Short Takes – 10-17-25

Government shutdown prompts illegal BASE jumping surge in Yosemite. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “The lack of staffing has led some to engage in dangerous and illegal antics, with videos circulating on social media showing people BASE jumping, squatting in campgrounds and scaling cliffs in the park without permits, as reported by local NewsNation affiliate KTLA in Los Angeles.”

Originalist ‘Bombshell’ Complicates Case on Trump’s Power to Fire Officials. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “Letting the president fire officials “for reasons good or bad,” Professor Nelson wrote, would grant him “an enormous amount of power — more power, I think, than any sensible person should want anyone to have, and more power than any member of the founding generation could have anticipated.””

Eavesdropping on Internal Networks via Unencrypted Satellites. UCSD.edu article. Pull quote: “We pointed a commercial-off-the-shelf satellite dish at the sky and carried out the most comprehensive public study to date of geostationary satellite communication. A shockingly large amount of sensitive traffic is being broadcast unencrypted, including critical infrastructure, internal corporate and government communications, private citizens’ voice calls and SMS, and consumer Internet traffic from in-flight wifi and mobile networks. This data can be passively observed by anyone with a few hundred dollars of consumer-grade hardware. There are thousands of geostationary satellite transponders globally, and data from a single transponder may be visible from an area as large as 40% of the surface of the earth.”

The chemistry community should ban drawing chemical structures with generative AI, chemists warn.  ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “In their article [link added] Moores and Zuin Zeidler warn that the inability of current GAI to generate representations of chemistry that are accurate and useful will not only have important consequences for the ability of the next generation to learn about chemistry but also change the way the chemistry community thinks and looks at itself. ‘The problem I see with generative AI is that for the first time, it’s started to create representation of chemistry that have not come from a thoughtful and [considered] decision from chemists of “let’s represent it this way because…”. Now we have an entity somewhere that decides “I’m going to make a benzene ring that is not even closing”,’ says Moores.”

To Inflict Pain on Russians, Ukraine’s Drones Zero In on Oil Refineries. NYTimes.com article (free). Pull quote: “When a military factory is hit, it might be repaired in 10 days, he said, “while oil refineries keep burning all these 10 days.” In addition, repairs are hampered by the inability to import equipment from Europe and the United States.”

First locally acquired chikungunya case confirmed in New York. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “The CDC says people can contract the virus if they’re bitten by an infected mosquito. When a mosquito bites an infected person, that mosquito becomes infected and can then spread the virus to other people. People rarely spread the virus to other people.” CDC information here.

An Iranian volcano appears to have woken up — 700,000 years after its last eruption. LiveScience.com article. Pull quote: “Instead, either the uplift is caused by a change in the hydrothermal plumbing below the volcano that is leading to the buildup of gas, or a small amount of magma may have shifted beneath the volcano, allowing gases to bubble up into the rocks above, raising the pressure in rock pores and fractures, and causing the ground to heave up slightly.”

Transportation Chemical Incidents – Week of 9-13-25

Reporting Background

See this post for explanation, with the most recent update here (removed from paywall).

Data from PHMSA’s online database of transportation related chemical incidents that have been reported to the agency.

Incidents Summary

• Number of incidents – 513 (481 highway, 25 air, 7 rail, 0 water)

• Serious incidents – 2 (1 Bulk release, 0 evacuation, 0 injury, 0 death, 0 major artery closed, 1 fire/explosion, 33 no release)

• Largest container involved – 27,850-gal DOT 211A100W1 Railcar {Sulfur, Molten} Blown rupture disk.

• Largest amount spilled – 150-gal IBC {Environmentally Hazardous Substances, Liquid, N.O.S.} Load securement strap broke a shifting pallet punctured IBC.

• Total amount reported spilled in all incidents – 1542.2 gal

NOTE: Links above are to Form 5800.1 for the described incidents.

Most Interesting Chemical: Sulfur, Molten: A pale yellow crystalline solid with a faint odor of rotten eggs. Insoluble in water. A fire and explosion risk above 450°F. Transported as a yellow to red liquid. Handled at elevated temperature (typically 290°F) to prevent solidification and makes transfers easier. Hot enough that plastic or rubber may melt or lose strength. Causes thermal burns to skin on contact. Cools rapidly and solidifies if released. Equipment designed to protect against ordinary chemical exposure is ineffective against the thermal hazard. Exercise caution walking on the surface of a spill to avoid breakthrough into pockets of molten sulfur below the crust. Do not attempt to remove sulfur impregnated clothing because of the danger of tearing flesh if a burn has resulted. May be irritating to skin, eyes and mucous membranes. Used in sulfuric acid production, petroleum refining, and pulp and paper manufacturing. (Source: CameoChemicals.NOAA.gov).

 

INSERT UN 2448 Placard

Review – HR 5000 Introduced – Cybersecurity Hiring

Back in August, Rep Mace (R,SC) introduced HR 5000, the Cybersecurity Hiring Modernization Act. The bill would limit the ability of federal agencies to require minimum educational requirements in the hiring of personnel to fill cybersecurity positions in the competitive service. No funding is authorized in this legislation.

Beyond a title change, HR 5000 is nearly identical to HR 4502, the Modernizing the Acquisition of Cybersecurity Experts Act, that was introduced by Mace in July 2023. The bill was amended and ordered favorably reported (without a written report) by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in July of 2023. The bill was considered in the House under the suspension of the rules process in October of 2023 and passed it by a vote of 394 to 1. No action was taken on the legislation in the Senate. 

Moving Forward

Mace and her sole cosponsor, Rep Brown (D,OH) are both members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. I would expect that, as with HR 4502, there will be strong bipartisan support for this bill in Committee and on the floor of the House.

 

For more information on the provisions of this bill, and a commentary on why this bill may be addressing a diminishing problem, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-5000-introduced-cybersecurity - subscription required.

Review – 11 Advisories, 2 Updates Published – 10-16-25

Today CISA’s NCCIC-ICS published eleven control system advisories for products from Hitachi Energy, Siemens (6), and Rockwell Automation (4). They also updated two advisories for products from Delta Electronics and Schneider.

Advisories

Hitachi Energy Advisory - This advisory describes three vulnerabilities in the Hitachi Energy MACH GWS.

Note: I briefly discussed this vulnerability on October 4^th, 2025.

HyperLinx Advisory - This advisory discusses a type confusion vulnerability (which is listed in CISA’s KEV catalog) in the Siemens HyperLynx and Industrial Edge App Publisher products.

SINEC Advisory - This advisory describes an SQL injection vulnerability in the Siemens SINEC NMS product.

SIMATIC Advisory - This advisory describes a missing authentication for critical function vulnerability in the Siemens SIMATIC CP and SIPLUS ET 200SP products.

SiPass Advisory - This advisory describes four vulnerabilities (one with publicly available exploit) in the Siemens SiPass integrated.

Solid Edge Advisory - This advisory describes four vulnerabilities in the Siemens Solid Edge product.

ArmorStart Advisory - This advisory that describes an improper handling of exceptional conditions vulnerability in the Rockwell ArmorStart Classic.

FactoryTalk Advisory #1 - This advisory describes an improper restriction of XML external entity reference vulnerability in the PanelView Plus 7 Terminal.

FactoryTalk Advisory #2 - This advisory describes two improper privilege management vulnerabilities in the Rockwell FactoryTalk Linx.

FactoryTalk Advisory #3 - This advisory describes two vulnerabilities in the Rockwell FactoryTalk View Machine Edition and PanelView Plus 7 products.

Updates

Delta Update - This update provides additional information on the CNCSoft-G2 advisory that was originally published on April 30^th, 2024.

Schneider Update - This update provides additional information on the EcoStruxure advisory that was originally published on August 12^th, 2025.

 

For more information on these advisories, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/11-advisories-2-updates-published  - subscription required.

Review - S 2587 Introduced – FY 2026 LHH Spending

Back in July Sen Capito (R,WV) introduced S 2587, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026. The Senate Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill at the same time. There are two cybersecurity mentions in passing in the bill and five cybersecurity discussions in the Report. There are also three cybersecurity mentions in passing and six cybersecurity earmarks in the Report.

S 2587 is similar to S 4942, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, that was introduced by Sen Baldwin (D,WI) in August 2025. No action was taken on that bill (or its House counterpart – HR 9029) in the Senate in the 118^th Congress.

Moving Forward

It has been reported that the Senate is considering adding the language from this bill to the substitute language that will be considered when the Senate takes up HR 4016, possibly as early as next week. As of yesterday, no amendments to HR 4016 have been proposed in the Senate, so we do not know what language will be considered.

 

For more information about the provisions of this bill, including a commentary about the reason that the Senate is resorting to multi-bill mini-bus spending bills.

FCC Sends NPRM on Spectrum for Novel Space Activities to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the FCC on “Spectrum Abundance for Novel Space Activities”. This rulemaking was not published in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda, but it looks like it may be related an earlier rulemaking from the FCC on “Satellite Spectrum Abundance”.

Interestingly, President Trump completely overlooked any FCC spectrum allocation activities when he issued EO 14335, Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry.

Coverage of this rulemaking here will be part of my limited Space Geek coverage.

Short Takes – 10-15-25 – Space Geek Edition

Blue Origin rolls out powerful New Glenn rocket for testing ahead of Mars launch. Space.com article. Pull quote: “Mission number two is an operational flight: It will send the two ESCAPADE ("Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers") orbiters rocketing toward the Red Planet, where they will study the Martian atmosphere and how it is affected by the solar wind and space weather.”

How one scientist's wide-eyed dream of giant space cities was crushed by reality. Space.com article. Pull quote: “The 1970s concept of space habitats is a demonstration of the vision that we once had in our technology and in ourselves, a vision that in the intervening years seems to have left us. From the vantage point of the 1970s, the 21st century was to be a far-flung time of hope and riches and technological wonders. Yet today, in the real 21st century of war amid growing authoritarianism and sectarianism, and environmental catastrophe, we are left to ask: Did we fail the future, or did the future fail us?”

Opening lines of communications for space safety. TheSpaceReview.com article. Pull quote: “The common ground among American and Chinese companies on the need for better communications among satellite operators, and a new Chinese willingness to discuss conjunctions with Western operators, show that perhaps there is an ability for countries to talk with each other on critical space topics, rather than talk past each other on a convention hall stage.”

The history and future of the spacesuit: What NASA’s next astronauts will wear to travel in space. Creators.Yahoo.com article. Pull quote: “The Apollo suits weighed over 200 pounds, that's on Earth. It was only 35 pounds on the Moon, which means that that suit would weigh about 80 pounds on Mars. That would severely limit the astronauts' abilities. Even the most fit astronaut, taking samples and squatting in an 80-pound suit is extremely taxing. I'm trying to look at the rocks, and it's really, really hard. They have similar needs for radiation and temperature protection and things like that. In my opinion, a great way to start would be, let's get a suit for Mars, because that would probably work on the Moon.””