Grants help cyber security education at Jacksonville State University

Jacksonville State University’s Center for Information Security and Assurance received two federal grants to help strengthen cyber security in Northeast Alabama and beyond, according to the University.

“We have so much to protect… not only our privacy, not only our identity, not only our money in the banks, but it’s the whole critical infrastructure,” said Dr. Guillermo Francia, a J.S.U. professor of computer science.

Dr. Francia knows the importance of protecting the nation’s critical infrastructures like power plants, water systems and public transportation systems. For the full article click here 

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CPS Energy issues warning for drone owners

SAN ANTONIO – CPS Energy issued a warning for people who might have purchased or received drones over the holidays.

The utility said over the past few months it had four confirmed spottings of drones flying over critical infrastructure, like power plants.

“You don’t know whether or not the operator behind the drone is someone who’s up to criminal activity or someone who’s just playing with their Christmas gift,” Christine Patmon, CPS Energy spokesperson, said.

Patmon said the utility feared someone might obtain information that could shut down the energy system. For the full article click here 

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Ukraine cyberattacks, blackouts heighten fears of US grid vulnerabilities

• A series of cyberattacks caused widespread blackouts in Ukraine last month, and the specter of a similar intrusion taking place in the United States has stoked fears that the country is not prepared, despite laws aimed specifically at shoring up cybersecurity.
• New Hampshire-based Foundation for Resilient Societies (FRS), a nonprofit which advocates to protect critical infrastructure, believes “America is increasingly vulnerable to foreign cyberattack” because of the implementation of a 2005 law aimed at grid hardening.
• Cybersecurity is a rising concern in the U.S., and is complicated by the increasing connected nature of generation, load, monitoring devices and non-utility programs. Last year, several industry groups warned FERC they did not believe the agency had authority to oversee security concerns related to third-party providers on the grid. For the full article click here 

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Dayton releases $220M wish list for water quality upgrades

Minnesota’s aging water treatment plants and sewer systems will start getting some much needed improvements if DFL Gov. Mark Dayton has his way.

Dayton on Thursday proposed a $220 million plan for water and sewer systems. It’s the next step in a water quality agenda that the governor began last year when he pushed for a buffer strip requirement to prevent farm field runoff.

Dayton says Minnesota’s clean, safe and abundant water supply can no longer be taken for granted and that many rural communities are struggling with the added cost of lowering levels of nitrates, phosphorus and other chemicals in drinking water.

He wants a significant government investment to help those communities but also wants to get citizens involved in protecting water from further contamination.

“Everybody needs to understand it’s their responsibility for whatever it is that they’re putting into the public sphere being a quality and standard that they would want their own children to be exposed to. That’s going to take some time, but we’re going to work on in it,” Dayton told reporters. “I’m going to make it a priority, as I did last session, for the remaining three years of my term, and I think we can make some important progress.” For the full article click here 

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ICS-CERT: U.S. critical infrastructure susceptible to cyberattacks

A senior U.S. official said the direct connection of the industrial control systems (ICS) handling the country’s critical infrastructure networks to the internet has led to an uptick in penetrations during the past year.

Marty Edwards, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), told security pros, speaking before security pros at the S4 ICS Security Conference in Miami said the industrial control systems “are just hanging right off the tubes,” according to Reuters.

Edwards did not disclose whether or not the successful attacks that took place in the U.S. resulted in any damage or outages. For the full article click here 

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Jackson Introduces Legislation to Protect Californian’s From Unsafe Drone Use

State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) has just introduced a bill to set comprehensive limits around the use of drones near critical infrastructure such as bridges and power plants as well as in state parks and wildlife refuges, on private property and around the State Capitol.

Senate Bill 868 is partly modeled on legislation recently enacted by the City of Chicago and would establish a comprehensive framework for drone use that prioritizes public safety, privacy and the long-held values of Californians.

“From helping farmers to responding to disasters, there are many innovative and extremely valuable uses for drones, and those uses should be encouraged and allowed to continue,” said Jackson. “But irresponsible or even dangerous operators and their drones should not be able to threaten our safety, our private property, the critical infrastructure we need to keep our state running or our beloved public parks and wildlife refuges. For the full article click here  

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THE 3 TIME-BOMB ISSUES CANDIDATES IGNORE

The 2016 presidential campaign has morphed into an enthralling reality show with colorful and entertaining candidates that defy the imagination of a Hollywood scriptwriter.

Acknowledging the campaign’s inherent entertainment value, Showtime, the premium cable channel, has ordered a new “real-time” weekly documentary series aptly named, “The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth” – scheduled to premiere Jan. 17 at 8 p.m.

Sadly, the presidential campaign’s great capacity for amusement obscures deep national discourse needed on many important problems. Chief among them are what I call three “time bomb” issues: infrastructure cyber-attacks, the U.S. government’s unfunded liabilities and apocalyptic Islam. All three are currently careening out of the government’s control with the potential to negatively impact, dramatically alter, or create tremendous chaos throughout our civil society.

Moreover, out on the campaign trail, during debates and in the media, no presidential candidates of either party is raising these issues to the degree warranted by their severity – if at all. For the full article click here 

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