Episodes
Tuesday Jun 27, 2017
Lake Tahoe's Angora Fire Commemorated with 10 Year Anniversary
Tuesday Jun 27, 2017
Tuesday Jun 27, 2017
In this episode we travel to South Lake Tahoe to talk with Chief Tim Alameda of the Lake Valley Fire District. We caught up with him days before they commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Angora Fire.
According to an article in the Lake Tahoe News published September 13, 2016, "Alameda was a division chief and the fire marshal for North Tahoe Fire Protection District prior to joining the LVFD in 2016.
Alameda got his start as a firefighter reserve in Meyers in the 1980s. At that time is was a joint program between Lake Valley and South Lake Tahoe fire departments.
Starting in 1984 he spent 27 years with Reno Fire Department. He went from a rank and file firefighter to the chief.
In 2011, Alameda retired from Reno. North Tahoe recruited him to be a fire marshal. He took this job seriously – spending many a day walking around his jurisdiction, into businesses and talking to people. He was seeing where the hazards were, listened to concerns and helped educate people.
He rose to division chief and then took over Meeks Bay.
Those in the fire community call Alameda a true professional, forward thinker and good with personnel. Until the ink is dry, people were hesitant to go on the record about Alameda. The same goes for his current boss, Mike Schwartz.
Wildland fires are something Alameda is well aware of. He was president in 2015 of the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Chief’s Association. The wildland urban interface is a constant issue for fire agencies when it comes to protecting the community from a blaze that starts in the forest.
While he didn’t lose a structure during the Angora Fire, a house he and his dad built on Boulder Mountain was destroyed.
Those 254 houses that burned in 2007 were part of that wildland urban interface.
As a kid, he spent many summer days fishing at Angora Lakes or hunting grouse in the area."
To read the entire article click here.
Links
The Angora Fire 10 Years Later: What have we learned? Field Trip & Symposium
Angora Fire Restoration Project
Tuesday Jun 06, 2017
The Age of Massive Data Breaches
Tuesday Jun 06, 2017
Tuesday Jun 06, 2017
From Left to Right in Photo:
ELI OWEN, Deputy Commander, California State Threat Assessment Center
THOR EDEN, California Cyber Security Integration Center
MICHAEL CREWS, Cal OES Information Security Officer
For this episode we brought three of California’s cyber security gurus who talk about some of things you and your agency/company can and should be doing to protect yourself from cybercrime. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month which is an annual campaign to raise awareness about cybersecurity, but any month, any day is a good day to beef up your own personal protection. We live in a world that is more connected than ever before. The Internet touches almost all aspects of everyone’s daily life, whether we realize it or not. National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) is designed to engage and educate public and private sector partners through events and initiatives to raise awareness about cybersecurity, provide them with tools and resources needed to stay safe online, and increase the resiliency of the Nation in the event of a cyber incident. (Source: Dept. of Homeland Security)
California Cybersecurity Integration Center’s (CalCSIC) mission is to reduce the likelihood and severity of cyber incidents that may significantly compromise the security and resilience of California’s economy, its critical infrastructure, and information resources. Cal OES executes this mission together with CDT, CHP and CMD. Cal-CSIC is comprised of two key functional components: (1) cyber threat analysis; and, (2) dissemination and coordination of incident response and recovery operations (hereinafter “recovery”). Specifically, Cal-CSIC coordinates the identification, prevention or mitigation of cyber threats, as well as coordinates the response to, and recovery from significant cyber incidents. Cal-CSIC coordinates the production of threat assessments for the State, and facilitates analysis and exchange of cyber threat information with all affected organizations.
Terms Used:
Cyber Crime – Crime conducted via the Internet or some other computer network
APT – Advanced Persistent Threat
Social Engineering – a line of attack that relies heavily on human interaction and often involves tricking people into breaking normal security procedures. (Source: TechTarget)
Spycraft – (aka Tradecraft) Within the intelligence community, this refers to the techniques, methods and technologies used in modern espionage (spying) and generally, as part of the activity of intelligence.
Polymorphic – Polymorphic malware is harmful, destructive or intrusive computer software such as a virus, worm, Trojan or spyware that constantly changes ("morphs"), making it difficult to detect with anti-malware programs. Evolution of the malicious code can occur in a variety of ways such as filename changes, compression and encryption with variable keys. (Source: TechTarget)
Spear phishing – An email that appears to be from an individual or business that you know. But it isn't. It's from the same criminal hackers who want your credit card and bank account numbers, passwords, and the financial information on your PC.
Ransomware – There are different types of ransomware. However, all of them will prevent you from using your PC normally, and they will all ask you to do something before you can use your PC. They can target any PC users, whether it’s a home computer, endpoints in an enterprise network, or servers used by a government agency or healthcare provider.
Ransomware can:
Prevent you from accessing your computer.
Encrypt files so you can't use them.
Stop certain apps from running (like your web browser).
Ransomware will demand that you pay money (a “ransom”) to get access to your PC or files. We have also seen them make you complete surveys.
There is no guarantee that paying the fine or doing what the ransomware tells you will give access to your PC or files again. (Source: Microsoft)
Links:
Cal-CSIC Announcement
https://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=19083
For more information on partnering with Cal-CSIC
state.cybersecurity@caloes.ca.gov
Cal OES Cal-CSIC
IT Peer Network Article
https://itpeernetwork.intel.com/california-to-establish-a-cybersecurity-integration-center/
Stop Think Connect
Interpol
Ransomware Help