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Daily Brief

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

DOB06-010 - 16 January 2006

News

CCIRC releases Update to Advisory AV05-037:Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Applet Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
On January 13, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) released Update to Advisory AV05-037 to notify the public that the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) is reporting that the Sun Java vulnerability is now being actively exploited by enticing users to visit a malicious website. When a user visits a webpage hosting a malicious Java applet, the remote attacker might execute arbitrary code on the user's computer.
(Source: Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, 13 January 2006)
Source article

CCIRC provides recent alerts and advisories on their website under Recent analytical releases.

New Brunswick roads flooded after heavy rains
On January 15, the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization released a River Watch 2006 bulletin reporting that heavy rain and ice jams along New Brunswick's Nashwaak River and Miramichi River have caused significant increases in water flows, subsequently causing several roads to flood. Department of Transportation officials are monitoring and rerouting traffic as necessary.
(Source: New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization, 15 January 2006)
Source article

PSEPC Geomatics provides a map (228 kb) of the affected areas.

B.C. evacuation alert lifted
Further to PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-009, on January 13, authorities lifted the evacuation alert that was put in place for approximately 1,000 residents of North Vancouver due to the threat of landslides. An engineer with the District of North Vancouver stated that he expects more alerts will occur in the future because of the newly-installed piezometer system for detecting landslide risk.
(Source: CBC News, 13 January 2006)
Source article

In brief

Earthquake felt in southern Vancouver Island
On January 15 at 04:29 PST, a magnitude 3.9 earthquake occurred in southern Vancouver Island, B.C. The earthquake was felt by many throughout southern Vancouver Island and as far north as the Nanaimo region. No reports of damage have been received, and none would be expected as a result of an earthquake of this magnitude.
(Source: Natural Resources Canada, 15 January 2006)
Source article

Avian Influenza: Update
On January 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed one additional case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The victim, who is now deceased, was a 29-year-old midwife at a Jakarta hospital. This new case is the 17 ^th in Indonesia, and the country’s 12 ^th fatality due to the virus since 2003.

Since 2003, WHO has confirmed that a total of 79 people have died due to infection from the H5N1 avian influenza strain.
(Source: World Health Organization, 14 January 2006)
Source article
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Cyber risk assessment

Over the course of the past 72 hours, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) released Update to Advisory AV05-037; however, CCIRC has not detected any significant new threats or vulnerabilities, and no significant incidents with the potential to affect critical infrastructure have been reported. Accordingly, based on the information available to CCIRC, the cyber risk facing Canadian critical infrastructure is assessed as low. Personnel responsible for information, systems and network security should continue to apply appropriate security precautions and monitor their systems.

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.