Ministry of Finance launches first basic PPP course

Government has adopted Private Partnership Programme (PPP) as an option to leverage private sector funding for infrastructure development, Mrs Magdalene Apenteng, Director of the Public Investment Division of the Ministry of Finance, has said.

This, she said, is being done with a consistent and well organizsd focus in developing a pipeline of bankable projects, an interactive and continuous capacity building framework and a comprehensive communication plan.

Mrs Apenteng was speaking at the launch of the first PPP basic course in Accra, which brought together staff of some selected ministries and the private sector.

The Ministry has been implementing the PPP over the last three years after the development and launching of the in 2011.

Mrs Apenteng said the PPP Programme is central to government’s development agenda as it would help to accelerate development and the provision of critical infrastructure. For the full article click here 

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State’s failure to fund infrastructure hits eastern Montana towns hard

Using carbon copies of handwritten receipts, Gordon Oelkers tracks the charge accounts of neighbors who come to Oelkers Servicenter for gas, new tires and oil changes. He trusts his neighbors; in part because they know he will, in turn, spend the same money at their businesses.

As Culbertson mayor, Oelkers doesn’t hold the same trust for state leaders. For the full article click here 

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Air traffic control sale could trigger international bidding war

The sale of the Government’s stake in Britain’s air traffic control network is expected to trigger an international bidding war among pension funds, infrastructure investors, and sovereign wealth funds as interest in big infrastructure assets grows.

The Government in the Autumn Statement revealed plans to sell its 49pc stake in National Air Traffic Services (NATS), having ditched an attempt in 2012 saying it was in the “best interests of the taxpayer” to retain it.NATS oversees air traffic control at 14 UK airports, over the Uk and eastern parts of the Atlantic.

The Chancellor said last week that he wanted to sell it as part of a package of disposals to raise £5bn. The stake in NATS could sell for £500m, say industry sources, as the stock of quality infrastructure assets which produce reliable long-term returns runs down. For the full article click here 

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Satellites need protection as ‘critical infrastructure,’ military says

The military’s research arm is looking for better ways to protect satellites from catastrophic failure after a 2011 space incident exposed Canada’s vulnerability to communications collapse.

Defence Research and Development Canada is launching an initiative with the private sector to improve the reliability of satellites threatened by space debris, harmful radiation and even software glitches that can shut down essential services, from internet access to airline flights. For the full article click here 

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Securing Critical National Infrastructure in Remote Locations: Prevailing Strategies are Simply Inadequate

The recent news from Nigeria, where the nation’s pipelines might be losing up to 300,000 barrels of oil a day, highlights the security threats to critical national infrastructure and the profound consequences when they are realised.

There are literally hundreds of security solutions on the market that claim they can help secure CNI (Critical National Infrastructure) assets, but the majority are only really suitable for the protection of accessible locations with power and communications on hand, and road or rail infrastructure to enable a timely response.

In practice the real world is rarely this accommodating. Many critical assets, such as oil and gas pipelines, are located in remote and hostile environments with significant or escalating security threats.

Oil and gas consumption continues to rise, driving exploration, extraction and processing into ever more such hostile and remote locations. However, identifying and recovering valuable oil and gas reserves means nothing without the security of supply. For the full article click here 

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Top 10 tips to help CIOs stand out from the crowd and become tech superstars

The position of the chief technology officer (CIO) in the enterprise world is changing as technology increasingly penetrates, rather than just supports, business operations and processes.

This change presents opportunities and challenges for CIOs looking to make use of the best the technology the world can offer without hampering day-to-day operations. But those with a savvy approach could use IT to transform their businesses from an analogue to a digital age.

V3 has a rundown of the approaches, attitudes and doctrines the modern CIO should consider if they wish to become leaders in the IT world. For the full article click here 

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TowerSec Vice President Business Development Asaf Atzmon To Speak at ITS Israel 2015 Conference

TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Asaf Atzmon, TowerSec’s newly appointed vice president of business development, will discuss automotive cyber threats and their implication to the critical infrastructure at the ITS Israel 2015 conference, November 26.

There is a growing sense of urgency to find a solution to automotive cyber security threats. Recent demonstrated attacks have shown compromising a vehicle is a real and present danger as the vehicle’s ecosystem becomes more and more connected and the opportunity for hackers dramatically increases.

Atzmon, who recently joined TowerSec from Cisco Systems, will discuss the critical infrastructure (CI) with focus on Intelligent Transportation Systems and will talk about hacks and research findings to these systems published in recent years. He will further discuss the importance of data and the notion of data ownership as it relates to security.

“The solution to all these issues is developing a comprehensive protection approach against wired and wireless attacks,” he said. “TowerSec is recognized as a leader in cyber security. Our ECUSHIELD and TCUSHIELD software stops vehicle cyber threats now and in the future. It is the only tested and proven onboard pure software security solution available and can be immediately integrated into vehicles.” For the full article click here 

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USC professor counting the cost of climate inaction

WHAT happens when sea levels rise, extreme weather events increase in severity and the coastal zone where most of the world’s population lives become increasingly vulnerable?

That’s a question that has led to Professor Tim Smith of the University of the Sunshine Coast being appointed to the global Scientific Steering Committee for Future Earth Coasts and prompted a three-year Queensland Government investment in new research.

Prof Smith, the director of USC’s Sustainability Research Centre, said there needed to be a conversation about the current costs of action against the future cost of inaction in the face of major change that would impact billions of people.

His appointment comes as the results of a Queensland Government-funded pilot study found that up to 4200 Townsville homes would be flooded by climate change impacts of storm surge and sea level rise. For the full article click here 

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New HSD Report: Securing Critical Infrastructures in the Netherlands – Towards a National Testbed

In line with the recent call of Ingrid van Engelshoven, deputy mayor of the City of The Hague, and Ronald Prins, Co-Director of HSD Founding Partner Fox-IT, for a more professional and organised approach for the protection of critical infrastructures, HSD presents a report on how this can be brought into practice.

On 26 November, Ida Haisma (Executive Director of HSD) handed the first copy of the report to Ingrid van Engelshoven, the Mayor of Zoetermeer Charlie Aptroot and Leonard Geluk (The Hague University of Applied Sciences) during the launch of the Centre of Expertise Cyber Security of The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This location was also chosen because The Hague University of Applied Sciences already set up a testbed focused on water management, showing how successful testbeds can be. For the full article click here 

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Emergency, emergency, this is America’s infrastructure calling: Brendan Bechtel

America must renew its infrastructure to avoid economic decline. As Americans, we know that our basic infrastructure badly fails to meet the demands of the 21st century as we daily encounter crumbling bridges, pot-holed highways, outdated airports and other critical public facilities across the country. Indeed, The American Society of Civil Engineers grades U.S. infrastructure a D+. As recently announced, a highway bill is making some progress on Capitol Hill — and it’s a good start, yet a great deal more urgency is needed.

When I was working summer jobs during school, I trained as an emergency medical technician and volunteered briefly with my local fire department. One of the key skills any emergency responder first learns is triage: when you arrive on the scene of an emergency with multiple casualties, you must first sort and prioritize all the patients based on their individual needs, then deliver their treatment in order of the most critical life-saving issues first, then deal with less-urgent injuries. For the full article click here 

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Azerbaijan, China to boost infrastructure projects co-op

Azerbaijan and China have agreed to strengthen the interstate cooperation in infrastructure projects, finance, communications, Xinhua news agency reported.

The agreement was reached during the meeting between Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Abid Sharifov and China’s Vice-Premier Wang Yang in Beijing, according to the report.

The sides also expressed willingness to take the advantage of the opportunities provided by the ‘One Belt, One Road’ project of the Chinese government. The project is aimed at supporting and promoting the implementation of promising and cost-effective international commercial and infrastructure projects in Asia, Europe and adjacent regions.

Moreover, Beijing hosted the 5^th meeting of Azerbaijan-China intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. For the full article click here 

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FG to float $25bn infrastructure fund — Adeosun

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, made the disclosure at the inauguration of the 10-year Capital Market Master Plan, Nigeria Investor Protection Fund (NIPF), and the launch of the Corporate Governance Scorecard for quoted companies by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Lagos.

She explained that setting up the fund became necessary due to the need to upgrade the country’s current infrastructure, and urged the capital market community to come up with other innovative ways of mobilizing capital needed to address the nation’s infrastructure problem. For the full article click here 

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OIG Identifies IT Security Issues Following OPM Data Breach

OPM’s IT security protocols are still underperforming, even in the healthcare data category, an OIG audit report shows.

Following the massive data breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) earlier this year, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released an audit report detailing several IT security issues at the agency.

Although the data breach prompted OPM to perform an overhaul of its IT security protocols, OIG still found considerable gaps in security, including in healthcare data security.

Although the OPM data breach included more than just health information, the OIG audit report shows a need to increase security for health information. For example, OIG found that healthcare and insurance information was one of seven categories that failed a security control testing metric.

Furthermore, healthcare and insurance is one of several categories that have overdue Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms). OIG emphasized the urgency of OPM’s need to renew the systems’ POA&Ms.

Healthcare and insurance systems also failed to update their contingency plans, which are required plans according to the OPM handbook.

“Contingency Plans shall be reviewed, updated, and tested at least annually to ensure its effectiveness,” the handbook says.

 

Read more , Click Here

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Federal Insecurity

SECURE THINKING BY TOM KEMP

Months after the devastating Office of Personnel Management (OPM) hack came to light — in which 21.5 million personnel records were stolen — the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report on the extent that US Federal Government is experiencing breaches. The report revealed that the number of security incidents impacting Federal agencies has grown from 5,503 in 2006 to 67,168 in 2014 — a massive 12x increase in 8 years — and that the US government is looking to hire 10,000 cyber professionals in the next year. In this blog post I will go over some of the highlights of the report and some of the short-term fixes being implemented.

So what are the threats facing the US Government? The Feds list out bot-network operators, criminal groups, hackers and hacktivists, malicious insiders, other nations and terrorists. In other words, not a trivial list of adversaries.

And what techniques or exploits are the bad guys using? You name it, they are facing it: cross-site scripting, denial of service attacks, malware, phishing, passive wiretapping, spamming, spoofing, SQL injection, war driving and zero-day exploits. Basically everything is being thrown at our government systems.

The net result is a 1121% increase in 8 years in security incidents that government knows about.

The GAO has quantified the five challenges that Federal agencies must address:

1. limiting, preventing, and detecting inappropriate access to computer resources;
2. managing the configuration of software and hardware;
3. segregating duties to ensure that a single individual does not have control over all key aspects of a computer-related operation;
4. planning for continuity of operations in the event of a disaster or disruption;
5. implementing agency-wide security management programs that are critical to identifying control deficiencies, resolving problems, and managing risks on an ongoing basis.

And those challenges were fairly consistent across the 24 agencies of the US Government:

For More , Click Here

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Autumn Statement 2015: Business groups react to apprenticeship levy, infrastructure spending boost

George Osborne has just delivered the first Autumn Statement and Spending Review of his career as Chancellor of a Conservative government, announcing a surprise U-turn on tax credits and a hefty apprenticeship levy on businesses.

Here’s a round-up of the reaction from the business sector:

Simon Walker, Institute of Directors:

“The major business tax announcement of this Autumn Statement was the Apprenticeship Levy, which can only be described as a new payroll tax. At 0.5% of payroll it will be a big new cost for many companies, including medium-sized ones. We are very concerned by the Government’s assumption that a quarter of the money collected will be spent on just administering the levy. Firms have been promised they will get back more than they put in, but it’s not clear how this will happen if so much is being lost in bureaucracy.” For the full article click here 

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Australia-led crew wins TransGrid bid

An Australia-led consortium of investment funds from Canada and the Middle East yesterday won the bid for electricity transmission network TransGrid, beating a Chinese challenger in a deal worth A$10 billion (US$7.28 billion).

China’s State Grid Corp (國家電網) was considered a frontrunner but the New South Wales (NSW) State Government said the strongest ,bid belonged to the locally led NSW Electricity Networks consortium.

“The transaction will deliver gross proceeds of A$10.258 billion which will help fund a raft of infrastructure projects across the state,” New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said in a statement. For the full article click here 

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RCMP asks for help identifying 2 men after ‘suspicious behaviour’ on Toronto bridge

TORONTO — RCMP are appealing to the public as they seek the identities of two men spotted on a Toronto bridge earlier this summer. Why they are looking to speak with the men remains unknown.

The RCMP said in a press release it is investigating the “suspicious behaviour” of two men on a bridge near Toronto’s Rogers Centre in August. This week’s plea for information comes more than a month after an even more cryptic Oct. 14 request for the public’s help identifying two men with no accompanying information on who they were, why police were interested in them or what investigation they were connected to. For the full article click here 

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Interior networks hacked 19 times by foreign attackers

Cyberattacks from foreign IPs are hitting every federal agency, including some you might not think of when considering national security.

One such target — the Interior Department — suffered at least 19 distinct attacks over the last few years, with the most significant and persistent coming from users with IP addresses in China and Eastern Europe, according to an inspector general report released earlier this month. For the full article click here 

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IBM Report: Infrastructure Matters

Many of our problems with technology don’t come from the products themselves but from getting technologies from different companies or even different divisions within a company to cooperate. We have endless meetings on this or that technology and what new wonders it offers, but we spend a surprisingly small amount of time talking about the bigger issue of getting these increasingly complex systems to play well with others.

Apparently IBM picked up on this and commissioned a study on the state of infrastructure.

It isn’t a very happy state.

Infrastructure Has Never Been More Important

At the core of this report is the concept that infrastructure has never been more important than it is today. I’ve been working in this space since the late 1980s, and I could argue it really hasn’t been less important either. It’s just that things have become increasingly complex and the tools to get technology to interoperate have always lagged the need for them. This is why services have been critical to this effort and why the IBM Institute for Business Value is so focused on this topic today. For the full article click here 

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State cops to have ‘extra presence’ as terrorism bulletin issued

Australia-led group wins $7 bn electricity deal over China bid

Sydney (AFP) – An Australia-led consortium of investment funds from Canada and the Middle East won the bid for electricity transmission network TransGrid Wednesday, beating a Chinese challenger in a deal worth Aus$10 billion (US$7.3 billion).

China’s State Grid was considered a frontrunner but the New South Wales state government said the strongest bid belonged to the locally led NSW Electricity Networks consortium.

“The transaction will deliver gross proceeds of Aus$10.258 billion which will help fund a raft of infrastructure projects across the state,” NSW Premier Mike Baird said in a statement. For the full article click here 

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No holiday on security for Bay State

Ramped-up security statewide — including more troopers and police at football games, celebrations and other major gatherings — will continue through the holiday season, Gov. Charlie Baker said, as the Bay State is battered with travel alerts and bulletins warning of potential terror strikes.

Baker said yesterday no “particular” threat has been flagged for Boston or the state, but a rash of alarms calling for heightened vigilance ahead of Thanksgiving has prompted police to double down at mass gatherings, Logan International Airport and other “critical infrastructure” around the state. For the full article click here 

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Can the Military Design a Disaster-Resilient City?

Cities are incredibly complex, and break in complicated ways. Understanding that complexity will be key to mitigating tomorrow’s disasters.There’s no such thing as a simple disaster. Take the 2011 tsunami that swept across  eastern Japan. As a wall of water moved toward low-lying towns and villages, people attempted to flee in cars — and drowned in massive traffic jams. The floods decimated infrastructure and roads, hindering rescue and recovery efforts. The water also swamped the backup generators of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, leading to a Chernobyl-level meltdown. Planners might have predicted any one of those things individually, yet no one was prepared for what actually occurred. For the full article click here 

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IoT security: more connections means more concerns

WASHINGTON–As IoT becomes a staple of the conversation across all aspects of the economy, there’s a growing concern around how to secure all these new connections.

At the recent Federal Building Council event, many participants analogized that creating an IoT network is like building a house with a million doors and windows, and all a criminal needs to do is find one of those doors or windows someone left open.

This is concerning enough for consumers who have a home automation IoT system. For organizations like the Department of Defense, which has 2.2 billion IoT-enabled systems in in the Pentagon, it can be extremely troublesome.

IoT systems are complex and increasingly vital in things that are classified as critical infrastructure like nuclear power plants. General Electric, for example, now requires access to the IoT sensors on every turbine and generator it sells to monitor efficiency and keep the warranty current. For the full article click here 

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Utilities and Smart Cities Join Forces

This is the second of a two-part series. Last week: The Smart City Common Denominator.

Some city officials and utility executives are already working together to help make their communities smarter and secure their future on the global economic stage.

Visionary Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, for instance, has focused on innovation as a way of attracting local businesses and investment to help win the talent war that has traditionally lured jobs away from the Midwest cities.Meanwhile, the electric energy provider serving Chicago, Commonwealth Edison, is contributing a $2.6 billion investment to modernize the state’s infrastructure and position Chicago as a smart city through the deployment of a multiple application IPv6 wireless network canopy. For the full article click here 

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Special Report: How State Opting Out of Medicaid Expansion Impacts Critical Access Hospitals in Nebraska

North Platte, NE KNOPTV — It’s a scenario more and more rural hospitals are facing after Nebraska opted out of the medicaid expansion.

It leaves many people in a bind without health insurance so now when they have to go to the hospital, they can’t afford to pay their bills.

“It’s choosing between milk and bread for my baby or going to the hospital to get an exam and so if I am feeling healthy and well then I’m gonna spend my money on the other until I am forced to come,” says CEO of Chase Co. Community Hospital, Steve Lewis.

Chase County Community Hospital is one of over 60 Critical Access Hospitals across the state that has taken a hit after the state opted out of the medicaid expansion. For the full article click here 

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Police to South Florida: ‘See something, say something’

Authorities have a message for residents and visitors of South Florida: “See something, say something.”

That was the flyer that Miami-Dade police officers were distributing Friday at Metrorail stations.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said there was a surge in tips about suspicious activity after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but in the years since they have declined.

In light of last week’s attacks in Paris, law enforcement agencies like the Miami-Dade Police Department are urging awareness.

“We have been addressing all the critical infrastructures in Dade County,” Miami-Dade police Officer Michelle Mirone said. “We’ve met with our local malls. We have met with the local hotels and motels. The transit, obviously, is a big critical infrastructure.” For the full article click here 

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Reliance on China for infrastructure investment may leave UK vulnerable – MPs

Ahead of the publication of the Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) on Monday, the Commons Defence Committee highlighted a series of weaknesses which it said must be addressed.

The committee pointed to potential troop shortages, capability “gaps”, inadequate training and a lack of expertise in assessing likely threats among the problems facing ministers.

It was highly critical of the Government’s “flawed” system of grading potential threats to national security, saying it was essential the country had the flexibility to deal with any eventuality.

These could range from the spread of extremism and the growing instability in the Middle East and North Africa through to cyber attacks and Russian aggression in Europe.  For the full article click here 

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Foreign Investment Review Board urged to consider national security when bidding for Transgrid

The sale of the New South Wales poles and wires, or Transgrid, is estimated to raise $9 billion for the State Government.

The successful bidder would be the biggest player in the national electricity grid and own part of the Federal Government’s fibre optic network, as well as control much of the nation’s backup electricity supply.

There are several contenders, but one of the leading bidders is the Chinese government-owned State Grid, which is partnering up with Macquarie Infrastructure.

Other bidders include foreign companies from Canada and the Middle East, however the State Grid Corporation’s interest is raising concerns in defence circles.

The NSW Government said it expected to announce a successful bidder for Transgrid by the end of the year, but that appropriate approvals would need to be given by the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission and the FIRB. For the full article click here 

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US experts warn of risks selling NSW power to China

American defence experts have urged Australia to spurn or impose tough conditions on a Chinese consortium bidding for the NSW electricity grid, warning that Beijing could exploit the critical infrastructure to extract sensitive information.

Final bids for the NSW government’s TransGrid are due Monday, and AFR Weekend revealed that local defence and intelligence officials will advise the Turnbull and Baird governments there is “no way” they can accept a Chinese offer.

TransGrid owns the $9 billion NSW electricity grid and fibre optic cable networks in NSW and the ACT, including data cables servicing defence bases and intelligence centres.

US intelligence and defence agencies have extensive operations in Australia and work closely with their local counterparts to collect secret information on Asia. For the full article click here 

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And Now, A Cyber Arms Race Towards Critical Infrastructure Attacks

As traditional explosives give way to ‘logic bombs,’ the need to protect our industrial networks and systems has never been more important.

Over the past several years sophisticated code has been used for nation-state espionage in order to minimize risk to military personnel or costly equipment. Similar techniques are now being applied to the development of next-generation cyber weapons. These will allow troops to remotely launch cyber code designed to destroy physical equipment, cause severe damage to critical infrastructure, and impact not only military targets but also civilian lives.

There is a cyber arms race going on. Nation-states and terrorist organizations are spending billions of dollars to build the cyberbombs. According to U.S. government contractors and former Pentagon officials, a new half-billion-dollar U.S. military contract will sponsor the development of lethal cyberweapons. The goal of this United States Cyber Command project, according to various news reports, is to develop capabilities that will allow troops to launch logic bombs instead of traditional explosives and essentially direct an enemy’s critical infrastructure to self-destruct. For the full article click here 

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Labor astonished NT Minister Peter Chandler failed to read analyst’s report on Port of Darwin sale

Federal Labor has savaged senior NT Minister Peter Chandler for failing to read an influential report about the dangers of allowing Chinese interests to take over the Port of Darwin.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has arrived in the Top End amid the deepening row over the $506 million deal with the Landbridge Group.

Defence analysts have raised concerns about links between Landbridge and the Chinese Communist Party.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has published a report which raises concerns the 99-year lease is a strategic move by China to increase its influence in northern Australia, where the United States already has a military presence. For the full article click here 

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Government reaps what it sowed on foreign asset sales

Treasurer Scott Morrison is coming under increasing pressure to review laws that have allowed the states to flog-off vital infrastructure assets to foreigners.

Amid controversy over the deal to offload the Port of Darwin to Chinese interests, along with the State Grid Corporation of China’s interest in purchasing the $8 billion Transgrid poles and wires from the New South Wales Government, Morrison has proposed reforms to the process for selling state government-owned assets. From The ABC:

“There are some consultations talking place at the moment with states and territories in relation to those matters,” he said.

“There are constitutional issues around the sovereignty around particular critical infrastructure assets which are held by states and territories, so it’s not something the Commonwealth Government can simply move on unilaterally.” For the full article click here 

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PSEG is Building a Sustainable Future

PSEG is planning for the next generation’s energy needs – with a strong focus on constantly improving how it provides energy solutions for customers and the larger society.

The PSEG 2015 Sustainability Report is its seventh annual Sustainability Report.  The report highlights PSEG’s progress in key areas such as strengthening vital infrastructure, creating a more resilient energy system and further improving access to the benefits of energy efficiency and renewable solar power. For the full article click here 

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Gaps Found in Healthcare Cybersecurity Threat Detection

“Cyber threat intelligence sharing still holds the greatest potential to enhance situational awareness and improve organizational cyber preparedness.”

Few healthcare companies actually contribute to a healthcare cybersecurity threat intelligence sharing and analysis organization, according to a recent report, which shows there are gaps when it comes to collecting data and then learning from it.

The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) found that just 5 percent of healthcare organizations contributed Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) to the HITRUST Cyber Threat XChange (CTX). However, 85 percent of organizations gathered information from IOCs in that same timeframe, according to The Health Industry Cyber Threat Information Sharing and Analysis Report.

• Current requirements and guidance regarding the submission of IOCs to the HITRUST CTX is deficient and contributes to under-reporting or inconsistent reporting of IOCs
• Current level of IOC collection is not representative of the level of cyber threats being perpetrated against the healthcare industry – nor are complete and timely IOCs available through existing government and other readily available commercial cyber threat sources

It is also important to note that just 50 percent of the contributed IOCs in the sampling period were considered “actionable,” meaning they could potentially be “useful in allowing preventative or defensive action to be taken without a significant risk of a false positive.”

“Cyber threat intelligence sharing still holds the greatest potential to enhance situational awareness and improve organizational cyber preparedness,” HITRUST CEO Daniel Nutkis said in a statement. “Development of the IOC collection requirements and our deployment of breach detection systems are a big step forward in advancing industry’s cyber intel sharing capability.” For the full article click here 

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Cylance Becomes a Member of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT)

Cylance Executives Malcolm Harkins and Jon Miller Add Cybersecurity Expertise to the Washington, DC-Based Tactical Bipartisan Forum of Federal Agency Executives, Legislative Community, and Industry Leaders Focused on Solutions-Based Strategies to the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure Obstacles

IRVINE, CA–(Marketwired – Nov 18, 2015) –  Cylance, the company that is revolutionizing cybersecurity with products and services that use artificial intelligence to proactively prevent, rather than just reactively detect advanced persistent threats and malware, today announced that it has become a member of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) Fellows Program. Cylance executives Malcolm Harkins, Global Chief Information Security Officer and Jon Miller, Vice President of Strategy have been named ICIT Fellows and expand the Institute’s growing expertise in preventative cybersecurity technologies and other national cybersecurity concerns.

Cylance has already contributed to several ICIT briefings including “Moving Forward: How Victims Can Regain Control & Mitigate Threats in the Wake of the OPM Breach“, the third in a series of ICIT briefs in support of the U.S. Government’s response to the OPM breach. This brief has since been turned into a series of videos, which are providing valuable guidance to the millions of federal employees victimized by the OPM breach. Cylance has deep expertise in Incident Response, Compromise Assessments, Penetration Testing, Industrial Control Systems (ICS), Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR) in addition to its next-generation endpoint security product CylancePROTECT™.

On November 19, 2015 Cylance executive and ICIT Fellow Jon Miller will address senior legislative staffers and both public and private sector healthcare industry leaders on the top cybersecurity risks facing hospitals and other healthcare organizations as well as what can be done to mitigate them. The ICIT Briefing “Hacking Healthcare” held at the Senate in partnership with a congressional healthcare committee will also feature insights from federal agency technology leaders from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NASA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Click Here to Read More

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If ISIS managed to hack UK infrastructure, what could they actually do?

According to Chancellor George Osborne, so-called Islamic State operatives are trying to develop the ability to carry out cyber-attacks on key UK infrastructure with a bid to actually kill people.

Targets such as air traffic control towers, hospitals, schools, energy/water plants and rail links are all at risk.

As a result, the Chancellor announced he is set to double UK funding to fight cyber-crime to £1.9 billion over five years.

The speech was given in response to the Paris attacks last Friday where 129 people were killed in bars, restaurants, a concert hall and at a stadium across Paris. For the full article click here 

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After Paris attacks, former NJ attorney general says state is ‘vulnerable’ but prepared

New Jersey’s geography, dense population, and wealth of critical infrastructure make it vulnerable to a terrorist attack, but state and local law enforcement officials are more prepared than almost anywhere else in the country, according to one of the state’s former attorneys general.

“Certainly there are reasons to be concerned, and New Jersey does have critical infrastructure in terms of chemical plants, nuclear plants, ports, [and] airports,” said John Farmer, who served as the state’s top law enforcement officer from 1999 to 2002.

“But I think what doesn’t exist here is a sense of complacency that may exist in other parts of the country,” he said. “We know that we could be targeted, and, as a result of that knowledge, we’re better prepared.”

After the 9/11 attacks, when more than 700 New Jerseyans perished, state and local law enforcement began working together and sharing information in a way the agencies never had before. For the full article click here 

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Scott Morrison flags scrutiny of state and territory foreign investment

Treasurer Scott Morrison has foreshadowed scrutiny of state and territory foreign investment decisions, distancing the federal government from the controversy over a 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company with military ties.

Mr Morrison said he was in talks with the State and Territory leaders over the sale of assets to foreign investors, after flagging a wider strategic national assets and critical infrastructure last week in the wake of defence community concerns over the deal.

States and Territories can sell land to foreign investors without the need for Foreign Investment Review Board approval under certain conditions. Mr Morrison said talks were underway about the way these sales would take place in the future. For the full article click here 

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Australia Reviewing Asset Sales After Obama Discusses China Buy

Australia is reviewing rules for selling state-owned infrastructure to foreigners after the Obama administration raised concerns that Chinese investors had bought a port in the northern city of Darwin where U.S. Marines are based.

The government is consulting with states and territories on future asset sales, after the Northern Territory last month approved leasing the Port of Darwin to China’s privately-owned Landbridge Group, Treasurer Scott Morrison said Thursday. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull discussed the issue when they met on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Manila this week.

“There are constitutional issues around the sovereignty around particular critical infrastructure assets, which are held by states and territories, so it’s not something the Commonwealth government can simply move on unilaterally,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney on Thursday. For the full article click here 

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Trudeau government putting new emphasis on cybersecurity

The neglected federal cybersecurity file made a surprising appearance in several of the ministerial mandate letters publicly released last week, buried under hot-topic campaign promises like the Syrian refugee project and the legalization of marijuana.

Observers say it’s a good sign that Canada is starting to take the threat of cybercrime more seriously.

“There’s a lack of a strategy and a lack of clarity of who in the government is responsible for what,” said former CSIS assistant director of intelligence Ray Boisvert, who has criticized the Canadian government in the past for not doing enough to protect Canada’s critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. For the full article click here 

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If We Expect a Major Electrical Grid Outage — Then What Are We Doing?

Knowing about a hazard and then doing something about it are two different things.

The Electric Infrastructure Security Council (EIS Council) has this short video that gives testimony to the fact that there is a significant issue from either a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) or Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP). Lots of experts and policy people are calling attention to the issue. So, what is being done? It will take a coalition of people and organizations to reduce our vulnerability. It can’t be eliminated altogether, but we can mitigate against it.

You can be sure it will be a priority item, but only after we have a significant event. For the full article click here 

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Benue recovered loot for critical projects, says Ortom

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has said recovered loot in the state will be invested in critical infrastructure.

The governor spoke yesterday at the Benue People’s House in Makurdi, the state capital, when he swore in Justices Cecilia Bakare and Michael Terungwa Ugar as judges of the Customary Court of Appeal.

He said: “Our current challenges dictate that recovered funds be invested in critical infrastructure for which we were elected.”

Ortom urged the Judiciary to provide a veritable platform on which those accused of corruption could either exonerate themselves or be found liable. For the full article click here 

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CBI calls for next Welsh Government to set out timetable for M4 relief road within first 100 days

The CBI has launched its manifesto for next year’s Assembly elections calling for improvements in the delivery of critical infrastructure, closing the skills gap and an economic strategy to enhance competitiveness and productivity.

It also calls for the UK’s single market to be protected by ensuring that there is a common business tax regime, a single regime for financial regulation, a single energy market and a cross-border set of employment law across Great Britain.

The business organisation says that following the election next May, the incoming Welsh Government should within its first 100 days publish a timetable for the delivery of critical transport infrastructure, including the M4 Black Route, the South Wales Metro, rail electrification and targeted improvements to the A40, A477 and A55. For the full article click here 

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State Governments Failing in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity has been a challenge for the federal government. There have been serious breaches in multiple government agencies, and Congress has struggled to address cybersecurity on legal terms. Even what it has been able to pass has been wrought with criticism and contention.

But what about states? Are governors and state legislators doing any better about addressing cybersecurity?

According to a new study released by the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University, the answer is no. States lack strong cybersecurity, leaving them vulnerable to attacks and unable to address potential threats.  For the full article click here 

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ISIS Hackers Love To Threaten The US, But Don’t Expect Them To Turn Off the Lights Quite Yet

The Islamic State group wants the world to believe it’s not just a terrorist group but a dangerous hacking collective capable of infiltrating critical digital networks in the U.S. and elsewhere. Don’t believe the hype, at least not yet.

Hackers who claim to be affiliated with the extremist group — also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh — have a “strong intent” to penetrate the U.S. energy grid, U.S. officials told CNN in October. But the group has shown no indication it’s capable of such an attack, and national security officials have consistently warned that rival nation-states pose the biggest threat to the 16 critical infrastructure sectors in the U.S.

Still, ISIS supporters have sought to portray them as a credible hacking threat over the past six months by claiming to “leak” information about U.S. government and military personnel — which was actually already available.

“Basically, there’s a slew of hacking collectives who support ISIS, but thus far there’s not a group that’s officially hacking on their behalf,” said Alex Kassirer, an ISIS hacking analyst at the global intelligence firm Flashpoint. “They’ve been extremely prolific in terms of how much they’ve been doing, but some of the data dumps they’ve done are actually recycled from groups like Anonymous and Lulzsec.” For the full article click here 

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NYPD Announces Formation of Critical Response Command

The NYPD on Monday announced the formation of the Critical Response Command, the new elite arm of its counterterrorism bureau. NY1’s Dean Meminger filed the following report.

There were alarming words from Police Commissioner William Bratton Monday about the potential threats facing the city.

“The world changed dramatically over the weekend,” Bratton said. “That threat is growing and morphing in new and dangerous directions, as evidenced by the events in Paris.”

Days after the attacks in France, Bratton said the first of 560 newly trained counterterrorism officers are hitting the streets. Soon, 100 members of the elite Critical Response Command will be on duty at any given time across the city.

“These officers will be the officers that will be equipped to go towards the danger, the offense, to take on those that might be seeking to perpetuate armed attacks,” Bratton said.

The officers will have special vehicles and weapons. They are being trained not to negotiate but to move in quickly, because Bratton says negotiation is not what terrorists want. For the full article click here 

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Lesson From The City Of Lights: KEEP THE LIGHTS ON!!!

Paris known as the “City of Lights” literally, as the largest city in France, and figuratively, as the cultural capital of Western Civilization, now wonders, along with the rest of the civilized world, what to do about the Dark Ages threat embodied by ISIS and Islamic terrorism?

For the U.S. Congress, the next immediate step to protect America should be obvious.  Rep. Trent Franks has introduced a bill, the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR 1073), that would protect the national electric grid from manmade and natural threats that could cause a protracted blackout of the life sustaining critical infrastructures–communications, transportation, business and finance, food and water.

A terrorist attack on the electric grid that causes a nationwide blackout lasting one year could kill up to 90 percent of the American people by starvation and societal collapse, according to the Congressional EMP Commission. For the full article click here 

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Demystifying an assurance fallacy

When situations go awry in an organization, there’s a tendency to create new, executive-level positions by establishing the classic “one throat to choke” policy if problems persist. For example, if tacit knowledge is leaving the organization without being captured, an organization might be compelled to establish a chief knowledge officer (CKO) position. If an organization fails to implement a meaningful strategy, a chief strategy officer (CSO) position is sometimes established. If an effective marketing strategy isn’t in place or the marketing strategy fails, perhaps a chief marketing officer (CMO) will solve the problem. Or when an organization encounters an oversight in a technology decision, they might create a chief technology officer (CTO) position.

Although there is value in the growing number of C-suite positions, my main concern is the unrealistic expectations that are often associated with desired results. One memorable quote that I come back to when I ponder this topic: “We don’t need more opinions, we need more hands!”

The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 established the federal CIO positon and area of responsibility. Still, theFederal Chief Financial Officer Act often empowered CFOs to perform tasks that ran counter to the CIO’s area of responsibility. The CTO position emerged as perceptions grew that CIOs often lacked the skills needed to lead the technical direction of an organization. Consequently, CIOs were essentially in figure-head roles because they lacked line and budget authority over staff who contributed to, or negatively impacted, their areas of responsibility. As more CxO positions were created in the technical realm (CTOs, CISOs), areas of responsibility became more fragmented. It’s a paradoxical situation for CxOs to be ultimately responsible for tasks over which they do not have line authority; albeit not uncommon.

For the full article click here 

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AFTER BOND-SALE EARNINGS ARE SPENT, TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND WILL BE BROKE

New Jersey is planning to sell $627 million in bonds tomorrow, the final issuance in a five-year Transportation Trust Fund finance plan and one that will bring the state a big step closer to running out of cash for new infrastructure projects.

The bond sale is the largest component of the transportation-spending plan for the current fiscal year, which was patched together by Gov. Chris Christie’s administration to get the state through the final year of his five-year plan.

Once the money that’s being raised by tomorrow’s bond sale is used up, there will be no dollars left for new transportation projects unless lawmakers take action to renew the trust fund before the current fiscal year ends on June 30, 2016.

Despite the looming deadline, legislative leaders are still trying to figure out exactly how to renew the fund, and how to convince Christie, a Republican running for his party’s presidential nomination, to accept the most likely solution, an increase of the state’s gas tax. But the bond sale did bring one sign of hope; reports from credit-rating agencies saying there are now some signs that New Jersey’s finances are improving. For the full article click here 

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Prime Minister Announces Infrastructure Funding for Indonesia

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced $14.25 million in funding to strengthen infrastructure development in Indonesia, in order to promote sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty in the country.

Canada is partnering with the World Bank, through the Accelerating Sustainable Public-Private Investments for Infrastructure Renewal (ASPIRE) project, to assist Indonesia in preparing the legal and regulatory groundwork required for critical public-private partnership (P3) infrastructure projects. This includes the establishment and operationalization of a P3 Centre in Indonesia.

The announcement was made on the margins of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, following the Prime Minister’s bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Quotes

“Canada’s economic growth was made possible by building ambitiously. Our government believes that modern infrastructure is one of the key ingredients of a healthy economy-it creates jobs, makes economies more competitive, and strengthens our communities. With the project announced today, Canada will help Indonesia kick-start some critical infrastructure projects, promoting employment and growth, and reducing poverty.” – Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada For the full article click here 

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Brisbane City Council tipped to approve tender for Kingsford Smith Drive project at meeting tomorrow

BRISBANE City Council will reveal their chosen tender for the multi-million dollar Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade tomorrow.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said they had made a recommendation for a preferred contractor in a a ‘blind tender’ and a contract will be presented to the council for approval tomorrow following a briefing to councillors.

Cr Quirk said major infrastructure projects including Legacy Way and the $650 million Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade were and would deliver faster travel times for commuters.

“This new contract will not only tackle congestion by delivering travel time savings of up to 30 per cent but will also create an estimated 3000 much-needed jobs for our local economy,” Cr Quirk said in a statement.

“There is no denying the delivery of key infrastructure such as the Clem7, Go Between Bridge, Airport Link and Legacy Way is delivering travel time savings for motorists right across our suburbs, with more than 120,000 vehicles removed from Brisbane’s surface roads each day. For the full article click here 

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Trillions of dollars need to be invested in infrastructure globally

Bridges, roads, railroads, airports, utilities that power our homes. We couldn’t get by without such critical infrastructure. It’s no secret Canada’s infrastructure is in dire need of investment. That concern was one of the major drivers behind the Liberal victory: the party pledged to spend $30 billion on infrastructure during the next four years.

But that’s a small drop in the bucket. The total infrastructure deficit — bridges in need of repairs and utility networks that need upgrading — is estimated at about $123 billion in Canada.

Globally, infrastructure needs are estimated to be about $57 trillion over the next 15 years, a 2013 report by the McKinsey Global Institute said.

So with all that money about to be put into transportation, energy, telecom and water-networks infrastructure around the world, many investors are increasingly expanding their portfolios beyond the classic asset allocation of stocks, bonds and cash.

Infrastructure is quickly becoming the fourth asset class. Until recently, this area of investment had been the domain of institutional investors such as pension funds. Many of us had a stake in it — at least indirectly — through our work pensions and even CPP, says Rob Tetrault, a portfolio manager with Rob Tetrault Wealth Management Group at National Bank Financial in Winnipeg. For the full article click here 

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Banks Urge Removal of Cyber Bill Provision Allowing DHS Oversight

Nov. 12 — Congressional leaders should remove a Senate cybersecurity bill provision that would allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to regulate the cyber practices of critical financial services and other infrastructure, the American Bankers Association and 46 other trade organizations said Nov. 12 in a letter.

DHS and other regulatory agencies “seemingly would have free rein to assess certain businesses’ cybersecurity gaps and develop unilateral mitigation strategies for each critical infrastructure entity without input from industry,” said the letter from the ABA, the Financial Services Roundtable and the Electronic Transactions Association, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and groups representing telecommunications, trucking, power and other industries.

The Senate on Oct. 27 passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), providing legal immunity to companies that voluntarily share cyber threat data with the federal government. The Senate bill (S. 754) must be reconciled with similar legislation (H.R. 1560, H.R. 1731) passed by the House. For the full article click here 

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Making the Most of DCIM

It seems something of a misnomer that Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) platforms are gaining in stature while the vast majority of enterprises are supposed to be de-emphasizing local resources in favor of the cloud.

But the trend is clear: Run-of-the-mill enterprises are turning to every means necessary to reduce costs and improve efficiencies within their on-premises infrastructure while large cloud providers and hyperscale organizations have no choice but to balance workloads against resource consumption or watch their business models collapse under the weight and complexity of their own IT operations.

The challenge going forward is not to simply deploy DCIM, says International Data Corp. in a new report, but to weigh the various DCIM platforms against emerging goals and technology developments. Not all DCIM solutions are the same; in fact, few of them are. Some focus largely on asset management and connectivity while others gear toward critical infrastructure and facilities control. Some are software-only while others introduce a mix of hosted services. Weighing the pros and cons will require a clear assessment of the nature of current infrastructure (is it converged, distributed or both?), as well as internal skillsets, plus future requirements in terms of scale, integration and automation. For the full article click here 

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Long Beach Port “Closely Watching” Critical Infrastructure in Wake of Paris Attacks

As France begins to confront the outcome of four coordinated attacks in central Paris that reportedly left at least 120 dead and dozens wounded, the City of Long Beach is on alert.

Port of Long Beach (POLB) Spokesperson Lee Peterson said that the port’s Joint Command and Control Center was monitoring news about the attacks and remaining vigilant.

“In light of the Paris situation, Port Police and Harbor Patrol are closely watching critical infrastructure and tourist locations throughout the Port,” Peterson said.

Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) Spokeswoman Nancy Pratt said the department was operating under “heightened awareness,” taking a number of steps that include closely monitoring facilities in the city such as the airport, port, and entertainment areas and conducting high-visibility patrols at transportation hubs.

“We are in communication with our federal, state and local counterparts to stay apprised of any potential threats to the area,” Pratt said. The LBPD urges anyone who witnesses suspicious activity to call 9-1-1 immediately.  For the full article click here 

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No ‘credible threats’ in Los Angeles following Paris attacks, officials say

Local law enforcement agencies were taking precautions Friday in response to the series of explosions and shootings in Paris, although no credible threats in Los Angeles have been reported.

Los Angeles police added extra patrols Friday at “critical infrastructure” sites and will have extra officers on hand at large public events, according to a department spokesman.

“We are aware of the attacks in Paris and the command staff has been alerted,” Officer Aareon Jefferson of the LAPD’s Media Relations section said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department also will alert its deputies.

“While there are no specific credible threats to Los Angeles County, sheriff’s personnel will be reminded to remain vigilant and maintain situational awareness,” department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said. “We urge the public to report any suspicious activity to their local law enforcement agency and if they see something, say something.”

Los Angeles police officers were stepping up their presence at critical sites and places where large crowds are gathered, such as a scheduled Justin Bieber concert Friday night at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. For the full article click here 

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Amtrak’s Gateway project moves ahead

Federal and Amtrak officials and state officials from New York and New Jersey announced Nov. 11, 2015 that they have reached an agreement on funding commitments and a governance structure that will allow the long-awaited, critically important $20 billion Gateway Tunnel Project to construct two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River to move forward.

The agreement establishes a new federal commitment to fund 50% of project costs and creates the “Gateway Development Corp.” under the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) to leverage billions in federal grant and loan funding for the project. The corporation will include the states of New York and New Jersey, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and Amtrak as members and will be established and chaired by PANYNJ.

“The agreement marks a major milestone in the effort to build a new trans-Hudson river tunnel that is an essential portion of Amtrak’s eight-state Northeast Corridor connecting the states of New York and New Jersey and is one of the region’s most critical infrastructure projects,” said Governors Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey. For the full article click here

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Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center, Employees Receive National Awards

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Pennsylvania State Police has announced that the Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center (PaCIC) received the National Network of Fusion Centers 2015 Fusion Center of the Year Award last week in Alexandria, Va.  In addition, two employees received individual awards for The Michael Schooler Critical Infrastructure Protection Award and the Excellence in the Field of Fusion Center Outreach Award.

“The fusion center staff has worked exceptionally hard to develop this center over the years and with precise proficiencies within that center to the point of receiving such prominent awards for both PaCIC and individual performance,” said Acting Commissioner Tyree C. Blocker.  “I couldn’t be more proud of the people who give their all and now they have been recognized for their countless contributions.”

PaCIC is managed by the Pennsylvania State Police and is Pennsylvania’s primary designated all-hazards fusion center comprised of analysts and subject matter experts from local, state, and federal agencies. The fusion center has been operational 24/7 since July 2003.

The Fusion Center of the Year Award recognizes centers that have provided exceptional services to their jurisdictions and exhibit outstanding best practices.

• Derek Ruhl, Emergency and Safety Coordinator, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, received The Michael Schooler Critical Infrastructure Protection Award.  Recipients of this award have provided exceptional services to their fusion center. These particular services have enhanced critical infrastructure protection related programs, and improved the security posture of the jurisdiction and/or the nation.  Mr. Ruhl is the Department of Agriculture representative in PaCIC.
• Maggie Baker, Intelligence Analyst, Pennsylvania State Police, received the Excellence in the Field of Fusion Center Outreach Award. Ms. Baker works in the Critical Infrastructure/Key Resources protection unit within PaCIC.  Recipients of this award have provided exceptional services to their fusion center. These services or activities have enhanced outreach and liaison programs or efforts and improved the security posture of the jurisdiction and/or the nation.

For the full article click here

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Critical Earthquake Monitoring Network Continues Operation with Private Funding

A key Southern California earthquake monitoring network operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego will continue to operate with funding support from Seismic Warning Systems Inc., a private company that provides seismic detection and earthquake warning systems and services.

A gift of $700,000 by Seismic Warning Systems will sponsor support and ongoing operations of the ANZA Seismic Network, which features 28 earthquake monitoring stations in San Diego and Riverside counties. The ANZA network, a state-of-the art system in operation since 1982, provides the best coverage of the San Jacinto fault zone, considered the most active fault in Southern California. Seismologists have identified the San Jacinto, San Andreas, and Elsinore faults as having increased probability of rupturing with earthquakes of magnitude 6.7 or higher in the next 30 years. The ANZA Network’s seismic sensors provide critical earthquake risk information for San Diego County’s three million residents. A year ago, funding cuts facing the ANZA network put its operation in jeopardy.

“The ANZA network provides critical data to help detect and transmit earthquake hazard information to protect lives and infrastructure,” said Margaret Leinen, vice chancellor of marine sciences at UC San Diego, and director of Scripps Oceanography. “Seismic Warning Systems has stepped up to provide the kind of critical private funding that makes a difference to our science and our society.” For the full article click here

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McAfee forecasts growing cyber threats for the next five years

Driven by the online earthquake that is the explosive growth of Internet of Things, a tsunami of cybercrime and other hacking is heading our way, warns McAfee Labs in its 2016 Threat Predictions report.

In light of the mounting threat posed by hackers in an era of unprecedented connected technology, McAfee in August issued an initial report which peeked five years into the past, comparing anticipated cyber threats then to the attacks encountered today.

The final report, issued this week, forges into the future, mapping the turbulence consumers and organizations alike can expect to encounter as they navigate cyberspace in the next five years. For the full article click here

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Lateline examines the future of cyber warfare.

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: The Pentagon has made it official it’s developing computer code that can kill you. Last week the US Defence Department offered contracts worth $460 million to develop its cyber warfare capabilities and publicly acknowledged for the first time it will develop lethal cyber weapons, the sort that could destroy another nation’s computer-dependent critical infrastructure and cause civilian deaths. It’s a big shift from the mainly defensive cyber strategy of the US military, which is considered the most powerful cyber warrior. Australia is on the list of nations with cyber war capabilities, but experts believe it lags badly behind. We’ll be discussing that in a moment. First, to give you an idea of what’s at stake, here’s Margot O’Neill.

MARGOT O’NEILL, REPORTER: So here’s a disturbing fact: in the past year, fibre optic cables carrying internet and telecommunications in the San Francisco Bay Area in California have been deliberately severed 16 times.

DAN ASHLEY, ABC7 NEWSREADER: Tonight the FBI is investigating acts of sabotage against telecom companies here in the Bay Area. For the full article click here 

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Power sell-off security fears: China looks to snap up network

SECURITY experts are raising serious concerns the NSW government’s “poles and wires” electricity sell off could put critical energy infrastructure in foreign hands.

One of the frontrunners for the $9 billion TransGrid network sale is Chinese electricity giant State Grid, setting off alarm bells because of a spike in aggressive Chinese hacks into Australian networks.

Air Vice-Marshall John Blackburn, the former deputy chief of the air force, said: “In the past we have looked at how critical infrastructure is at risk of being taken down by cyber attack. What we did not look at is this critical infrastructure being owned and run by a foreign power.

“What if TransGrid is controlled and run offshore? It could take down the entire electricity grid.” For the full article click here 

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MARTA Signs Contract to Renovate Tunnel Ventilation System

MARTA recently signed a $198.5 million contract to overhaul and upgrade its tunnel ventilation system (TVS). This major improvement project, which is slated to begin in early 2016, further advances the agency’s ongoing commitment to safe and efficient transit operations.

Archer Western Construction LLC will be the primary contractor. Cleveland Electric, R. F. Knox, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff and up to eight disadvantaged business enterprises (seven of which are local) will participate as subcontractors.

The six-year base contract totals $165 million with an additional $33.5 million in contract options that include an extended warranty, hardware refresh, and provisions for long-term system operations and maintenance. For the full article click here 

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BrightPoint Security Selected to Present at NH-ISAC 2015 Fall Conference

SAN MATEO, CA–(Marketwired – Nov 11, 2015) – BrightPoint Security™, a leading Threat Intelligence Platform provider for automation, curation and sharing of threat intelligence to fight cyber threats, today announced it has been selected to present at the NH-ISAC 2015 Fall Conference, taking place Nov. 11-13 at the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Nev.

Company CTO and Senior Vice President of Engineering Rich Reybok will present on “Strengthening the Weakest Link for Your Healthcare Ecosystem” on Nov. 13 at 8:15 am PST. Most healthcare companies are focused on the security of their perimeters, networks and endpoints, and forget that their ecosystem partners pose the same, if not greater, risk to their IT infrastructure. The 2013 Target breach was an example of a third party being the weakest link in security. In the case of Target, a trusted business partner was authorized to use the retailer’s external billing system, and its access credentials were stolen in a phishing attack.

Healthcare organizations need to realize that their virtual perimeter is greater than their walls, and in fact extends into and around their third party ecosystem partners. In this session, BrightPoint’s Reybok will cover how and why third party business partners can be better protected and ensure improved visibility; and describe the value healthcare organizations can receive from sharing threat data, including explaining how they can gain value from active threat intelligence sharing. For the full article click here 

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CUC mulls training program

THE Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board is exploring the possibility of offering incentives to local residents if they train at the Northern Marianas Trades Institute for power plant jobs.

This is in preparation for the end of the federal CW program for foreign workers in 2019, CUC board chairwoman Adelina Roberto said.

The board asked CUC’s human resources office to formulate an incentive program so interested locals can avail themselves of the training courses offered at NMTI.

On Monday, NMTI trade director Rip Stephanson discussed with the CUC board the core requirements for the power generation maintenance mechanic and power plant welder training programs.

He said the curriculum will include a homeland security awareness course that focuses on protecting critical infrastructure against possible threats and implementing critical infrastructure security and resilience.

It will cost $675 per student to enroll in the basic course that will involve classes of two hours and a half every day for two months for a total of 145 hours, Stephanson said, adding that eligible students will be provided grants to pay for tuition. For the full article click here 

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Water Infrastructure Flooded with Problems

I can’t remember a time in my memory when the infrastructure here in the United States was not being given a D rating. It is nothing new, but once again here is another story highlighting one of our critical infrastructures that is in poor shape. Check out Dark water rising.

Since this particular infrastructure is underground, I call getting attention to the poor maintenance and leaky nature of many systems “submarine warfare.” It is out of sight and out of mind, until you can’t drink, cook, water or flush.

About the only time you hear about a failed system is when there is a spectacular failure. This incident from San Diego in September is the first one that popped up when I googled “broken water main.”  For the full article click here 

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Northern Australia has to promote itself to Asia, investment forum hears

Global growth has moved to Asia, and Australia has to promote what it’s got when looking for investors to develop the north, government ministers and leaders have said at the conclusion of a major investment forum in Darwin.

The Northern Australia Investment Forum wrapped up in Darwin after three days of meetings between about 250 international investors examining investment opportunities in Australia’s north.

The forum followed the release earlier this year of the federal government’s white paper on developing northern Australia – the region above of the Tropic of Capricorn – and making it an “economic powerhouse.”

The federal trade minister, Andrew Robb, said Australia had to focus on capitalising on change, and “the centre of gravity for global growth has moved … to Asia” with a growing middle class.

“That is an opportunity of enormous dimension, but we’ve got to be ready for it, and part of that is we have to sell what we’ve got here.” For the full article click here 

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Opengear Announces Pair of New Resilience Gateway Models at LISA15 to Meet Growing Demand

WASHINGTON, D.C.–(Marketwired – Nov 9, 2015) – Opengear (http://www.opengear.com), a leading provider of critical infrastructure management solutions through advanced console servers, remote management, monitoring, and cellular out-of-band products, today announced two new releases in the company’s award-winning Resilience Gateway product line designed to deliver network resilience and to ensure uptime at enterprise branch offices and remote sites. Opengear is announcing the new models at this year’s LISA15 conference, held November 8-13 in Washington, D.C.

The new models of Opengear’s Resilience Gateway product line feature support for multi-carrier, dual SIMs that expand carrier diversity and increase network uptime. With these models — which include all the features that earned the original Resilience Gateway its popularity among global enterprises, retail chains, managed service providers and other businesses — Opengear is continuing to expand on a successful product line experiencing increased necessity in the marketplace.

Businesses with remote infrastructure — such as retail stores, banks, corporate branch offices, or enterprise properties around the world — face significant losses to both business revenue and reputation when IT interruptions occur. The Opengear Resilience Gateway provides 4 USB plus 4 or 8 serial and two 10/100/1000 Ethernet console port connections to be deployed alongside network, power, server, and other IT infrastructure at remote sites — proactively monitoring and detecting faults to ensure rapid recovery from any unplanned IT interruption. For the full article click here 

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ThreatConnect Partners with EnergySec

ARLINGTON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ThreatConnect® Inc., creator of the most widely adopted Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP), today announced a partnership with the National Energy Sector Cyber Security Organization, EnergySec. The partnership aims to strengthen the cyber security posture of critical energy infrastructure by combining ThreatConnect’s Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) aggregation, analytics and community collaboration capabilities with EnergySec’s vast knowledge of the energy sector, long standing commitment to information sharing, and deep member base.

Founded in 2004, EnergySec was one of the first organizations to bring public-private security related information sharing to the electric sector. “For over a decade, our mission – to contribute to the protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure, has remained largely unchanged. However, cyber adversaries targeting our industry have become more sophisticated and numerous,” explained Steven Parker, EnergySec President. “By advancing our own cyber threat intelligence capabilities and expanding member collaboration, the ThreatConnect platform becomes our force multiplier against the threat.”

Christy Coffey, business development director for ThreatConnect states, “We are excited to add EnergySec to our growing list of ISAC and ISAO customers. They are a well established organization with close to 1,500 members. More importantly, EnergySec understands the value of member collaboration, and the impact that early warning can have against threats targeting this vital industry sector. Putting our platform’s advanced analytic capabilities For the full article click here 

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Experts: Wyoming needs to stay vigilant against cyberthreats

CHEYENNE — A group of cybersecurity experts urged state officials and business leaders this week to stay vigilant against the growing threat of hackers.

State leaders touted the number of gains Wyoming has made in recent years to expand high-speed Internet access during Thursday’s Wyoming Broadband Summit.

But a panel discussion during the annual gathering of tech leaders centered around the importance of boosting online protections as the state’s digital presence spreads.

“In terms of critical infrastructure and infrastructure in general, some of the things we are trumpeting – connectivity, bigger throughputs, more businesses online, increased productivity – those things fly directly in the face of being secure,” said Josh Pauli, professor of cybersecurity at Dakota State University. “We can actually say that if Wyoming was less connected, we would be more secure.” For the full article click here 

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