Home PSEPC Daily Brief DOB05-248

Daily Brief

The PSEPC Daily Brief is a compilation of summaries of publicly available and PSEPC information concerning critical infrastructure protection and emergency management.

DOB05-248 - 29 December 2005

News

CCIRC releases Advisory AV05-038: Microsoft Windows WMF Handling (0-day) Vulnerability
On December 28, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) released Advisory AV05-038 to draw attention to reports of a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows, which can be exploited to compromise a vulnerable system. Exploit code is publicly available and this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild.
(Source: Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, 28 December 2005)
Source article

To view all CCIRC Alerts and Advisories, click here.

Northern Alberta towns isolated after officials close winter road
Unusually warm weather has forced officials from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo to close the Fort Chipewyan Winter Road between Fort McMurray and Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta. As a result of the closure there will be no road access to Fort Chipewyan or Fort Smith. Temperatures in late December have been 20–30 degrees Celsius warmer than normal, causing some frozen sections to melt.

The 280-kilometre winter road is normally open from mid-December to mid-March, and travels over frozen lakes, rivers, muskeg, mudflats and sand dunes in the Athabasca River Delta.
(Source: Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo , 27 December 2005; CBC News , 28 December 2005)
Source article
Source article

PSEPC Geomatics provides a map (1 mg) of the affected area.

Avalanche warning issued for B.C. and Alberta
The Canadian Avalanche Centre in Revelstoke, B.C., has issued a special avalanche warning for B.C.’s Interior region and areas of the Rocky Mountains. The warning states that from Pine Pass in northern B.C. to the U.S. border, the avalanche danger is considerable at the treeline and above. The warning also extends into the Rocky Mountain areas of Banff and Lake Louise. These avalanche conditions are expected to continue at least until 1 January 2006.
(Source: cbc.ca BRITISH COLUMBIA , cbc.ca EDMONTON , 29 December 2005)
Source article
Source article

Town of Walkerton issued Boil Water Advisory due to broken water main
On December 23, the Grey Bruce Health Unit issued a news release stating that a Boil Water Advisory is in effect for the Town of Walkerton
(Municipality of Brockton). The advisory is due to a major water main break that resulted in low or no water pressure in the treated water distribution system.

According to the media, the Ministry of the Environment began water quality testing on December 27 and the Mayor of Walkerton estimates that tests should be complete by tomorrow. The boil water advisory will be in effect until two successful water quality tests have been completed.
(Source: Grey Bruce Health Unit , 23 December 2005; The London Free Press , 27 December 2005)
Source article
Source article

CFIA issues Health Hazard Alert for Mung Bean Sprouts
On December 24, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a Health Hazard Alert to warn the public against consuming Toronto Sun Wah or Hollend Enterprises Mung Bean Sprouts because the product might be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. The bean sprouts were distributed in Ontario and may have also been distributed in Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue area. The exact source of contamination has not been confirmed.
(Source: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 24 December 2005)
Source article

In brief

Light earthquake felt in B.C.
On December 28, at 02:40 PST, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake was felt in Masset, Port Clements, Sandspit, Tlell and Port Simpson, B.C. No reports of damage have been received and none would be expected for an earthquake of this size at this location.
(Source: Natural Resources Canada, 28 December 2005)
Source article

Natural Resources Canada’s Earthquakes Canada website includes information on recent earthquakes in Canada, earthquake preparedness activities and historical earthquake events.

2005 wettest year in Canada in six decades: Environment Canada
According to Environment Canada, the year 2005 was the wettest in Canada in six decades. Environment Canada also cites the Alberta floods in June as the top weather event in the last 12 months.
(Source: CBC News , 29 December 2005)
Source article

Cyber risk assessment

Over the course of the past 24 hours, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) has not detected any significant new threats or vulnerabilities. The WMF vulnerability that affects Microsoft Windows is still a concern as there is still no patch available, however, Microsoft is investigating the vulnerability. Microsoft has released a Security Advisory (912840) which can be found here. Anti-Virus vendors are releasing updates to detect this vulnerability. An update to advisory AV05-035 will be released later today.

See also...

• The Weather Office
• FAC - Travel Updates

Note to readers

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (PSEPC) collects information related to cyber and physical threats to, and incidents involving, Canadian critical infrastructure. This allows us to monitor and analyze threats and to issue alerts, advisories and other information products.

Any suspected criminal activity should be reported to local law enforcement organizations. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) National Operations Centre (NOC) provides a 24/7 service to receive such reports or to redirect callers to local law enforcement organizations. The NOC can be reached at (613) 993-4460. National security concerns should be reported to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) at (613) 993-9620.

Links to sites not under the control of the Government of Canada (GoC) are provided solely for the convenience of users. The GoC is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. The GoC does not offer any guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites and their content.

Some hyperlinks in the PSEPC Daily Brief direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act. Users should be aware that these sources are only available in the language in which they are written.