SECRETARY NAPOLITANO ANNOUNCES NEW STANDARDS FOR PRIVATE SECTOR PREPAREDNESS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced the adoption of the final standards for the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep)—a major milestone in DHS’ implementation of a program recommended by the 9/11 Commission to improve private sector preparedness for disasters and emergencies.

 “Private organizations across the country—from businesses to universities to non-profit organizations—have a vital role to play in bolstering our disaster preparedness and response capabilities,” said Secretary Napolitano. “These new standards will provide our private sector partners with the tools they need to enhance the readiness and resiliency of our nation.”

PS-Prep is a partnership between DHS and the private sector that enables private entities to receive emergency preparedness certification from a DHS accreditation system created in coordination with the private sector.

The standards—developed by the National Fire Protection Association, the British Standards Institution and ASIS International—were published for public comment in the Federal Register in Oct. 2009.  The adoption of the final standards was published in a Federal Register notice today following a series of regional public meetings and the incorporation of public comments.

DHS will continue to accept comments on PS-Prep, the three adopted standards, and/or proposals to adopt any other similar standard that satisfies the target criteria of the December 2008 Federal Register notice which announced the program.

Comments may be submitted to http://www.regulations.gov or FEMA-POLICY@dhs.gov, in Docket ID FEMA-2008-0017).

For more information, visit http://www.fema.gov/privatesectorpreparedness/.

National Hurricane Preparedness Week May 23 - 29

The CDC sent me a message the other day asking that I post some information on Hurricane Preparedness.

Hurricane Hazards

•  The Atlantic Hurricane Season begins on June 1 and ends on November 30.

•  Hurricanes threaten health and safety in several ways -- storm surges, high winds, tornadoes, and flooding.

•  Knowing your risks before, during and after a storm, and what actions you should take, you reduce the effects of a hurricane disaster.

Steps for Consumers

•  Get a Kit – When preparing for hurricane season, consider your basic needs after a storm: fresh water, food, lifesaving medications, clean air and warmth.  Stock up on the supplies you would need if a hurricane disrupts power and services.

•  Make a Plan – Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to plan in advance: how you will contact one another; how you will get back together; and what you will do in different situations.  Remember to plan for the safety of all family members, including your pets.

•  Be informed – Learn more about hurricanes and other potential emergencies that could happen where you live and how to respond to them.  Find out about the emergency plans that have been established in your area by your state and local government.  Listen to weather reports and government sources to stay on top of developing storms that may threaten your community.

Additional Resources

• CDC’s National Hurricane Preparedness Week Page: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HurricanePreparedness/
• Hurricane Health and Safety: http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/
• Emergency Preparedness and You: http://emergency.cdc.gov/preparedness/
• Government-wide Ready Campaign: http://www.ready.gov/

• Preparing for a Hurricane: Basic steps you can take now to ensure your safety should a storm hit.
• Emergency Supplies You Will Need: Stock your home and your car with supplies.
• Make a Plan: Learn the basic steps you can take to prepare for a storm
• Prepare to Evacuate: Never ignore an evacuation order.
• If You Are Ordered NOT to Evacuate: Things you can do to get through the storm in the safest possible manner.
• Protecting Pets: Ensure your pet's safety before, during, and after an emergency.

After you have read these tips, please review the other resources available on the CDC Hurricanes Web site.

CDC strongly recommends that you print all important resources before a hurricane strikes. Power outages during and after a hurricane can prevent you from accessing information online when you most need it. Preparing now can help keep you and your family safe.

You can receive weekly tips from CDC throughout hurricane season by signing up for the following:

• CDC Hurricane Health and Safety Updates — subscribe and get tips of the week sent to your email or mobile phone.
• CDC Hurricane Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and Podcasts

Deepwater Horizon Disaster - Information on Leak Estimates

As of today oil still continues to leak from the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf. How much oil leaking per day from the well is still not known exactly but estimates range from initial assesments of 210,000 gallons (or 5,000 barrels) per day (estimate by NOAA) to an outside expert estimating 4,200,000 gallons per day.

Live Video Feed of Leak

 Disaster Preparedness Blog has no control over the live feed.

In addition to the initial disaster of the explosion, fire and loss of life, BP is also facing a PR nightmare with claims of a cover up and trying to hide just how much oil is leaking from the well.

As mentioned earlier estimates vary widely, but the exact amount leaking may never be known and some are calling it the worst oil spill since the Exxon Valdez, and perhaps the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Below is a widget from PBS that show how much oil is leaking based on various expert estimates.

15 Minutes to Apocalypse – The Cyber Warfare Threat

When most people think of cyber warfare, they are probably thinking of a battle taking place sometime in the future. The other thought most people probably have is they think the United States as a being a leader in this area.

The truth is cyber warfare is already here and the United States is lagging far behind. Not only that but a majority of all services deemed as critical infrastructure are in the hands or under control of the private sector.

Currently 30 countries are known to have viable offensive and defensive cyber warfare capabilities with the top potential threats recognized as being Russia, China, and believe it or not North Korea, which is also the most dangerous country to have these capabilities. North Korea has already taken out systems run by the U.S. Treasury, Secret Service, and Federal Trade Commission.

Cyber warfare is a reality in today's world - Timeline of Cyber Attacks since May 2006 - which will likely be used in combination with conventional attacks and as stand alone attacks far into the future from here on.

While some point to these threats as fear mongering, unrealistic, and even as impossible to pull off I would venture to say they do not fully appreciate just how vulnerable we are should a massive attack bring down much of our infrastructure.

One thing to note about these types of attacks is the social engineering aspect, which no amount of security hardware or software can protect against. We need to better train employees to understand phishing attacks, to guard passwords, what to look and listen for during the social engineer aspect of any attack. Good security practices should incorporate continuous training with real world examples.

As the recent attacks against Google, Rackspace and others showed our private sector is just as much a target for malicious attacks. We must remain vigilant and proper training training is an important part of securing our networks.

See the Reference link below for more detailed information on this.

Possible Human Error Causes Rapid Market Decline

I was going to post something on Human Error in a later post, but in light of today's alleged incident in the U.S. Markets which caused a nearly 1000 point drop in the Dow I thought I would at least touch on it.

Currently here is what we know about the alleged incident - (Which is still being investigated) A trader at Citi entered a "B" for Billion instead of an "M" for Million. This in turn caused a nearly $10 {CORRECTION it was about $20 give or take a few} stock price dip in PG, and subsequently caused the rest of the market to drop before recovering. 

On the good side, these things can be researched, and fixed. However, in an already skittish and heavily volitile market it can easily cause additional panic by the average investor.

In addition to other issues, it has already been proposed that someone else who knows what they are doing could easily manipulate the market and cause an intentional crash (I believe the commentators were implying a cyber-terror event).

Already the investigations by the SEC have begun and we will have to wait and see what the outcome will be.

Look for a future post coming soon about Human Error and the Impact on Business coming soon.