Titan recently attended the City of Chicago Holiday Safety Meeting at City Hall and would like to pass along the following information:

• Department of Homeland Security
  • Stay alert of tactics being used overseas as they could occur here as well
  • Simple attack tactics are the most used; including, active shooter, edged weapons, vehicle ramming and to a lesser extent explosives
  • Infrastructures with open access to the public are at the highest risk
    • Entrances and exit points that may become a choke hold can be considered high risk
  • Posting of signage that indicates what is now allowed in an area, prior to entering, will help to make lines move quicker
• Federal Bureau of Investigations
  • The FBI can assist with Special Event Threat Assessment
  • Homegrown Violent Extremist (HVE’s) are attracted to events and areas with large crowds
  • The FBI has the Guardian Program, which is a funnel for terrorism or criminal activity
    • It is operational 24/7, they share that information with Law Enforcement agencies, private industry as required and Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) operations
• City of Chicago Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT)
  • In 2017 there were 53,308 incidents of cyber-attacks
    • This number is up 26.7% from 2016
    • 57.5% increase of these attacks during the holiday season
  • The main concern is Phishing and Vishing
    • Phishing is the fraudulent act of attempting to gain personal information by disguising as a known trustworthy entity
    • Vishing is similar only it is done over the telephone, someone attempts to talk you into giving them your personal information
  • Suggestions to keep your data safe
    • Disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when not in use
    • Change passwords regularly
    • Don’t have your password at home and work be the same, they should be separate
    • Always protect your password information
• Crime Prevention Information Center (CPIC)
  •  CP3 is Chicago’s Public and  Private Partnership where the private sector can list important building information
    • Responding emergency units will have access to this secure portal, this helps them understand layouts of buildings, storage areas and building contact information 
    • First make sure that you are listed and secondly, that the information is current 
  • Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) 
    • Speed of reporting is crucial, the new model is See Something Say Something… Immediately
    • Fusion Centers share this information looking at trends and are able to gather, analyze and share findings
    • Identifying concerns starts with each of us; We are the subject matter experts in our own environments
    • Be alert and share your concerns
    • If you are unsure of what a SAR is Melissa Stratton from OEMC can provide help