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IRS Alerts Payroll and HR Professionals to Phishing Scheme Involving W-2s

IR-2016-34, March 1, 2016

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued an alert to payroll and human resources professionals to beware of an emerging phishing email scheme that purports to be from company executives and requests personal information on employees.

The IRS has learned this scheme — part of the surge in phishing emails seen this year — already has claimed several victims as payroll and human resources offices mistakenly email payroll data including Forms W-2 that contain Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information to cybercriminals posing as company executives.

“This is a new twist on an old scheme using the cover of the tax season and W-2 filings to try tricking people into sharing personal data. Now the criminals are focusing their schemes on company payroll departments,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “If your CEO appears to be emailing you for a list of company employees, check it out before you respond. Everyone has a responsibility to remain diligent about confirming the identity of people requesting personal information about employees.”

Full article: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Alerts-Payroll-and-HR-Professionals-to-Phishing-Scheme-Involving-W2s

Emergency Medical Services Could Require Overhaul to Meet Modern Realities

(TNS) - The North Dakota emergency medical services system may need to undergo a structural shift to cope with changes to the medical and cultural landscape, experts and stakeholders said Tuesday during a meeting in Dickinson.

Tom Nehring, director of the division of EMS and trauma at the North Dakota Department of Health, said the current model for EMS has been in place for a little more than 40 years, and said volunteers have always been the “backbone” of the state’s rural delivery system.

That model, he continued, is “not a sustainable mode either near-term or far-term.”

“We’re already starting to see failures,” Nehring said. “We are facing a growing, potentially dangerous, crisis.”

Full article: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Emergency-medical-services-could-require-overhaul-to-meet-modern-realities.html

Iran & North Korea Nuclear Threats Are Very Real

by R. JAMES WOOLSEY, WILLIAM R. GRAHAM, HENRY F. COOPER, FRITZ ERMARTH & PETER VINCENT PRY

February 12, 2016 4:00 AM

Naïve reliance on their transparent disavowals could end up costing millions of American lives. North Korea launched its second satellite on Saturday, yet the national press continues to ignore this existential threat. The White House has not recognized that a nuclear-armed North Korea has demonstrated an ability to kill most Americans with an electromagnetic-pulse (EMP) attack. And White House spokesmen and the media have misled the public with unjustified assurances that North Korea has not yet miniaturized nuclear warheads for missile or satellite delivery.

 Full article: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/431206/iran-north-korea-nuclear

US Homeland Security’s $6B Firewall Has More Than a Few Frightening Blind Spots

A firewall run by the Department of Homeland Security meant to detect and prevent nation-state hacks against the government functions ineffectively, according to a sanitized version of a secret federal audit.

EINSTEIN relies on patterns of attacks, called signatures, to spot suspicious traffic, but it does not scan for 94 percent of commonly known vulnerabilities or check web traffic for malicious content.

 

Full article: http://www.nextgov.com/

 

FDA outlines cybersecurity recommendations for medical device manufacturers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a draft guidance outlining important steps medical device manufacturers should take to continually address cybersecurity risks to keep patients safe and better protect the public health. The draft guidance details the agency’s recommendations for monitoring, identifying and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices once they have entered the market. The draft guidance is part of the FDA’s ongoing efforts to ensure the safety and effectiveness of medical devices, at all stages in their lifecycle, in the face of potential cyber threats.

Full article: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm481968.htm

Will ISIS Turn to Cyber Warfare?

A cybersecurity software company has predicted that the terrorist group will target American businesses, utilities and presidential campaigns.

Joe Taschler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | January 14, 2016

 

(TNS) -- A Milwaukee cybersecurity software firm has made predictions for potential computer attacks in the U.S. and the forecast is downright scary.

Among the predictions issued Tuesday, Jan. 12, by PKWare, a provider of what it markets as "smart encryption" software:

Full article: http://www.emergencymgmt.com/safety/ISIS-To-Cyber-Warefare.html

Expert: North Korea H-bomb is 'super-EMP weapon'

Explosion over U.S. could send nation back into agrarian age

WASHINGTON – While North Korea on Wednesday was hyperbolically bragging about having exploded a test hydrogen bomb, some nuclear weapons experts were downplaying the event because of its low-kiloton yield and relatively small seismic wave.

Full article: http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/expert-north-korea-h-bomb-is-super-emp-weapon/#DqjJ654cIdDSMmzU.01

 

National Guard to Locate New Cyber Unit in Texas

by LANA SHADWICK15 Dec 2015

San Antonio, Texas, will serve as the new home of one of the U.S. Army National Guard’s new cyber units. The Guard has announced plans to activate thirteen new cyber units throughout 23 states by the end of fiscal year 2019. The effort is part of an ongoing growth of cyber forces throughout the Department of Defense.

Full article: http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/12/15/national-guard-locate-new-cyber-unit-texas/

Protecting the U.S. electrical grid from cyberattack

Across the United States, 3,200 separate organizations own and operate electrical infrastructure. The widely dispersed nature of the nation’s electrical grid and associated control systems has a number of advantages, but since the late 1990s, cost pressures have driven the integration of conventional information technologies into these independent industrial control systems, resulting in a grid which is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattack, either through direct connection to the Internet or via direct interfaces to utility IT systems. DARPA is soliciting proposal for creating automated systems to restore power within seven days or less after a cyberattack on the grid.

U.S. power grid still vulnerable // Source: fiu.edu

Across the United States, 3,200 separate organizations own and operate electrical infrastructure. The widely dispersed nature of the nation’s electrical grid and associated control systems has a number of advantages, including a reduced risk that any single accident or attack could create a widespread failure from which it might take weeks to recover. Since the late 1990s, however, cost pressures have driven the integration of conventional information technologies into these independent industrial control systems, resulting in a grid which is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattack, either through direct connection to the Internet or via direct interfaces to utilityIT systems.

Full article: http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20151215-protecting-the-u-s-electrical-grid-from-cyberattack

Senator Hall Speaks at the Annual National Security Action Summit

(Canton, TX) – In a nationwide recognition of his expertise on the Electric Magnetic Pulse (EMP) threat to the electrical grid, Senator Bob Hall will be one of the key speakers at this years annual National Security Action Summit being held in Las Vegas, NM, today, Monday, December 14th.

Full article: http://senatorbobhall.com/senator-hall-speaks-at-the-annual-national-security-action-summit/