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Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post

Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 08 December 2023

Faith-Based Security Headlines

These updates are shared to help raise the situational awareness of Faith-Based organizations to best defend against and mitigate the impacts from all-hazards threats including physical security, cybersecurity, and natural disasters. 

Massachusetts Town Meeting Interrupted By Antisemitic Zoombombing By ‘Goyim Defense League’ Members

From the Stop Antisemitism report:

A local town meeting was interrupted by a hateful outburst on Tuesday when someone reportedly shouted an antisemitic slur, displayed a swastika on their Zoom screen and appeared to give a Nazi salute, according to police who are investigating.

The town of Winthrop said it’s actively reviewing its public meeting videoconferencing procedures and policies following the Zoom incident.

Analyst Comments:

Zooming and other methods of online meetings continue to be the norm for governments and other organizations, including Faith-Based Organizations (FBO). Zoombombing continues to be an issue. FBOs should consider ensuring that they are taking all necessary safeguards to protect their online meetings.

The Zoom Safety Center recommends:

  • Waiting Room

The Waiting Room is your virtual bouncer, letting you decide who’s allowed into your meetings. Meeting hosts can also add a video for participants to view while they wait for the host to allow them into the meeting.

  • Approve or block entry from specific regions/countries

Hosts can “geofence” access to their meetings to block unexpected participants joining from VPNs or from outside of their geographical area.

  • Suspend Participant Activities

Hosts can instantly suspend all participant activity, which disables audio, video, chat, annotation, and renaming, and hides participant profile pictures. It allows the host to quickly identify, eject, and report the offender so the meeting can resume.

The safety center also provides other recommendations and their own Zoom Security Basics training. 

Also, on 05 September, FB-ISAO issued an alert on Recent Incidents of Zoombombing. A copy of a 2020 FB-ISAO PSA: The Zoom Effect was attached to the alert.

More Faith-Based Stories

NY: Albany Police: Man fired shotgun outside Temple Israel and Who Is Mufid Alkhader? Albany Synagogue Shooting Suspect

WA: Juvenile allegedly assaulted at Tukwila church housing asylum seekers

Driver crashes pickup truck into 3 people at Christmas parade in California, alcohol probed as factor: report. The driver is a 72 year old man and this seems to have been accidental.

Over 25 Schools And 9 Jewish Centers Victims Of Swatting Threats In Minnesota and Threats against schools, Jewish facilities in Minnesota part of swatting attempt, BCA says

Jewish After-School Center In Pennsylvania Vandalized With “Free Palestine” Graffiti

Man arrested for series of church burglaries in Southeast DC, police say

Anti-Jewish ‘Goyim Defense League’ Propaganda Litters Montana Town Ahead Of Hanukkah Celebrations

Pro-Israel Yard Sign In Massachusetts Neighborhood Defaced With Antisemitic Rhetoric

PA: Hummus products vandalized with labels deeming them ‘contaminated with Zionism’

Menorahs in Brooklyn Stolen and Vandalized, NYPD Investigating as Hate Crime

MD: Menorah vandalized outside Olney synagogue hours before Hanukkah celebrations set to begin

California Coffee Shop Issues Apology After Staff Block Jewish Woman From Filming Antisemitic Graffiti

ADL: Anti-Muslim Hate Surfaces Nationwide as Israel-Hamas War Continues

Major donor calls on UPenn president to resign for disastrous testimony on antisemitism, threatening $100 million gift and ‘The lack of moral clarity is unacceptable’: Emhoff joins criticism of university presidents

NH pastor dies by suicide after being fired over child sexual abuse allegations

Democrats urge tech companies to contain abortion misinformation

Today, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the addition of three People’s Republic of China (PRC)-based companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List. Will be posted later on UFLPA Entity List | Homeland Security (dhs.gov).

Netherlands: Massive Fire Engulfs Church In Overschie, Rotterdam 2

UK Met Police: Keeping you safe during Hanukkah

East London Mosque evacuated as ‘bomb threat’ sees police flood Tower Hamlets street

France: Terror threat prompts heavy security but won’t dim Lyon’s lights festival

Radical Hindu group plotting protest against tribal Christians on Christmas Day

Global Antisemitic Incidents In the Wake of Hamas’ War on Israel

Select All-Hazards Stories

Woman arrested after trying to burn down Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home in Atlanta — stopped by off-duty NYPD officers and MLK house vandalism: Woman tried pouring gasoline on childhood home

UNLV mass shooter mailed ‘white powder’ to 22 university scholars before rampage, carried list of targets

“PUBLIC SAFETY CRISIS”: NEW YORK FIRST RESPONDERS, OFFICIAL TESTIFY TO STRAIN ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT RESOURCES CAUSED BY BORDER CRISIS and “EVERY STATE IS NOW A BORDER STATE”: HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE HEARS TESTIMONY FROM COLLEAGUES ON IMPACTS OF THE BORDER CRISIS

US police agencies took intelligence directly from IDF, leaked files show and BlueLeaks trove

Lawmakers nix proposal to create military cyber intelligence capability and Congress axes independent cyber force study

GAO – West Bank and Gaza Aid: USAID Generally Ensured Compliance with Anti-terrorism Policies and Addressed Instances of Noncompliance

Police cancel ultranationalist march in Jerusalem, saying terms were violated

Police Clash With Far-right Jewish Nationalists During Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa March in Jerusalem

Germany: AfD in Saxony classified as ‘extremist’

Strong Cold Front Continues Crossing the Central and Eastern States into the Weekend National Weather Service

Massive weekend storm to pummel eastern US with heavy rain, damaging winds, snow

MrAnon Stealer Spreads via Email with Fake Hotel Booking PDF

Russian influence and cyber operations adapt for long haul and exploit war fatigue and Russian Threat Actors Dig In, Prepare to Seize on War Fatigue”

Wordfence Intelligence Weekly WordPress Vulnerability Report (November 27, 2023 to December 3, 2023)

WordPress fixes POP chain exposing websites to RCE attacks

Apple Report: 2.6 billion personal records compromised by data breaches in past two years — underscoring need for end‑to‑end encryption

Top threats, attacker trends and malware from the past year and The malware, attacker trends and more that shaped the threat landscape in 2023

You versus adversaries: How to become unbeatable in 20 cybersecurity moves (Part 1)

Apple says it is not aware anyone using Lockdown Mode got hacked

Chrome Beta for Android Update

Chrome Beta for Desktop Update

Chrome Beta for iOS Update

More Security-focused Content

Read a report detailing attacks on Faith-Based organizations following the Dobbs ruling.
Read the October 2023 Threat Level Statement Update
Access all-hazards resources from public and private sector partners, curated by the FB-ISAO team.

The FB-ISAO’s sponsor Gate 15 publishes a free daily newsletter called the SUN. Curated from their open source intelligence collection process, the SUN informs leaders and analysts with the critical news of the day and provides a holistic look at the current global, all-hazards threat environment. Ahead of the daily news cycle, the SUN allows current situational awareness into the topics that will impact your organization. To sign-up for The SUN, please sign up below.

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