Short Takes – 1-27-24

Cyberattack downs emergency dispatch system in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. StateScoop.com article.  Pull quote: “The Department of Emergency Communications sent out an alert on Monday night through Ready Bucks, its emergency notifications platform, saying the CAD [computer-aided dispatch] system is down. The technology helps public safety officers “prioritize and record incident calls, identify the status and location of responders in the field, and effectively dispatch responder personnel,” according to a publication by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”

Pwn2Own Automotive: $1.3M for 49 zero-days, Tesla hacked twice. BeepingComputer.com article. Pull quote: “Throughout the contest organized by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) in Tokyo, Japan, during the Automotive World auto conference, hackers targeted fully patched electric vehicle (EV) chargers, infotainment systems, and car operating systems.”

Can private companies carry NASA back to the Moon? TheVerge.com article. Pull quote: “Often derided as the rocket to nowhere, NASA has struggled to convince many in the space industry of SLS’s usefulness, particularly given its exorbitant cost. It has been in development for so long that, arguably, commercial entities like SpaceX will soon be able to provide many of the same facilities, likely for a lower price tag.”

Japan Explains How It Made an Upside-Down Moon Landing. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: ““It successfully achieved the controlled landing,” Hitoshi Kuninaka, director general of JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, said in Japanese at a news conference. “We confirmed that the landing position was 55 meters away from the initial target. So we concluded that we achieved the 100-meter-accuracy pinpoint landing.””

INSIGHT: No end in sight for lapse of US chemical anti-terrorism program. ICIS.com article. Pull quote: “In January, Nebraska State Senator Eliot Bostar introduced LB1048, which would require certain chemical facilities to comply with the federal chemical security program.”

Chemical Safety Board plots new course. CEN.ACS.org article. Pull quote: “Owens won’t predict how many incidents the CSB will investigate in the future. To speed the process, he says, the agency will rely on teams of four to five investigators per incident and supplement with contractors who have expertise in analyzing areas such as blasts, explosives, and strength of materials. Previously, he says, the CSB too often relied on a single investigator per incident, which slowed the process.”

Emergency Escape Breathing Apparatus Standards. Federal Register FRA Final Rule. Summary: “FRA is amending its regulations related to occupational noise exposure in three ways. First, in response to a congressional mandate, FRA is expanding those regulations to require that railroads provide an appropriate atmosphere-supplying emergency escape breathing apparatus to every train crew member and certain other employees while they are occupying a locomotive cab of a freight train transporting a hazardous material that would pose an inhalation hazard in the event of release during an accident. Second, FRA is changing the name of this part of its regulations from “Occupational Noise Exposure” to “Occupational Safety and Health in the Locomotive Cab” to reflect the additional subject matter of this final rule and to make other conforming amendments. Third, FRA is removing the provision stating the preemptive effect of this part of FRA's regulations because it is unnecessary.” Effective date March 26^th, 2024.

Offshore wind farms are vulnerable to cyberattacks, new Concordia study shows. NewsWise.com article. Pull quote: “In turn, these disturbances could trigger poorly dampened power oscillations from the offshore wind farms when all the offshore wind farms are generating their maximum output. If these cyber-induced electrical disturbances are repetitive and match the frequency of the poorly dampened power oscillations, the oscillations could be amplified. These amplified oscillations might then be transmitted through the HVDC system, potentially reaching and affecting the stability of the main power grid. While existing systems usually have redundancies built in to protect them against physical contingencies, such protection is rare against cyber security breaches.”