(INMA) 2016 Annual Congress and Conference will be part of a joint Conference with ASIS International and (ISC)². In an unprecedented move, InfraGard will co-locate their Congress and first annual Conference with ASIS and (ISC)² on September 12-15 in Orlando, Florida.

 

Full release: https://americansecuritytoday.com/11339-2/

National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium

Five universities have partnered and collaborated to establish the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium. The consortium is organized around the Community Cyber Security Maturity Model (CCSMM) that emphasizes cyber-security as being the responsibility of the "whole community". The whole community includes the public and private sectors as well as any individual within the community who accesses the internet or a computer network. The consortium members include The Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), The Texas Engineering Extension Service in the Texas A & M University system, U of Memphis, The Criminal Justice Institute (CJI), University of Arkansas System, and Norwich University.

 

Website: http://www.cyberpreparednessconsortium.org/

States Work to Protect the Electric Grid from Catastrophic Disturbances

A huge solar superstorm fries hundreds of high-voltage transformers, shutting down the nation’s electrical power grid. A hostile nation or a group of terrorists detonates a nuclear weapon above the U.S. atmosphere, raining gamma rays and causing massive blackouts.

While these sound like sci-fi movie plots, some scientists and government officials think either scenario could actually occur and end up disabling the country’s electrical grid for weeks, months or years, leaving telecommunications and emergency services severely disrupted and affecting the food supply, sanitation and drinking water.

Full article: http://empactamerica.org/states-work-protect-electric-grid-catastrophic-disturbances/

2016 Texas Grid Security Summit Conference Video

2016 Texas Grid Security Summit Conference Video

Texas State Senator Bob Hall hosted a summit on electric grid security. State and national experts addressed critical security concerns from high-impact threats that could cause a nationwide critical infrastructure collapse for a month or more. The summit addressed the Texas electric grid’s vulnerability to electromagnetic pulse (EMP), geomagnetic solar storms, and the interplay of cyber-attacks; discuss emergency preparedness and emerging protective technologies; and highlighted state and federal legislative EMP protection and electric grid security efforts.

Link to conference video archives: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist2/dist2.htm

Day 1 http://tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=11049

Day 2 http://tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=11051

Texas Grid Security Summit

Texas State Senator Bob Hall cordially invites you to attend a summit on electric grid security. Hear from state and national experts as they address critical security concerns from high-impact threats that could cause a nationwide critical infrastructure collapse for a month or more. This summit will address the Texas electric grid’s vulnerability to electromagnetic pulse (EMP), geomagnetic solar storms, and the interplay of cyber-attacks; discuss emergency preparedness and emerging protective technologies; and highlight state and federal legislative EMP protection and electric grid security efforts.

Conference brochure: http://resiliency.typepad.com/2016_Tx_Summit_Flyer_Final_4_14_16.pdf

Blackout! Are We Prepared to Manage the Aftermath of a Cyber-Attack or Other Failure of the Electrical Grid?

US House Transportation and Infrastructure Hearing 10:00am EST today

The Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management will meet on Thursday, April 14, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. in 2167 Rayburn House Office Building for a hearing titled “Blackout! Are We Prepared to Manage the Aftermath of a Cyber-Attack or Other Failure of the Electrical Grid?” The purpose of the hearing is twofold: 1. To explore the risks, vulnerabilities and consequences of a prolonged, widespread power outage and understand the primary federal roles, authorities and resources available to help communities, particularly at the local level, manage the aftermath of such a disaster; and 2. To assess the efforts and coordination among the participants—public, private and non-profit—in the electrical power sector, including planning, preparedness and mitigation efforts, response and recovery capabilities, information sharing, and standards setting. The Subcommittee will receive testimony from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and a representative from the electrical industry

Full article: http://transportation.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=400038

FBI Warns of Cyber Threat to Electric Grid

BY: Bill Gertz Follow @BillGertz April 8, 2016 6:10 pm

Three months after a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report downplayed the threat of a cyber attack against the U.S. electrical grid, DHS and the FBI began a nationwide program warning of the dangers faced by U.S. utilities from damaging cyber attacks like the recent hacking against Ukraine’s power grid.

The nationwide campaign by DHS and the FBI began March 31 and includes 12 briefings and online webinars for electrical power infrastructure companies and others involved in security, with sessions in eight U.S. cities, including a session next week in Washington.

The unclassified briefings are titled “Ukraine Cyber Attack: Implications for U.S. Stakeholders,” and are based on work with the Ukrainian government in the aftermath of the Dec. 23 cyber attack against the Ukrainian power infrastructure.

Full article: http://freebeacon.com/issues/fbi-warns-cyber-threat-electric-grid/

Hackers hit fire district, force ransom payment

Officials paid a $750 ransom to the hackers who had taken control and encrypted files on a computer at the fire district; employees are now being trained on Internet safety

Today at 7:39 AM

---

By FireRescue1 Staff

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — Officials paid a ransom of $750 to hackers who had taken control and encrypted files on a computer at a fire district Jan. 22.

Valley Record reported that the city of Snoqualmie, which provides information technology services to Duvall (Wash.) King County Fire District 45, paid the ransom that was required to unlock a computer on the district's network. It was encrypted on Jan. 7 when an employee clicked a link in a fake email message.

Full article: http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-products/technology/articles/79184018-Hackers-hit-fire-district-force-ransom-payment/