08/03/22
Critical Infrastructure Daily Brief
Statewide Terrorism & Intelligence Center
Critical Infrastructure Daily Brief
**UNCLASSIFIED **
(U) STIC is providing this information to our partner agencies for situational awareness. This document contains information obtained from open source information. While STIC has gone to great lengths to verify the information found in open source documents on the internet, this information may not be accurate.
Situational Awareness
At least one man was killed and 21 other people wounded in shootings in Chicago over the weekend.
A 17-year-old boy was arrested while another intruder got away after reports of an armed individual at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland put the base on lockdown Sunday night. The teen had a gun and is in police custody. A second person got away on foot and wasn’t found, according to a statement from the base. After searching for hours Sunday night, investigators said the second individual is thought to be somewhere off the base, and the main gate for the base opened around 3 a.m. Officials told WTOP that there was no active shooter or any shots fired. The breach occurred at 9 p.m. after a vehicle failed to obey security commands at the main gate, according to a statement.
Russia announced yet another limited cease-fire and the establishment of safe corridors to allow civilians to flee some besieged Ukrainian cities Monday. But the evacuation routes led mostly to Russia and its ally Belarus, drawing withering criticism from Ukraine and others. Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of resorting to “medieval siege” tactics in places, and in one of the most desperate of the encircled cities, the southern port of Mariupol, there were no immediate signs of an evacuation. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces continued to pummel some cities with rockets even after the announcement of corridors, and fierce fighting raged in places, indicating there would be no wider cessation of hostilities. Efforts to set up safe passage for civilians over the weekend fell apart amid continued shelling. But the Russian Defense Ministry announced a new push Monday, saying civilians would be allowed to leave the capital of Kyiv, Mariupol and the cities of Kharkiv and Sumy. The two sides met for a third round of talks Monday, according to Russian state media, though hopes for any breakthrough were dim. The countries’ foreign ministers are also scheduled to meet in Turkey on Thursday, according to that country’s top diplomat.
- Russia Reveals Harsh Demands for Ending War; Ukraine Calls Evacuation Routes ‘Unacceptable’
- Russians Seize Control of Staff at Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, Cut Off Communications
Cybersecurity
Mozilla has released Firefox 97.0.2, Firefox ESR 91.6.1, Firefox for Android 97.3.0, and Focus 97.3.0 to fix two critical zero-day vulnerabilities actively exploited in attacks. Both zero-day vulnerabilities are "Use-after-free" bugs, which is when a program tries to use memory that has been previously cleared. When threat actors exploit this type of bug, it can cause the program to crash while at the same time allowing commands to be executed on the device without permission. These bugs are critical because they could allow a remote attacker to execute almost any command, including the downloading of malware to provide further access to the device.
The list of companies choosing to suspend operations in Russia continues to grow amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Netflix among the latest to join that list. Last week, the streaming service said it was pausing all future projects and acquisitions in Russia. But now the company is taking an additional step and is shutting down its service in the country entirely. "Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia," a Netflix spokesperson told ZDNet. Meanwhile, TikTok has announced that it will be suspending any livestreaming and new content on its video service "in light of Russia's new 'fake news' law". According to the Moscow Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law on Friday that bans what the country calls "fake" news about the military. This law will target any statements referring to the invasion of Ukraine as an "invasion", any attempt to discredit the armed forces, or calls for sanctions on Russia. Those found to be spreading so-called fake news could face up to 15 years in prison. "TikTok is an outlet for creativity and entertainment that can provide a source of relief and human connection during a time of war when people are facing immense tragedy and isolation. However, the safety of our employees and our users remain our highest priority," the company announced in a tweet. TikTok's in-app messaging service will not be affected, the company assured. "We will continue to evaluate the evolving circumstances in Russia to determine when we might fully resume our services with safety as our top priority," TikTok added. Mastercard and Visa also announced on Saturday they were suspending operations in Russia. Both had already blocked multiple financial institutions from using their respective payment networks as directed by regulators globally. Under these latest steps, cards issued by Russian banks are no longer supported by the Mastercard or Visa networks. Plus, any Mastercard or Visa issued outside of the country will not work at Russian merchants or ATMs. "We are compelled to act following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed," Visa chairman and CEO Al Kelly said in a statement. "We regret the impact this will have on our valued colleagues, and on the clients, partners, merchants and cardholders we serve in Russia. This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values." Further, DXC said it will be exiting Russia completely.
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