Reposted from EMR-ISAC

On Oct 1, the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC)—in partnership with CISA, U.S. government and international partners—released the guide Principles of Operational Technology Cybersecurity. This guidance provides critical information on how to create and maintain a safe, secure operational technology (OT) environment.

The six principles outlined in this guide are intended to aid organizations in identifying how business decisions may adversely impact the cybersecurity of OT and the specific risks associated with those decisions. Filtering decisions that impact the security of OT will enhance the comprehensive decision-making that promotes security and business continuity.

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Reposted from CISA/DHS

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment (HTA), released today, is designed to inform both the public and the Department’s partners of the threats to public safety and security, in order to assist federal, state, and local partners in preparing, preventing, and responding to an ever-evolving threat environment. The HTA describes a threat environment that is expected to “remain high” over the coming year.   

“The Homeland Security Assessment provides an important overview of the dynamic and evolving threat landscape, illustrating just how varied and challenging the threats we confront are,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “It is because of the remarkable DHS workforce, and our close collaboration with our federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners, that we are able to meet the challenges and keep the American people safe and secure.” 

Assessments from the 2025 HTA: 

• Public Safety and Security: The terrorism threat environment in the Homeland is expected to remain high over the coming year. This is due to a confluence of factors, including potential violent extremist responses to domestic sociopolitical developments — particularly the 2024 election cycle — and international events like the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Lone offenders and small groups continue to pose the greatest threat. Meanwhile, foreign terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al Qa’ida maintain their enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland. 
• Illegal Drugs: Illegal drugs smuggled into and sold in the United States by transnational and domestic criminal actors continue to pose a lethal threat to communities in the United States. DHS has surged resources to address this threat, seized more fentanyl in the last two fiscal years than in the prior five years combined, and is investing in new technology to increase detection capabilities. Thanks to these and other efforts, the number of overdose deaths have declined by more than 10 percent in the 12 months leading up to April 2024 – the largest drop in overdose deaths in recorded history. That said, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids remain the most lethal of drugs trafficked into the country and continue to pose a national security threat. Adulterated cocaine and methamphetamine also pose a threat. 
• Influence Operations and Transnational Repression: We expect the Homeland will face threats to public safety from state actors using subversive tactics in an effort to stroke discord and undermine confidence in U.S. domestic institutions. Malign foreign actors seek to target ethnic and religious minorities, political dissidents, and journalists in the United States to silence and harass its critics abroad. 
• Border and Immigration Security: Migrant encounters at our border have steadily declined since the beginning of 2024 and have declined even further since the issuance of the Presidential Proclamation and complementary Interim Final Rule (IFR) were announced on June 4 – decreasing more than 55% in the past four months. We nonetheless expect some individuals with criminal connections to seek to continue to exploit migrants. DHS remains acutely focused on identifying those who may present a threat to public safety or national security and stopping them from entering the United States. 
• Critical Infrastructure Security: Domestic and foreign adversaries are expected to continue to target our critical infrastructure via prepositioning, cyber, and physical attacks. The People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russia, and Iran are expected to remain the most pressing foreign threats to our critical infrastructure.  Nation-states, criminal hacktivists, and financially motivated criminals will likely hone their techniques to disrupt U.S. services or to conduct espionage focused on gaining access to U.S. networks and critical infrastructure entities. We assess that domestic and foreign violent extremists will continue to call for physical attacks on critical infrastructure in furtherance of their ideological goals and, in response to international conflicts and crises. 
• Economic Security: Our adversaries – including the PRC - will continue non-market policies and practices, economic espionage and coercive economic tools, and illicit acquisition of technologies and intellectual property to undercut U.S. and partner competitiveness. 

Operational components and offices across the Department are involved in combatting threats and working alongside our federal, state, and local partners. Some examples of these efforts include:  

• DHS conducts screening and vetting of individuals encountered at the border to identify national security or public safety threats and refers any individuals who are identified as posing a threat to public safety or national security to the appropriate law enforcement authority for detention, removal, and potential prosecution. DHS continually monitors available sources of intelligence and law enforcement information to identify new threats and public safety risks. If and when any new information emerges, DHS, including ICE and CBP, works closely with the FBI and other partners to take appropriate action. 
• • In addition to biometric and biographic screening and vetting of every individual encountered, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has expanded information sharing agreements with international partners to enhance their ability to prevent, detect, and investigate trafficking and other crimes. CBP’s National Targeting Center continuously works to detect individuals and travelers that threaten our country’s security, while also building a network of partner nations committed to fighting global threats. 
• DHS, through CBP and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), has stopped more illicit fentanyl and arrested more individuals for fentanyl-related crimes in the last two fiscal years than in the previous five years combined. 
• • DHS is leading the federal effort to combat fentanyl internationally, through information-sharing, 
    multinational enforcement operations, and global cooperation with federal, state, and local partners and stakeholder to disrupt fentanyl networks within our communities. 
  • DHS has arrested over 3,600 subjects connected to fentanyl-seizure events, which directly degrades the organized criminal networks responsible for bringing fentanyl into our communities, seized over 2,200 pill presses, and seized over 27,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl to stop it at our 
    borders and in our communities before it can hurt the American public. 
• United States Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) provided over 300 trainings and briefings to over 40,000 participants in the past year, including to state and local law enforcement, government officials, educators, mental health professionals, faith-based leaders, and workplace security managers across the country. 
• DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) works with government and private sector partners – including owners and operators of critical infrastructure and public gathering places – to prepare for and respond to cyberattacks, as well as enhance security and mitigate risks posed by acts of terrorism and targeted violence by providing resources addressing Active Shooters, School Safety, Bombing Prevention, and Soft Targets-Crowded Places. 
• • Since the beginning of 2023, CISA has conducted over 1,000 physical security assessments and 700 cyber assessments, leveraging our field staff, including our Election Security Advisors, to provide expert guidance and tailored assistance. Also, since January 2023, CISA has conducted over 140 tabletop exercises, and more than 400 trainings reaching tens of thousands of participants.  
  • CISA shares information via multiple lines of effort, from disseminating timely and actionable intelligence and information directly to stakeholders, to developing best practice security products describing risks and how to mitigate them. The Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), which is partially funded by CISA and membership that includes all 50 states and 3800 local jurisdictions, provides cybersecurity services to, and enables rapid real-time situational awareness and cybersecurity information sharing across, the election infrastructure community. 
• The Office of Intelligence and Analysis’s (I&A) National Threat Evaluation and Reporting Program continues to provide tools and resources for federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners on preventing terrorism and targeted violence, including online suspicious activity reporting training. 
• DHS’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Intermodal Security Training and Exercise Program (I-STEP) and Exercise Information System (EXIS®) work with government and private sector partners – including owners and operators of critical transportation infrastructure – to enhance security and reduce risks posed by acts of terrorism. 
• DHS’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) educates and trains stakeholders on how to identify indicators of radicalization to violence, where to seek help, and the resources that are available to prevent targeted violence and terrorism. 
• The DHS Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships engages a coalition of faith-based and community organizations, as well as members of the Faith-Based Security Advisory Council (FBSAC), which DHS reconstituted in July 2022, to help build the capacity of faith-based and community organizations seeking to protect their places of worship and community spaces. 
• DHS launched the Prevention Resource Finder (PRF) website in March 2023 in collaboration with more than a dozen federal partners. The PRF is a comprehensive web repository of federal resources available to help communities understand, mitigate, and protect themselves from targeted violence and terrorism. 
• SchoolSafety.gov consolidates school safety-related resources from across the government. Through this website, the K-12 academic community can also connect with school safety officials and develop school safety plans. 
• DHS provides funding for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, nonprofits, and institutions of higher education to establish or enhance capabilities to prevent targeted violence and terrorism through its Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program. On September 18, 2024, DHS awarded $18 million in funding to 35 organizations working to develop and strengthen their communities’ capabilities to combat targeted violence and terrorism. 
• This year DHS’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) awarded over $660 million in funding to support target hardening and other physical security enhancements to non-profit organizations at high risk of terrorist attack. 
• In 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 DHS designated domestic violent extremism as a “National Priority Area” within its Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP), enabling our partners to access critical funds that help prevent, prepare for, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from related threats. 

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Reposted from Walden Security

Retail shrinkage is projected to increase to $132 billion in 2024, up from $112 billion in 2022. Retail shrinkage refers to the loss of inventory for businesses, the difference between recorded inventory on a company’s balance sheet and its actual inventory. Many factors contribute to retail shrinkage, including retail theft. SHOPLIFTING refers to an individual instance of small-scale theft for personal gain, usually by concealing items in a purse or pocket, etc. It is often opportunistic with little planning. It is the most common type of retail theft across the country and, according to a report from the Council on Criminal Justice, has increased by 24% in the first half of 2024 (compared to 2023, and based on data from 23 cities). Inflation and rising costs contribute to the increase, as many are first-time offenders trying to make ends meet. SMASH-AND-GRAB Videos of smash-and-grab retail thefts have been plastered across news outlets in cities such as New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Also referred to as flash robberies, these attacks require multiple participants who move quickly, smashing through windows and doors and looting merchandise. They often target visible, easy-to-move items and park illegally to have a quick entrance and exit. The perpetrators are brazen, relying on the chaos to cause confusion, while moving as quickly as possible. ORGANIZED RETAIL THEFT Smash-and-grab retail thefts are similar to organized retail theft (ORT), but ORT attacks differ in their coordination, scope and type of perpetrators. To define simply, ORT involves a group of people, often part of a criminal enterprise, who work together to steal merchandise. ORT involves the theft of large quantities of merchandise for resale on the black market. ORT perpetrators are highly organized and can spend weeks planning attacks. They often use deceptive tactics and slip out undetected, differing from the brazen, public smash-and-grab attacks. The breadth of their attacks varies as they attack across the supply chain. That includes truck jacking, cargo theft and e-commerce theft, such as using stolen credit cards to purchase merchandise or changing bar codes. PREVENTING RETAIL THEFT Whether the thefts are planned or opportunistic, most perpetrators select stores and locations that are isolated or have poor security features, such as low lighting, insufficient locks, or a lack of formal security systems and cameras. Most cases go unsolved unless a perpetrator is apprehended in the act. The good news, though, is that security technology continues to evolve to help combat retail theft and capture the perpetrators on camera, increasing the chances of apprehending them. Stores can better protect themselves and their customers with an integrated camera and surveillance system. One such system is a Mobile Surveillance Unit (MSU), a portable trailer that provides 24/7 wireless remote monitoring and video feed. The high visibility of MSUs and policestyle strobe lights serve as a deterrence, while they also have audio intervention capabilities that allow operators to warn perpetrators they are being recorded and to leave before law enforcement is contacted. The video footage is securely stored in the unit and backed up off-site for video forensics. Contact us to learn more about our MSUs and deterring retail theft.

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Reposted from CISA

You are invited to join a Cross-Sector Business and Infrastructure partners conference series concerning Hurricanes Helene and Milton, hosted by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).  These meetings will include an incident overview and storm updates, updates from CISA and FEMA regional personnel, reports on community lifelines, and an open forum for questions and information sharing.  These meetings will occur daily until further notice utilizing the ZOOM registration link and conference phone bridge listed below.  Please note these are the same as previously used for Hurricane Helene.

Date:  Daily, starting Monday, October 7^th until further notice

 Time:  3:00 pm Eastern

Please register by clicking this link: ESF #14 Call: Hurricane Helene Registration

Or join by calling: 1-669-254-5252    Passcode: 1610933278# 

The meeting will open 10 minutes prior to the conference.

Please contact CISA Central if you have any questions.

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Reposted from CISA

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in partnership with the IT SCC (Sector Coordinating Council) invite you to participate in a webinar discussion series focused on SMBs (Small and Medium sized Businesses) for cybersecurity awareness month! For 2024 we are centering the conversation around Artificial Intelligence and its influence throughout the sectors. The discussions throughout this series will discuss different aspects of AI, understanding how it could affect your environment, what the research community is developing and seeing, and what to expect moving forward when discussing AI safety.

Registration

To learn more and register for each event, please follow the links below.

Week 1: State of Critical Infrastructure SMB Cyber Registration

Week 2: AI Foundations: Building a Strong Baseline for Critical Infrastructure SMBs Registration

Week 3: AI Unlocked: Must Know Principles and Game-Changing Guidelines Registration

Week 4: Resource Vault: Strengthen Your SMB’s Critical Infrastructure Registration

Who Should Attend?

Small and medium sized businesses working in and adjacent to critical infrastructure environments. While the focus of the content will be centered around small and medium businesses there are prominent discussions happening that will provide value to businesses of any size. Discussions around safety effect all sized businesses and citizens due to the interconnectivity of IT environments. This effort stems from the IT sector and will maintain that origin within the discussions but due to the vastness of the sector, we encourage all 16 critical infrastructure sectors to attend and receive the value from attending.

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Reposted from ArtSentry

The Sentry Digest: September 2024

Is Your Collection a Target?  The Growing Threat of Vandalism by Activists   As activist-led vandalism rises, museums must strengthen security to protect their collections. Read on for tips from museum security experts on how to safeguard your artwork.   Continue Reading

How Technology is Transforming Museum Operations   Museums are harnessing technology to enhance security and enrich visitor experiences. Discover how these innovations are transforming museum spaces and operations.   Continue Reading

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Reposted from CISA

Save the date! Join us Friday, September 27, as we close out National Preparedness Month with an important CISA Live! on Preparing for and Mitigating Physical Threats. Hosted on LinkedIn, this event offers participants an opportunity to hear from CISA’s Office for Bombing Prevention Training Branch Chief and Portfolio Manager for Active Assailant Security on how to identify, prepare for, prevent, mitigate and recover from potentially life-threatening situations like bomb threats and active shooter incidents. We’ll also cover free tools and resources available from CISA and steps you can take today. Bring your questions, since event participants can also participate in a live question & answer session.

Join us on September 27 at 11:30AM EDT and feel free to share this invite and the event page with others who may be interested, too. Visit the CISA Live! webpage to see previous episodes and what’s coming up in the near future.

Reposted from Safehaven Security

Upcoming Trainings

Enhance Security Through Performance Documentation

Webinar | October 10 | 2:00pm CST

In today's dynamic business landscape, ensuring the security of an organization goes beyond just safeguarding physical assets and digital infrastructure. One often overlooked, yet critical, aspect of organizational security is the proper documentation of employee performance. In this webinar, we delve into three areas that have a direct correlation to enhancing the overall security and safety of an organization.

Violence Prevention Conference of Mid-America

In Person Conference | Oct 15th  | Rogers, AR

A full day of training from security experts and mental health professionals. Conference is pre-approved for 6.25 credits through SHRM, HRCI and CLEST.

Active Shooter Training

Managing High Risk Terminations

Understanding Workplace Violence

Mental Health Contributors to Violence

De-Escalation Strategies & Skills

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Reposted from The Northern Echo

A number of important and valuable exhibitions have been stolen in a museum heist in South Shields.  Sometime between 10am on Monday, August 26, and 12pm on Tuesday, August 27, unknown offenders had forced entry into a Perspex display cabinet at South Shields Museum and Art Gallery and taken four gold items. Police were called to the scene shortly after Tuesday, August 27, police received a report of theft at the premises. 

The items taken include:

• A 9-carat gold single watch chain with a 1902 Edward VII two pound double sovereign attached. Each chain link has .375 marked individually.
• A gold-coloured medal associated with the late former Manchester United goalkeeper Ray Wood, displaying an image of a player kicking a ball. The back of the medal has Greek lettering engraved on it, as well as the words ‘Made in Italy’ and the date ’15.07.70’.
• A gilt metal ‘Coronation Hospital Fund’ medal, believed to be associated with the Ingham Infirmary, South Shields. The front of the medal has a profile bust of Edward VIII, facing right, with the text ‘EDWARD VIII CROWNED MAY XII MCMXXXVII’. The suspension bar has the wording ‘CORONATION HOSPITAL FUND’ and a piece of red, white, and blue ribbon is attached at the back.

• A cap badge from the British Electric Traction Company, Jarrow Tramways. It is a gilded colour with the appearance of a horseshoe and a wheel combined in the centre of the badge.

An investigation has been launched in a bid to recover the items and identify those involved – with police appealing to the public for anyone with information to come forward. Officers are especially keen to anyone who visited the museum on Monday, August 26, or Tuesday, August 27, and might have noticed any suspicious activity. Geoff Woodward, Museum Manager, said: “These artefacts have great significance for the local history of South Tyneside. They are irreplaceable because of their provenance and local significance. “The theft of these items will deny the public visiting the museum a chance to enjoy them both now and, in the future. We would urge anyone with information to get in touch with police.” Anyone with information, including if they have knowledge of the items appearing in pawn shops and online, should contact Northumbria Police by sending a direct message on social media, or using live chat and report forms on the Force’s website.

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Reposted from CISA/DHS

Join CISA and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) on October 2nd at 2pm ET as we kick-off the 21st Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Featuring:

·         Nitin Natarajan, Deputy Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

·         Joanna Huisman, Senior Vice President Strategic Insights & Research, KnowBe4

·         Harshul Joshi, Principal, Consulting Solutions, PwC

·         Mike Petronaci, Chief Technology Officer of Proactive Security, CrowdStrike

·         Charley Snyder, Head of Security Policy, Google

·         Lisa Plaggemier, Executive Director, National Cybersecurity Alliance

·         And more!

To register for this virtual kick-off event, click here. Registration is free and open to anyone.

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