This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.
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The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) occasionally receives information regarding instances within the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) of social engineering particularly by electronic mail (email). Social engineering is a method of fraudulently gaining access privileges to an organization’s sensitive information by querying personnel via email and other communications media such as the telephone, chat rooms, bulletin boards, etc.
According to an article in The Register, the human factor is always the weakest link of the security chain. This reality was substantiated in the tests conducted by security penetration specialists. In their process, test administrators cleverly crafted email with a malicious link and sent it to a large number of experiment participants. What they discovered was that their approach worked in nearly 50 percent of the cases.
When reporting their results, the researchers presented the following most common social engineering schemes and the psychological tricks that made them successful:
To eliminate the potential exploitation from this type of email or other communications, ESS personnel should be thoroughly aware of social engineering methods to enhance recognition and avoid adversary collection techniques. Therefore, the EMR-ISAC offers the socyberty.com Website for current trends and prevention techniques.
In an article prepared by Bob Smith, Director of Strategic Development for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO), the author referred to a report that between January and June 2009, 613 airplanes were delayed on American airport tarmacs between three and eleven hours. Having seen similar reports, the Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) noted consequences for the 9-1-1 call centers (i.e. Public Safety Answering Points) with airports in their jurisdiction.
The EMR-ISAC learned in some of the 600+ occurrences, passengers with cellular telephones called
9-1-1 for assistance with onboard medical emergencies, but more often alleged they were kidnapped or being held hostage. These cell calls from delayed aircraft asserting some type of criminal activity (e.g., kidnapping) quickly became a new challenge for the public safety communications industry.
Bob Smith advises affected jurisdictions to “develop policies and procedures for an appropriate response” to these types of calls. He recommends legal counsel “to assess the level of liability exposure the communications center will experience based on their response,” and to acquire answers to the following questions:
Although there may be more questions or concerns for consideration, the author suggested taking time now to develop plans and procedures to expeditiously and professionally process each call of this type. APCO has a Standards and Best Practices site as well as a Standards Development Committee that could be of some value in pursuing this matter.
As demonstrated daily throughout the nation, America’s first responders (e.g., police, fire, emergency medical technicians and paramedics) perform mission-essential tasks for man-made incidents and natural disasters. Regardless of whether the scene involves a hazardous material spill, methamphetamine laboratory, improvised explosive device, etc., “emergency responders should be adequately trained to investigate and mitigate the circumstances. They must be armed with sufficient training to understand the implications of what he or she is seeing,” according to a recent takresponse.com article, and “to recognize behaviors that should raise suspicions.”
Believing that Emergency Services Sector personnel are an integral part of homeland vigilance who must also keep well-informed and constantly aware of their situation, the Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) extracted the following general chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive indicators from Homeland1 News to enhance awareness:
More information regarding what to watch for in the performance of emergency services can be seen in the brochure (PDF, 299 KB) published by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) received notification from the Homeland Security Newswire (HSNW) that railroad operator CSX now provides first responders and the Chemical Transportation Emergency Center (CHEMTREC) access to secure Web-based information, which allows CHEMTREC to find a train number, tank car number, and identify what is being transported in those cars.
With this new capability, if a rail-carrier CSX train derails, emergency responders will have instant, real-time access to railroad manifests to learn whether the cars were hauling hazardous material (HazMat). The HSNW publication acknowledged that the technology already exists, with CSX providing real-time tracking of its hazardous cargo transports to CHEMTREC, which was designed to assist first responders with incidents involving HazMat and other dangerous products.
“It’s a Web-enabled system that’s highly secure, that allows CHEMTREC to find a train number, tank car number, and identify what’s in those cars,” CHEMTREC director Randy Speight said. “It allows real-time access in seconds on the Web.”
The EMR-ISAC confirmed that a Website is available for the use of the emergency services. Additionally, the CHEMTREC 24-hour HazMat Communications Center can be contacted at 1-800-262-8200.
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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U.S. Fire Administration, 16825 S. Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727 | USNG: 18SUJ00529652
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March 18, 2010 InfoGram