Faith-Based Daily Awareness Post 10 December 2024

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.

Resolve to be Resilient in 2025: Region 8 Ready for New Year

From DHS’ Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Region 8 website.

It’s been a busy year across all six states of Region 8. As we close out 2024, check our five tips for building resilience in 2025:

1. 1. Shop safely! It’s Holiday Shoppingseason and then weeks of happy returns. Update your devices, know your sources, strengthen your passwords, and check your bank statements to stay a step ahead of bad actors and fraud.
   2. Plan Ahead. At CISA, we lean into the future, helping you harden your defenses and build resiliencethrough simple steps: identifying critical systems and dependencies; assessing risk; developing and testing plans; and facilitating adaptability. 
   3. Thank an Election Worker.#Protect2024 went smoothly, thanks to state and local election officials and all the volunteers who served as poll workers. CISA continues to support our state and local partners for election security before, during and after each election.
   4. Be Cyber-savvy.Bookmark our cyber advisories alert page and subscribe to our notifications to stay current with pertinent cybersecurity information for your home and office, systems, and staff.
   5. Add Region 8 to your team!Together we can #beresilient. What we all do counts. If you don’t know where to start at home or at work, contact us at Region 8!

Analyst Comments:

While the above tips are aimed at CISA Region 8, most of the information can be used by communities of faith any region. Region 8 consists of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Those involved with cyber and physical security can find their region at CISA Regions website. Links to each region are also provided. Each region’s website explains their operations and provides contact information.

Protective Security Advisors (PSA) operate out of regional offices. “PSAs are trained subject matter experts in critical infrastructure protection and vulnerability mitigation. They facilitate local field activities in coordination with other Department of Homeland Security offices. They also advise and assist state, local, and private sector officials and critical infrastructure facility owners and operators.” 

Faith-Based Organizations should consider utilizing the assistance provided by regional CISA Regional Offices and PSAs.

Weekly Security Sprint EP 92. CEO attack, disrupted attacks, and cybersecurity warnings

The Gate 15 Security Sprint is a weekly rundown of the week’s notable all-hazards security news, risks and threats and some of the key focus areas for organizations to consider behind the headlines. Gate 15 team members discuss physical security, cybersecurity, natural hazards, health threats and other issues across our environment.

In this week’s Security Sprint, Dave and Andy covered the following topics:

• UHC Assassination
• Faith-Based Threats

• • Terror attack on Bavarian Christmas market foiled by police
  • Man in van filled with explosives, guns intended to attack a North Texas church, report states
  • Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists Shooting:
    • 2 kindergarteners wounded and gunman dead after shooting at California religious school
    • BREAKING NEWS: Active Shooter at Christian School in California
    • ‘Unconscionable’: Pastor with close ties to Feather River Adventist reacts to school shooting
  • Five-Eyes security and law enforcement agencies release joint authored analysis of youth radicalization & PDF analysis.

• Six password takeaways from the updated NIST cybersecurity framework.

The above Gate 15 Weekly Security Sprint website also provides links to many security-related items of interest.

Information on other Gate 15 podcasts can be found at Podcasts (gate15.global).

Additional Holiday Scam Items:

• Graphika Report – Holiday Hoaxes Unwrapped: Fake Trees, Freebies, & Shopping Sprees Scammers Orchestrate Cross-Internet Campaigns to Deceive and Defraud Holiday Shoppers of Their Money and Personal Information. PDF.
• Meta Launches Global Anti-Scam Awareness Campaign Ahead Of The Holiday Season
• Meta: How to Avoid Scams Online This Holiday Season