Posts Tagged: emergency

Incident Response – Why Government Should Plan and Practice Its InfoSec Readiness

Does your government agency have an incident response plan? If so, how often do you review it or ideally practice it? Let’s review some of the obvious and some of the less well-known benefits of prioritizing the planning and testing of IR plans.

Ebola and the Impact on the COOP

On Monday morning I woke up to the horrible news that the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurse diagnosed with the Ebola virus over the weekend was a 2010 graduate of Texas Christian University. As a Fort Worth resident, proud TCU alum, and daughter of a recently retired nurse, the news hit home. I also hadRead… Read more »

How to respond when rumours start to spread on Facebook

‘Rumour Cascades‘, a joint study from Stanford University and Facebook, provides some fascinating insights that can serve as advice for public bodies on halting the spread of misinformation. This was first published on the Guardian website in mid May. A new study, jointly conducted by Facebook and Stanford University, has shed new light on howRead… Read more »

One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Marshaling Science in Crisis Situations

The deep knowledge of networks of science and medical researchers is invaluable when pandemics and health emergencies occur. But how do you marshal diffuse networks of expertise in a crisis? Almost 40 years ago, the Forest Service developed a command-and-control approach to battling forest fires that was successful in coordinating efforts across multiple jurisdictions andRead… Read more »

NASA, DHS Demo Victim Location Radar

NASA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday demonstrated a portable radar device intended to detect heartbeats and breathing patterns of victims trapped in large piles of rubble after a disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will also test the Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response system this year and next, NASARead… Read more »

NASA, DHS Want Radar Device to Detect Disaster Victim Heartbeats

NASA and the Department of Homeland Security are working to develop a new radar technology for helping locate victims during emergencies. The Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response device is intended to identifyheartbeats of human beings buried at several depths under rubbles of catastrophes, NASA said Tuesday. DHS’ science and technology directorate and NASA’sRead… Read more »

Recap: Why Emergency Communication Matters

Communications are never more important than when a crisis hits. Superstorm Sandy, the tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma , the Boston Marathon bombings, and others have shown us how essential it is for our government and community leaders to quickly communicate with the public during an emergency. At the same time, communication channels have changed. TechnologiesRead… Read more »