Reposted from CISA/DHS

The Emergency Services Sector Management Team (ES SMT) would like to invite you to join our Working Group responsible for creating Interoperable Communications Best Practices and Guidelines. The purpose of this document is to outline the best practices related to interoperable communications in the emergency services sector; this includes preplanning for interoperability with major event and incidents, working with statewide interoperability coordinators and emergency communication coordinators, and highlighting the importance of prioritizing cross-collaboration within communications. The goals of the Working Group are to:

 

•            Identify best practices related to interoperability of communications equipment between sectors;

•            Identify the most effective methods of overcoming interoperability issues with communications equipment;

•            Identify the most appropriate resources and personnel to work with when planning for interoperable communications operations; and,

•            Utilize cross-sector subject matter experts within each sector, enhancing the resilience and preparedness of the emergency services sector for large-scale incidents. If you are interested in providing your expertise in this matter, please reach out to the ES SMT at EmergencyServicesSector@cisa.dhs.gov

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Reposted from CISA/DHS

Every day, you and your organizations are on the front lines of how connected we are, and you see the impact of emerging technologies at home, work, school and across our communities. With those new technologies, however, come new and growing risks from cyberattacks. Recent incidents across various sectors—nonprofits, private companies, health care, academia, and government—serve as stark reminders of the vulnerabilities we all face. To address these challenges, last September, CISA Director Jen Easterly launched the Secure Our World program. This year-round cybersecurity awareness initiative focuses on four simple steps we can all take every day to stay safe online:

 

• Strong passwords: Use passwords that are long, random, and unique to each account, and use a password manager to generate them and to save them.

• Multifactor authentication: Use MFA to protect our most important data, including email, financial accounts, and social media.

• Recognize and report phishing: Think before you click! Be cautious of unsolicited emails, texts, or calls asking you for personal information.

• Update software. Enable automatic updates on software so the latest security patches keep our devices continuously protected. These actions are crucial, but they require a collective effort to succeed. That's where you come in – your voice has the power to influence your members, customers, vendors, employees, and the public. By partnering with CISA on the Secure Our World program, you can help amplify its message, drive behavior change and reduce the online risks we all face. Will you join us? The attached Secure Our World Opportunities Guide provides several easy ways to partner with us. Some examples include:

•            Share CISA’s free Secure Our World resources with your employees and stakeholders.

•            Collaborate with us to co-brand or develop tailored content.

•            Raise awareness via social media by posting or reposting our materials.

•            Host an event and request a CISA speaker to engage your community.

•            Sign up for free cyber-hygiene services to reduce the risk of successful cyber-attacks.

Partnering in this critical effort will help reduce cyber risks across the Nation. By participating, you also gain access to Cybersecurity Awareness Month resources, ensuring that your organization is equipped to promote online safety throughout October 2024 and beyond. Your contribution is essential. Together, we can make a significant impact in protecting ourselves, our organizations and our critical infrastructure.

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Reposted from CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published a supplementary ‘how-to’ guide to assist stakeholders in executing the planning approach laid out in CISA’s Infrastructure Resilience Planning Framework (IRPF).  Dubbed the IRPF Playbook, this resource is intended for any critical infrastructure stakeholders involved in resilience planning. It uses a recipe-style list of inputs, processes, and fictional scenarios allowing users to better understand how best to implement the IRPF. The Playbook walks through the IRPF’s five steps and core IRPF and resilience concepts to help users contemplate their resilience objectives and develop an approach to incorporate elements of the IRPF into their planning activities. The IRPF Playbook highlights useful resources and provides a hypothetical illustration of how a community might incorporate infrastructure resilience into planning using the various steps of the IRPF.   The IRPF Playbook and the Framework are available on the Resilience Planning Program | CISA webpage. If you have questions or would like additional information on the IRPF Playbook or the IRPF itself, please email Resilience_Planning@cisa.dhs.gov.

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

The National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) has released two new resources to support communities and local leaders with heat planning efforts on its web portal, Heat.gov:

• The Introduction to Heat Tabletop Planning and Coordination describes the steps and timeline necessary for communities to develop and run a heat tabletop exercise. Tabletop exercises allow communities to test their response to high-impact heat events through simulated exercises, so they can identify strengths and areas for further improvement.
• The Maturity Model for Heat Governance presents a framework that leaders and decision-makers can use to assess their capacity to successfully manage heat risk across 10 unique dimensions. When used over time, the maturity model can help communities track their continued progress toward building heat resilience.

These resources can assist emergency managers and coordinators to develop a better awareness of heat risks, coordinate heat planning with emergency planning, and implement heat emergency response plans. NIHHIS builds societal understanding of heat risks, develops science-based solutions, improves capacity, communication, and decision-making to reduce heat-related illness and death. Heat.gov is a collaboration of NIHHIS federal partners, which include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and several others.

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

On Aug. 21, the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC), CISA, FBI, NSA, and international partners are releasing Best Practices for Event Logging and Threat Detection. This guide will assist organizations in defining a baseline for event logging to mitigate malicious cyber threats. The increased prevalence of malicious actors employing living off the land (LOTL) techniques, such as living off the land binaries (LOLBins) and fileless malware, highlights the importance of implementing and maintaining an effective event logging program. CISA encourages public and private sector senior information technology (IT) decision makers, operational technology (OT) operators, network administrators, network operators, and critical infrastructure organizations to review the best practices in the guide and implement recommended actions.

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

Earthquakes can happen anywhere with little to no warning. Knowing what to do before a big earthquake can determine how well you survive and recover. This year's International Shake Out Day is October 17 (10/17) at 10:17 a.m. (local time). At this time, millions of people across the world will be practicing earthquake safety by participating in earthquake drills at work, school, or home. Register today so that you or your organization will:

• Be counted in the largest-ever earthquake drill in the world!
• Be listed with other participants in your area, if desired.
• Set an example that motivates others to participate and prepare.
• Get updates with Shake Out news and preparedness tips.
• Have peace of mind that you, your family, your co-workers and millions of others will be better prepared to survive and recover quickly from the next big earthquake!

Get ready to DROP, COVER and HOLD ON. Emergency services agencies can help spread the word about earthquake safety by sharing FEMA’s Ready.gov Earthquake Safety information and the Great Shake Out! campaign information at Shakeout.org with the communities they serve. Individuals can receive updates and participate in the drill via text by texting SHAKEOUT to 43362.

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) National Mitigation Planning Program is hosting a webinar in its “From Policy to Action” series, Putting Plans to Work through Plan Implementation on Thursday, Sept. 5 from 1 - 2:30 p.m. EDT. The webinar is targeted to anyone involved in hazard mitigation. The webinar covers the benefits of plan implementation and the tools to get there. Participants will learn how to streamline and amplify planning efforts in ways that support the whole community. The webinar will discuss how a state agency, a Tribal Nation, and a county are each implementing mitigation plans:

• The Ohio Emergency Management Agency shares how their portal is supporting plan and project information.
• Learn how the Oneida Nation took a proactive approach to risk reduction and coordinating with other partners.
• Hear how Dauphin County, Pennsylvania fostered a robust annual review process.

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Reposted from EMR-ISAC

The 2023–2024 academic year was a challenging one for academic, administrative, and law enforcement leaders charged with keeping our college and university campuses safe. Demonstrations on campuses occurred at a level not seen in decades. Campus law enforcement and public safety personnel were tasked with protecting access to public spaces, separating protesters and counter protesters to avert violence, or both. The Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Community Relations Service (CRS) recently released Navigating Conflicts: A Guide for Campus Leaders and Public Safety Personnel. This Guide was developed by CRS, in collaboration with the Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and The Ohio State University’s Divided Community Project. The Guide is published not as an analysis of past conflict on campus or an assessment of leadership response but as a framework to help campus leaders and public safety professionals conceptualize conflict and inform decision-making when it does occur. The publication includes:

• Explanations of the critical topics of awareness, communication, support, and coordination.
• A toolkit for rapid response to campus conflict.
• An interactive simulation, “Nexera University.” 
• The CRS and the Divided Community Project are available to college and university communities to provide assistance with any of these resources—including helping facilitate the interactive simulation in person, virtually, or in a hybrid format. 

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Reposted from The Art Newspaper

The small storefront institution, devoted to objects and ephemera related to the most expensive painting ever sold, will reopen soon the whereabouts of Salvator Mundi, the painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and sold for $450m to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman at Christie’s Manhattan headquarters in 2017, remain unknown—most recently it has been rumored to be sitting in storage in Geneva. But, the whereabouts of the Salvator Barbi, the current star attraction at the Salvator Mundi Museum of Art in Brooklyn, are known it remains at the tiny storefront institution’s headquarters in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood, despite a violent break in over the weekend. According to security camera footage reviewed by The Art Newspaper, early on the morning of 17 August a person broke into an adjacent restaurant. The intruder seemingly then smashed open the internal door connecting the restaurant and museum. Though several pieces of Salvator Mundi-branded merchandise—including bottles of wine and shoes—were left strewn on the museum floor in the fracas, no items from its collection were taken. “While we are disheartened by this blatant criminal act, we are relieved that no harm came to our artworks, which hold immense cultural and historical value,” Dabora Choi, an artist and the museum’s chief coordinator of curatorial affairs said in a statement. She confirmed to The Art Newspaper that the museum will reopen on 23 August, adding: “We’re getting a new alarm system installed.” The reopening will give the public one last chance to see an exhibition outlining the parallels between the Salvator Mundi and the lucrative Mattel toy brand, which has been the subject of several major museum shows lately. The specially commissioned Salvator Barbi painting is the centerpiece, intended as a “visual testament to the unexpected harmony between these two cultural phenomena”, according to a press release.

Next week, that exhibition will be replaced by an another devoted to a Salvator Mundi-themed mechanical bank that the museum acquired in May. Much like the painting it was inspired by, the Salvator Mundi mechanical bank is shrouded in mystery. It was discovered at a flea market in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, last April. After the buyer contacted the museum looking for help in researching the object’s origins, the institution was ultimately able to acquire it. “We are exceptionally fortunate and honored to add the Salvator Mundi mechanical bank to our collection,” Choi said at the time in a statement. “Regardless of its ultimate origin, it stands as a testament to human ingenuity and artistic innovation.” Similarly, the Salvator Mundi painting that was eventually attributed to Leonardo also surfaced at an off-the-radar sale in Louisiana. The painting, badly in need of restoration, was famously bought for just $1,175 at a New Orleans Auction Galleries sale in 2005 by a pair of eagle-eyed dealers. Twelve years later, it achieved the highest price ever paid for a piece of art.

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Reposted from CTV News

Visitors to the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa will have to undergo a bag check before entering, after the museum received a threatening email this week. Darcy Ferron, vice-president of strategic and external affairs at the Canadian Museum of Nature, told CTV News Ottawa the bag checks are standard procedure whenever there is a security risk to the museum. "We take the safety of our visitors, staff and collection seriously," he said. "We're in a central location and this is a busy time for us." Police were notified and the museum property in Ottawa was fully searched for any signs of risk, as was the Natural Heritage Campus in Gatineau, Que., Ferron said. Nothing was found. Organizations across Canada have been the target of threatening messages in recent days, according to the RCMP. Earlier this week, more than 100 Jewish organizations and places of worship received bomb threats, as did hospitals in Ottawa(opens in a new tab). On Thursday, the Mounties said malls, ports, museums and art galleries(opens in a new tab) in Canada had also reported threats. This isn't the first time the museum has had to check bags at the door. Earlier this year, climate protesters spray-painted one of the dinosaur fossil displays, prompting staff to check bags temporarily in case of a second incident. A notice is posted on the museum's website(opens in a new tab) to say bags will be searched at the entrance until further notice. Ferron added this is not common in Canada. "In the United States, they do bag checks every day.

In Canada, we're used to being able to just walk in, so it's really unfortunate, but we have to take this seriously," he said. The RCMP says it continues to work closely with domestic and international police partners to advance the investigation into the individual or individuals responsible for the online bomb threats across Canada this week. "We take these threats very seriously and want to thank all internal and external resources that are assisting with this criminal matter," the RCMP said. "We recognize the fear and disorder these threats may have caused throughout communities and organizations, notably the Jewish community, and we will continue to update Canadians on developments, as appropriate."

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