Disasters

Online security experts in legal gray area
Laws hampers the ability of online security experts do their job dilligently and effectively — not a good thing when the use of Web-based applications grows by leaps and bounds
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Search and rescure robot competition
DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate sponsors fourth search and rescue robot competition next week
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Maker of innovative disaster recovery tool launches U.S. operations
Continuity Software opens Boston and New York offices with a bang: If the company’s application does not help disaster recovery work better, customers will not be charged a dime
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Shortage of RFID-skilled lessens, but still a problem
There is a boom in the use of RFID technology, but the very radpidity of the technology’s proliferation has brought about shortage in skilled RFID-skilled technicians
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U.S. recommends commercial technologies for communication interoperability
While the debate on emergency communication interoperability continues, the U.S. Commerce Department recommends that the federal, state, and local public safety community consider using commercial technologies
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IBM acquires Watchfire
Worries about corporate security and compliance are rising, and IBM plans to incorporate Watchfire’s solutions into Rational software and Tivoli
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Chrysler hacker convicted
Digruntled Chrysler contractor hacks company’s wirless parts distribution network
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Congress moves to protect phone records
Congress considers a bill, and the FCC tightens regulatory requirements on telecoms better to safeguard personal data, but industry says the cost is too high
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Dartmouth launches WMD respone simulation software
Sixteen hour course teaches first responders basic and advanced technqiues in handling WMD and explosive-related emergencies
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HHS launched flu pandemic blog
Sixteen experts in business, health care, and community organizers convene for a lively on-line discussion
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Financial industry gets ready for September pandemic exercises
Weeks-long program tests market’s ability to respond to wide-spread infection; FSSCC and SIFMA lend a hand
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Survey finds slow-decisions hampering continuity efforts
35 percent of British companies take more than six months just to reach a decision about what level of protection to buy; 10 percent had no data protection at all.
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UCLA tests mobile network for first responders
MANET platform will help EMS, fire, and police offficials exchange data during an emergency
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Continuity TV scheduled for June
Mediaplanet continues its series of business continuity mini-shows
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S&T Directorate announces new opportunities
Biometrics, interoperable communications, document validatiion, and blast mitigation top the agency’s wish list
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The long view

To bolster the world’s inadequate cyber governance framework, a “Cyber WHO” is needed
A new report on cyber governance commissioned by Zurich Insurance Group highlights challenges to digital security and identifies new opportunities for business. It calls for the establishment of guiding principles to build resilience and the establishment of supranational governance bodies such as a Cyber Stability Board and a “Cyber WHO.”
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Protecting the U.S. power grid
The U.S. power grid is made up of complex and expensive system components, which are owned by utilities ranging from small municipalities to large national corporations spanning multiple states. A National Academy of Sciences report estimates that a worst-case geomagnetic storm could have an economic impact of $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year, which is twenty times the damage caused by a Katrina-class hurricane.
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More than 143 million Americans at risk from earthquakes
More than 143 million Americans living in the forty-eight contiguous states are exposed to potentially damaging ground shaking from earthquakes, with as many as twenty-eight million people in the highest hazard zones likely to experience strong shaking during their lifetime, according to new research. The research puts the average long-term value of building losses from earthquakes at $4.5 billion per year, with roughly 80 percent of losses attributed to California, Oregon, and Washington. By comparison, FEMA estimated in 1994 that seventy-five million Americans in thirty-nine states were at risk from earthquakes. In the highest hazard zones, the researchers identified more than 6,000 fire stations, more than 800 hospitals, and nearly 20,000 public and private schools that may be exposed to strong ground motion from earthquakes.
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A large Ventura Fault quake could trigger a tsunami
Earthquake experts had not foreseen the 2011 magnitude-9 Japan earthquake occurring where it did, so soon after the disaster, scientists in Southern California began asking themselves, “What are the big things we’re missing?” For decades, seismic experts believed the Ventura fault posed only a minor to moderate threat, but new research suggests that a magnitude-8 earthquake could occur on the fault roughly every 400 to 2,400 years. The newly discovered risk may even be more damaging than a large earthquake occurring on the San Andreas Fault, which has long been considered the state’s most dangerous. Unlike the Ventura fault, the San Andreas Fault is so far inland in Southern California, that it does not pose a tsunami risk. A large earthquake on the Ventura fault, however, could create a tsunami that would begin “in the Santa Barbara Channel area, and would affect the coastline … of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, down through the Santa Monica area and further south.”
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Coastal communities can lower flood insurance rates by addressing sea-level rise
City leaders and property developers in Tampa Bay are urging coastal communities to prepare today for sea-level rise and future floods in order to keep flood insurance rates low in the future. FEMA, which administers the National Flood Insurance Program(NFIP), is increasing flood insurance premiums across the country, partly to offset losses from recent disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Cities can reduce insurance premiums for nearly all residents who carry flood coverage by improving storm-water drainage, updating building codes to reflect projected rise in sea-levels, moving homes out of potentially hazardous areas, and effectively informing residents about storm danger and evacuation routes.
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California drought highlights the state’s economic divide
As much of Southern California enters into the spring and warmer temperatures, the effects of California’s historic drought begin to manifest themselves in the daily lives of residents, highlighting the economic inequality in the ways people cope. Following Governor Jerry Brown’s (D) unprecedented water rationing regulations,wealthier Californians weigh on which day of the week no longer to water their grass, while those less fortunate are now choosing which days they skip a bath.
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Online security experts in legal gray area

Search and rescure robot competition

Maker of innovative disaster recovery tool launches U.S. operations

Shortage of RFID-skilled lessens, but still a problem

U.S. recommends commercial technologies for communication interoperability

IBM acquires Watchfire

Chrysler hacker convicted

Congress moves to protect phone records

Dartmouth launches WMD respone simulation software

HHS launched flu pandemic blog

Financial industry gets ready for September pandemic exercises

Survey finds slow-decisions hampering continuity efforts

UCLA tests mobile network for first responders

Continuity TV scheduled for June

S&T Directorate announces new opportunities

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The long view

To bolster the world’s inadequate cyber governance framework, a “Cyber WHO” is needed

Protecting the U.S. power grid

More than 143 million Americans at risk from earthquakes

A large Ventura Fault quake could trigger a tsunami

Coastal communities can lower flood insurance rates by addressing sea-level rise

California drought highlights the state’s economic divide