Home PSEPC Daily Brief DOB06-031

Daily Brief

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

DOB06-031 - 14 February 2006

News

CCIRC releases Advisory AV06-005: Multiple vulnerabilities in BlackBerry Enterprise Server
On February 13, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) released Advisory AV06-005 to draw attention to a vulnerability identified in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Exploiting this vulnerability may allow external users to execute arbitrary code on the BlackBerry Attachment Service component of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
(Source: Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, 13 February 2006)
Source article

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

Wind chill warnings issued for northern prairies
On February 14, Environment Canada (EC) issued wind chill warnings for most of northern Manitoba and northeast Saskatchewan . Extreme winds are forecasted for February 14, as well as for the morning of February 15. EC indicates that temperatures of -35 degrees Celsius, combined with winds of 15 km/h, will generate wind chills of -45 to -50 degrees Celsius.
(Source: Environment Canada, 14 February 2006)
Source article
Source article

As a guideline, the average person's skin begins to freeze at a wind chill of -25 degrees Celsius, and freezes in minutes at -35 degrees Celsius.

Environment Canada issues public weather warnings.

In brief

Avian Influenza: Update
On February 13, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the Ministry of Health in Indonesia reported two new fatal cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Both from West Java province, the first case was a 25-year-old woman and the second case was a 27-year-old woman; both died on February 10.

On February 13, the WHO announced that the Ministry of Health in China reported one new case of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The case, a 20-year-old female from the south-central province of Hunan, died on February 4.

Since 2003, the WHO has confirmed a total of 169 human cases with the H5N1 avian influenza, including 91 deaths.
(Source: World Health Organization, 13 February 2006)
Source article
Source article
Source article

The Public Health Agency of Canada provides information on avian influenza.

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. 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.

CCIRC would like to remind readers of the monthly Microsoft Security Bulletin, which will be released today.

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.