Wednesday, February 24, 2016



Complete DHS Report for February 24, 2016

Daily Report                                            

Top Stories

• Schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, and south Texas cancelled classes February 23, ahead of a line of thunderstorms moving across several southern States. – Associated Press

10. February 23, Associated Press – (National) Line of storms moving across Texas heading towards Deep South. Schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, and south Texas cancelled classes February 23, ahead of a line of thunderstorms moving across several southern States which are predicted to cause wind damage and severe weather. Source: http://www.journal-news.com/ap/ap/us/line-of-storms-racing-across-texas-heading-toward-/nqWZT/

• Seven technology industry companies have formed a new organization titled, Coalition for Cybersecurity Police and Law, which will focus on educating policymakers and promoting the interests of the cybersecurity industry in Congress, Federal agencies, and international standards bodies. – SecurityWeek See item 18 below in the Information Technology Sector

• AT&T and Verizon customers in parts of South Dakota and Wyoming experienced wireless and long-distance service interruptions February 23 after a fiber-optic cable in the CenturyLink network was cut. – Rapid City Journal See item 19 below in the Communications Sector

• The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved a $2.85 million settlement with CenturyLink February 22 following an April 2014 Statewide 9-1-1 outage that knocked out service for 6 hours. – Associated Press See item 20 below in the Communications Sector

Financial Services Sector

Nothing to report

Information Technology Sector

17. February 23, Softpedia – (International) Microsoft updates Windows 10 Mobile Mail and Calendar. Microsoft released updates for its Mail and Calendar app affecting Windows 10 Mobile that patches several flaws, introduces new calendar features, and increases overall performance of the app. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/microsoft-updates-windows-10-mobile-mail-and-calendar-500833.shtml

18. February 22, SecurityWeek – (International) Tech firms form coalition for cybersecurity policy. Seven technology industry companies including Abor Networks, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Rapid7, and Symantec have formed a new organization titled, Coalition for Cybersecurity Police and Law, which plans to focus on educating policymakers, increasing collaboration on complicated policies, and promoting the interests of the cybersecurity industry in Congress, Federal agencies, international standards bodies, and industry self-regulatory programs, among other policymaking venues. The organization has submitted comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in response to the agency’s Request for Information (RFI) on the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.

Communications Sector

19. February 23, Rapid City Journal – (South Dakota; Wyoming) Phone outages blamed on fiber cut. AT&T and Verizon customers in parts of South Dakota and Wyoming experienced wireless and long-distance service interruptions February 23 after a fiber-optic cable in the CenturyLink network was cut. Technicians worked to evaluate and resolve the issue. Source: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/phone-outages-blamed-on-fiber-cut/article_b8cd7abe-c713-5007-a31f-a590b864eacb.html

20. February 22, Associated Press – (Washington) State regulators fine CenturyLink $2.85 million for 911 outage. The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved a $2.85 million settlement with CenturyLink February 22 following an April 2014 Statewide 9-1-1 outage that knocked out service for 6 hours. As part of the settlement, the company must regularly report to the commission on 9-1-1 circuit reliability and switch to a more advanced system.Source: http://q13fox.com/2016/02/22/state-regulators-fine-centurylink-2-85-million-for-911-outage/