Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report

The Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report is a compilation of summaries of publicly available emergency management information concerning critical infrastructure.

A summary of feedback results is now available.

 

News | Cyber tracking | Relevant links | Note to readers

DIR08-049 - 10 March 2008

News

CCIRC releases advisory AV08-023: Cross Site Scripting Vulnerability in CheckPoint VPN-1 UTM Edge
On March 7, Public Safety Canada's Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) released advisory AV08-023 to draw attention to a cross site scripting vulnerability in the CheckPoint VPN-1 UTM Edge Logon Page. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could provide an attacker with access to potentially sensitive information enabling additional attacks. CCIRC recommends that administrators test and apply the latest update provided by the vendor at the earliest opportunity.
(Source: Public Safety Canada, 7 March 2008)
Source article

CCIRC provides recent alerts and advisories under Recent analytical releases.

Severe winter storm in Eastern Canada
On March 10, CBC reported that the severe winter storm that brought as much as
45 centimetres of snow to Ontario and Quebec, as well as snow, freezing rain and up to
80 millimetres of rain to Atlantic Canada, has moved over the northern Atlantic Ocean. Environment Canada public weather warnings have ended in Eastern Canada. On
March 8, Montréal, Toronto and Ottawa airports reported hundreds of flight delays and cancellations. Tens of thousands of customers in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were affected by power outages, which hydro crews are currently working around the clock to repair.
(Source: CBC News, Canoe, 10 March 2008)
Source article
Source article

Air Canada provides an update on operation recovery following the weekend storm.

Canada to participate in Cyber Storm II exercise
On March 7, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. government will conduct a series of cyber war games throughout the week of March 10 to test its ability to recover from and respond to digital attacks. Code-named "Cyber Storm II", this is the largest-ever exercise designed to evaluate the abilities of information technology (IT) experts and incident response teams from 18 U.S. federal agencies and officials from nine states. Dozens of companies and government agencies from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom will also participate along with more than
40 companies, including Cisco Systems, Dow Chemical, McAfee and Microsoft. Cyber Storm II will feature mock attacks by nation states, terrorists and saboteurs against the IT and communication sectors, and the chemical, pipeline and rail transportation industries. Cyber Storm II has cost roughly US$6.2 million and has taken nearly
18 months to plan.
(Source: Washington Post, 7 March 2008)
Source article

Public Safety Canada, along with other Canadian federal departments and agencies, will participate in Cyber Storm II.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security provides a fact sheet on Cyber Storm II.

In brief

Super-sized ferry begins service in B.C.
On March 9, CBC reported that B.C.'s new super-sized ferry, the Coastal Renaissance, began service on its new regular route between Nanaimo and West Vancouver on the afternoon of March 8 with more than 400 people aboard the first trip. The ferry is 160 metres long, holds 370 cars and 1,650 passengers.
(Source: CBC News, 9 March 2008)
Source article

BC Ferries provides more information on the Coastal Renaissance.

NRCan releases report on climate change in Canada
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has released a report entitled "From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007", which reflects the advances made in understanding Canada's vulnerability to climate change during the past decade. Through a primarily regional approach, this assessment discusses current and future risks and opportunities that climate change presents to Canada.
(Source: NRCan, 7 March 2008)
Source article

Cyber risk assessment

Over the course of the past 72 hours, the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) has released advisory AV08-023: Cross Site Scripting Vulnerability in CheckPoint VPN-1 UTM Edge, which provides details on specific vulnerabilities and suggested mitigation strategies.

However, 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.

Relevant links

Below are links to sites related to Canada’s critical infrastructure.

SafeCanada.ca
Public Safety Canada

Weather warnings for Canada
Environment Canada

Hurricanes – Latest information
Environment Canada

Current Travel Health Notices
Public Health Agency of Canada

Earthquakes – Latest information
Natural Resources Canada

Food recalls and allergy alerts
Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Health advisories, warnings and recalls
Health Canada

Avian influenza – Latest information
World Health Organization

Travel Reports and Warnings
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

Hurricanes – Latest information
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Note to readers

Public Safety Canada collects information related to cyber and physical threats to, and events concerning, Canadian critical infrastructure. This allows Public Safety Canada to monitor and analyze threats and to issue alerts, advisories and other information products.

Links to sites not under the control of the Government of Canada are provided solely for the convenience of users. The Government of Canada is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content. The Government of Canada 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.

Public Safety Canada respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to ensuring that information products are available in both English and French. However, users should be aware that some links direct users to sites of organizations or other entities that are not subject to the Official Languages Act and that these sources are only available in the language in which they are written.