Home PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-015

Daily Brief

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

DOB06-015 - 23 January 2006

News

Alberta cow tested for mad cow disease
On January 22, media reported that inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are trying to determine whether they have uncovered another case of mad cow disease. The CFIA stated that preliminary tests on a dead cow in Alberta suggested the animal might have had bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Within days further tests at a Winnipeg laboratory will determine whether the country has its fourth case of BSE.
(Source: CBC News, 22 January 2006)
Source article

In brief

Northern Manitoba community experienced power outage
Media reported that Leaf Rapids, a community in northern Manitoba, declared a state of emergency after a power outage on January 20 left the community without heat and electricity. Manitoba Hydro stated that the problem does not appear to be with the line itself, but perhaps with the station in the area.
(Source: CBC News, 20 January 2006)
Source article

 PSEPC Geomatics provides a map (674 kb) of the affected area.

New Brunswick roads flooded after heavy rains: Update
Further to PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-014, the New Brunswick River Watch 2006 bulletin for January 22 stated that the Ice Jam Flooding Advisory issued on January 20 continues. Water flows throughout the province had levelled off and were decreasing gradually. Based on the weather forecast, this trend should continue for the next few days. In areas directly affected by ice jams, there was a potential for minor fluctuations in water levels, but no significant increases were expected.
(Source: New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization, 22 January 2006)
Source article

Cyber risk assessment

Over the course of the past 72 hours, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) has not detected any significant new threats or vulnerabilities. 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.

Recent cyber alerts and advisories issued by CCIRC can be viewed under “Recent analytical releases” at www.psepc.gc.ca/ccirc.

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.