Home PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-023

Daily Brief

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

DOB06-023 - 2 February 2006

News

Blizzard warning issued for south-east N.L.
On February 2, Environment Canada issued blizzard warnings for the south-eastern region of Newfoundland and Labrador. Strong winds will result in higher than normal water levels and damaging surf along the eastern and southern shorelines.
(Source: Environment Canada, 2 February 2006)
Source article

Environment Canada weather warnings throughout the country.

Winter storm watch issued for part of eastern Ontario
On February 2, Environment Canada issued a winter storm watch for parts of eastern Ontario. Temperatures are expected to drop below zero over most regions between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa Valley overnight until early morning February 3 prior to rain showers beginning.
(Source: Environment Canada, 2 February 2006)
Source article

Environment Canada weather warnings throughout the country.

Plane to fly only in light icing conditions
The Transport Safety Board (TSB) of Canada has recommended that the Cessna 208 model, involved in a crash while flying from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay on 6 October 2005, only fly in light icing conditions.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recommended earlier this month that the plane be grounded in most icing conditions.
(Source: The Thunder Bay Source, 2 February 2006)
Source article

The Transport Safety Board (TSB) of Canada is an independent agency created to advance transportation safety.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency that investigates every civil aviation accident and significant accidents in the other modes of transportation in the U.S.

In brief

Health Canada warns consumers not to use White Peony Scar-repairing pills
On February 1, Health Canada (HC) issued a warning to consumers to not use the White Peony Scar-repairing pills due to high lead content.

The White Peony Scar-repairing pills manufactured by White Peony Pharmaceuticals Limited of Hong Kong are not commercially available in Canada but Health Canada believes that the product may have entered the country for personal use and has informed Canada Border Services Agency to be on the look out.
(Source: Canada News Wire, 1 February 2006)
Source article

Health Canada monitors consumer health products and issues consumer protection bulletins.

Ban relaxed on U.S. and Canadian beef imports
On February 1, the Mexican Agriculture department reopened their border to Canadian and U.S. imports of beef containing bone material from cows under the age of 30 months.

The Mexican government first banned U.S. beef in December 2003 following the discovery of a Washington State animal with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
(Source: Miami Herald, 1 February 2006)
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.

CCIRC is continuing to track an e-mail worm known as BlackWorm/Nyxem/Blackmal/Blueworm/Grew, which is scheduled to delete certain file types on 3 February 2006. CCIRC strongly recommends that users ensure anti-virus products are up-to-date and use extra caution when choosing to open any e-mail messages or links.

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.