A comment is longer than the petition for animal cruelty investigations
Www.oeisdigitalinvestigator.com:
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has, since last Sept. 2, been considering a 14-page petition from Animal Partisan requesting that it issue a notice to convey that:
1) State government officials are not categorically preempted from enforcing state anti-cruelty laws by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and
2) FSIS personnel should cooperate with state government officials in the enforcement of state anti-cruelty laws and improve clarity and frequency of communication (i.e., Letters of Concern (“LOC”)) to those officials.
The petition also requests that FSIS incorporate these points into the language of all relevant materials, including future LOCs and the following directives:
• Humane Handling and Slaughter of Livestock, FSIS Directive 6900.2;
• Verification of Good Commercial Practices, FSIS Directive 6110.1; and
• District Veterinary Medical Specialist (DVMS) – Work Methods, FSIS Directive 6910.1.
Since it was submitted, the Animal Partisan petition has received significant comments that are almost entirely favorable. These have included submissions by the Veterinary Association for Farm Animal Welfare, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Animal Welfare Institute;’ Animal Outlook, the Animal Welfare Institute, and others.
The petition, under review at the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development, has now received a comment that, at 16 pages, is longer than Animal Partisan’s filing.
The extended comment from The Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic (FAAC ) was submitted on behalf of the Animal Kind Alliance (AKA).
The FAAC comments support Animal Partisan’s Petition #23-07, requesting Notice Clarifying the Limits of Federal Preemption, and FSIS’ Role in the Enforcement of State Anti-Cruelty Laws. It’s comment begins with:
“The Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic (FAAC) submits this letter on behalf of Animal Kind Alliance (AKA), an organization deeply committed to advocating for the humane treatment of farmed animals and the implementation of sustainable agriculture practices.
“To that end, AKA works to reduce animal agriculture’s impacts on the climate crisis by dismantling the cruel production and processing practices underlying this industry’s climate impact. It is incumbent upon us, as responsible stewards of the environment and its inhabitants, to amplify farmed animals’ voices and fight against any injustices they may face, including animal cruelty committed at slaughterhouses. Therefore, we support Animal Partisan’s petition #23-07.”
Further down is this:
“It is an open, long-observed secret that “animal cruelty is the price we pay for cheap meat,” as Rolling Stone Magazine reported over a decade ago. Despite having had this knowledge since at least the time of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, animal cruelty remains rampant in the slaughter industry. And still, animal cruelty charges are rarely levied against those in the business of slaughter. Throughout the past several decades, there have only been a handful of cases involving animal cruelty at slaughterhouses.”
Finally, its closing comment:
“FSIS should grant the Petition and issue a notice that conveys that the FMIA, HMSA, and the PPIA do not categorically or automatically preempt the enforcement of state anti-cruelty laws and that FSIS personnel will endeavor to cooperate with state government officials in the enforcement of state anti-cruelty laws. Clarifying jurisdictional boundaries, working collaboratively, and empowering states to address animal cruelty is paramount for protecting animals, humans, and the environment.”
The Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic is based in South Royalton, VT.
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The vitality sector has emerged as an increasingly extra inclined target for cyberattacks, with a rising need of high-profile circumstances around the globe within the previous couple of years.
Because the realm gradually transitions to renewable energy, the photo voltaic trade is additionally within the firing line. It’s estimated that photo voltaic shall be the one largest provide of vitality by 2030, so whereas there were no critical attacks on PV technology but, that is also increasingly extra tempting to risk actors. The enviornment shares the identical vulnerabilities because the broader vitality sector and a few piquant disorders that paddle away it at risk.
Main trade physique SolarPower Europe not too prolonged ago printed a paper [1] highlighting the dangers and calling for additional photo voltaic-convey security strategies to mitigate the hurt. Within the UK, concerns were raised about security threats emerging with the switch towards green vitality.
Right here we focus on the most most likely paths of attack on PV technology, the affect of a excessive incident, and what the trade can secure to harden its defences in opposition to a rising risk.
What are the leading cyber threats going via PV?
Vitality generation and distribution are highly inclined to disruptive attacks corresponding to ransomware attributable to the dire penalties of a excessive outage. This places the field within the sights of both criminal gangs having a look to extort funds and nation-convey actors having a look to sow discord. The ransomware group BlackCat has been all for a string of incidents including vitality seller Encevo and the German vitality agency.
Industry heads and political leaders alike enjoy additionally reported an increasing need of attacks for the reason that outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war [2].
While some groups are motivated by corporate espionage, aiming to interrupt into the machine and take precious IP, most perpetrators purpose to ship standard disruption, affecting a enormous need of alternative folks with impacted provide and/or prolonged blackouts.
As such, attacks on PV technology will nearly certainly be on a utility-scale level. While residential installations are extra inclined, their highly distributed nature manner any attack will enjoy a decrease affect on the characteristic of the overall grid.
The distributed nature of utility-scale PV additionally makes it a aesthetic target. A PV grid will on the total involve a elevated need of smaller net sites that enjoy minute bodily security, when when put next with a single centralised extinct energy generation plant. Breaching one inverter will doubtlessly enable an attacker to “swim upstream” and attain other inverters and even separate companies on the identical community.
Alongside maximising the affect of their strike, risk groups will additionally purpose to search out the direction of least resistance into their target machine. Methods as enormous and complex as vitality infrastructure are naturally rife with lost sight of weaknesses that shall be exploited for ready machine access. Unpatched tool vulnerabilities and gaps in access controls are readily exploited by risk actors.
“Breaching one inverter will doubtlessly enable an attacker to ‘swim upstream’ and attain other inverters and even separate companies on the identical community”
The heavy reliance on cyber-bodily methods (CPS) is one other predominant security scenario. operational technology (OT) methods that reduction a watch on the bodily environment are increasingly extra interconnected with extinct IT networks.
While this has enabled several advantages in automation and much away connectivity, it additionally exposes excessive resources to cyber threats they weren’t designed for. Extra, long-established security instruments are generally ever neatly suited with OT methods, leading to gaps in security processes and blind spots in risk monitoring.
Why inverters are a top target
The inverter is with out doubt one of many predominant targets for attackers exploiting CPS. A most modern exclaim by the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) on sustainability and resilience in photo voltaic highlighted the inverter as a predominant cyber target, labelling it “the heart and brain of the PV machine” [3].
With most excessive functions for the machine being managed from the inverter, it’s a precedence target for malicious actors having a look to wreak havoc with unauthorised shutdown or discharge instructions that can interrupt provide.
As with many other aspects of the energy grid, the most attention-grabbing scenario in securing inverters is that they’ve been around for fairly a in point of fact prolonged time and were on the total not within the inspiration designed with sturdy cybersecurity in thoughts.
The trade has gone via fleet digitalisation in most modern years, ensuing in excessive methods being linked to the cloud that weren’t designed to withstand attacks originating online.
These model of methods lack total cybersecurity controls and blindly be conscious the instructions despatched to them with out confirming that the sender is licensed.
Inverters are a key target for doable attackers. Image: BayWa r.e.
Furthermore, it’s authentic to search out inverters the employ of either very total VPN encryption or simply lacking encryption altogether. As such, malicious actors are ready to breach the plant’s VPN machine and ought to most likely build ready access to every inverter on the community.
How risk actors secure their attacks
For the entire piquant factors in PV infrastructure, an attack on the photo voltaic grid will most likely initiate with the identical authentic ways seen in most incidents. Attackers will on the total purpose to make employ of stolen particular person credentials to access the community – Verizon’s annual Files Breach Investigations Account (DBIR) stumbled on that stolen credentials were gathered the most authentic blueprint of executing a breach in 2023 [4].
Until there are effective identity and access controls in set up apart, simply possessing the correct username/password mixture will on the total be adequate to grant a risk actor paunchy machine access.
Spear phishing is with out doubt one of many most efficient methods for harvesting these credentials. Posing as a relied on contact corresponding to IT enhance or an decent machine inquire of asking to substantiate login critical aspects are some of the most authentic ways. Threat actors will either starting up a phishing marketing campaign themselves, or secure cred units stolen by other criminal groups over the dark net.
Once particular person credentials were received, the attacker will inquire of to bag higher their access rights and enact lateral motion via the community to attain excessive methods and data. Once more, if there are outdated access controls and monitoring capabilities in set up apart, there’s a factual chance they’re going to be ready to switch via the machine undetected at this point.
How attacks can lead to disruption and blackouts
With access unlocked, the most articulate direction to disrupting the grid is to simply send a shutdown dispute the employ of the native protocols of the inverter. To in actual fact pour the tension on the target, the attacker could presumably presumably well today be conscious this up with a ransomware attack.
SCADA methods, engineering workstations, human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and ICS historians associated to the machine could presumably presumably well be some of the readiest targets right here, ensuing in a regular machine lockdown that grinds operations to a terminate.
To in actual fact maximise the hurt, we on the total scrutinize this model of attack accompanied with wiper instructions that could presumably presumably well bag it very complex, doubtlessly not doable, to remotely restore methods from backups. This could presumably presumably cause impacts corresponding to interrupted energy presents to lift noteworthy beyond regular time to fix. Threat actors backed by nation states shall be aiming for as noteworthy disruption as conceivable, whereas criminal groups will inquire of so as to add extra tension to bag higher the potentialities of the victim paying their ransom question.
The globalised nature of the PV provide chain is one other doable risk ingredient. Basically the most modern exclaim from the ESMC highlights Europe’s over-reliance on Chinese language manufactured PV inverters and other ingredients as a doable outdated hyperlink, with an estimated 80% of all at the moment put in inverters within the EU being made in China.
On account of China’s Nationwide Intelligence Products and companies Laws, organisations and voters are required to construct any assistance required by the convey—doubtlessly including elegant data and machine access. The ESMC speculates that in a worst-case scenario of escalated global tensions, the Chinese language authorities could presumably presumably doubtlessly orchestrate mass blackouts via Chinese language-equipped inverters. The exclaim recommends prioritising Europe-made infrastructure to diminish the risk.
Defence starts with working out
While the complexities of PV infrastructure bag it inviting to valid in opposition to cyber threats, there are several steps that operators can lift to spice up their resilience in opposition to attack and mitigate the affect on their provide.
The 1st step is to enjoy a sturdy inventory of your entire community environment. There needs to be an good overview of all resources, how they join and the blueprint they are accessed. Without this data, it is not doable to successfully switch forward with security controls. On account of the true fact long-established IT and security instruments are generally ever neatly suited with OT methods, a paunchy inventory requires specialist solutions constructed explicitly for interfacing with CPS and OT resources.
Once a paunchy and good inventory has been achieved, it shall be leveraged to perceive the predominant risk exposures. This data will reduction to structure and prioritise security efforts to present protection to the most excessive resources first.
This could presumably presumably reduction to facilitate an exposure administration strategy, discovering aspects where the machine is uncovered to exterior threats, or where interior resources shall be exploited in an attack. Once more, this needs to accommodate the bodily facet of the PV infrastructure and yarn for a technique it connects to digital methods that in turn shall be accessed online.
Coping with vulnerabilities and machine access are fundamental
Correct patch administration is with out doubt one of many most fundamental but on the total lost sight of priorities. Over 21,000 excessive vulnerabilities were reported this year alone [5], and security and IT groups will must enjoy a take care of on that are the most excessive disorders in need of pressing patching. The patching conception must additionally yarn for bodily methods that enjoy not essentially been designed with security in thoughts.
Gaining firm reduction a watch on of machine access needs to be high on the agenda. This contains deploying a veteran a long way away access solution designed for CPS environments so that most attention-grabbing licensed people could presumably presumably access the machine remotely. Alongside this, identity and access reduction a watch on measures are critical.
Following a least privilege ability will bag particular licensed customers most attention-grabbing enjoy access to methods that are critical for his or her jobs.
Crucially, these controls must veil the aspects where IT and OT sinful over. This interconnectivity on the total ends up being a blind characteristic that offers risk actors the opportunity to evade security controls.
It’s additionally critical to enjoy risk detection and monitoring instruments that are constructed namely for CPS. This could presumably presumably enable security groups to construct visibility of any doable risk train and reply quick sooner than an attack can escalate, even supposing attackers are exploiting the complexity of the CPS environment.
Within the slay, it’s critical to enjoy a sturdy backup in set up apart. A machine’s restore functionality needs to be generally tested to bag particular it’s up to the project of getting the lights reduction on quick in a disaster. As licensed, cybercriminals will on the total inquire of to encrypt or wipe backups within the event that they will access them. As such, backups ought to ideally be safely offsite or in every other case disconnected from the predominant methods to support them out of hurt’s blueprint.
Survey out frameworks to manual the protection roadmap
With the daunting dimension and scope of a entire strategy, PV operators ought to additionally inquire of to be conscious standards and frameworks that are applicable of their set up apart. This could presumably presumably reduction to construct extra structure to train.
As licensed by the SolarPower Europe exclaim [1], there’s at the moment a shortage of frameworks designed namely with PV technology in thoughts. Within the period in-between, broader vitality frameworks will take care of most PV security disorders successfully. Ideally, these frameworks needs to be seen as a baseline for security, and PV operators ought to lift a proactive stance in additional making improvements to their defences.
For firms operating within the EU, the drawing shut NIS2 directive [6] contains the broader vitality sector as a excessive trade, requiring necessary controls centred on risk evaluation and visibility. The European Price EC has additionally printed steering on vitality security [7], as has the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Company (CISA) within the US [8].
Making ready for a adverse future
Taking a look forward, heightened global tensions and emboldened criminal gangs indicate that the vitality sector is decided to remain highly inclined to cyberattacks. As photo voltaic continues to develop in prominence and scale, that is also increasingly extra uncovered to malicious actors.
We’re additionally seeing fleet shifts in technology that are additional complicating the risk panorama. The fleet tempo of AI is with out doubt one of many most influential trends, with risk actors the employ of the technology to automate both their social engineering attacks on personnel and digital attacks on infrastructure.
Operators will ought to be increasingly extra on guard about spear phishing and bag particular personnel are knowledgeable to recognise the most authentic methods.
Equally, security groups will must switch even quicker to characteristic and terminate extra automated attacks. The factual data is that AI is additionally assisting with quicker and further good security solutions.
While the complexities of CPS-heavy infrastructure indicate PV technology is a scenario to valid, the risk shall be mitigated with a entire strategy tailored to its piquant wants. Combining long-established IT security measures love patching and access controls with specialist OT security will reduction scrutinize off attackers intent on striking out the lights.
William Noto is the vice president, trade main at Claroty where he specialises in OT and cyber bodily machine (CPS) security, alongside edge computing, IIOT, ICS and renewables. He is an experienced govt with a demonstrated be conscious yarn spanning product marketing, product administration, sales, tool enhance and technology structure.
It be now not irregular that people can sense when something’s irascible with their household participants. Even if a girl loves romantic gestures from her partner, if they strategy out of nowhere so without observe, it would lead to suspicion. Here is what took living to a particular person on Reddit, who eventually figured out the rationale for her husband’s irregular behavior, left him, nevertheless later faced a predicament.
Private investigator for cheating spouse: Here is her anecdote.
My (25f) husband (30m) has been performing if truth be told irregular lately, staying out unhurried with none explanation, leaving if truth be told early, and giving random pricey items without a obvious reason. I’m now not naive, and I set up two and two collectively and realized he became cheating.
I factor in, I will never create over which I paid by my precedent employer, nevertheless I became irascible, world is so clear to trust a examine out their fate. nevertheless now I’m making $52/h worthy extra,and without anxiety create minimal $1300/week, on the skills every person should always try to realize work on-line, easy solution to create, here’s an instance. 𝐰𝐰𝐰.Richnow05
I failed to want to birth up taking a gaze by his cell phone and his assets or stalking his social media or any of that, so I sat on the couch and waited for him to strategy dwelling. As soon as he bought dwelling, I requested him to sit down down down and requested him if he became cheating. He became factual and told me he became, apologized, and mentioned it intended nothing, and it wouldn’t happen again.
Truthfully, I cannot trust him, and without trust, a relationship cannot survive, so I went upstairs, packed my things, and he chased after me asking me to terminate and give him a likelihood. I factual carried out packing and left.
This became three days ago, and since I left, I feel been bombarded with texts, emails, and voicemails asking how I’d scramble away without even searching for to kind things and that if I ever loved him, I’d want to trust and war by this, and that every couple goes by laborious times.
I’m if truth be told conflicted, as on one hand he became my first absorb and I feel now not factual misplaced those emotions overnight, nevertheless on the more than a number of hand, he broke my trust and in the end, he could now not ever create that attend.
Private investigator for cheating spouse: Other folks in the comments thunder her that she has made the upright dedication.
Quiz him this. How could he cheat without “even searching for to kind things”? If he “ever loved” you, he wouldn’t trust cheated. “Every couple goes by laborious times”…but in a single diagram you managed to trust faithful. ChaosAside / Reddit
You intention now not owe him anything anymore; he broke your trust, the “sacred” recount. For of us that feel it’s over, and likewise you should’t trust him, then that is the diagram it’s. Focal point on yourself. loreyat_FTW / Reddit
Merely query of him, “Why must smooth I war for a cheater?” He disqualified himself the second he decided to sleep with one other lady. There’s nothing to war for. He made determined of that. Block him and trust your peace, girl. Lizzy_the_Cat / Reddit
He had satisfactory time to strategy neat with you. As an different, he cheated so long as you confronted him. Couples war by obnoxious times, nevertheless he failed to handle any considerations and decided to cheat. He is gaslighting you, and he tries to decrease his cheating. Repeat him if he loved you, he would now not cheat. Duration. Crawl away, divorce and salvage satisfied again. Consistent-Studio129 / Reddit
Why must smooth you are making an strive to repair this? He broke his vows. He decided to cheat on you. He selected to realize what he did, and he destroyed the marriage. NmlsFool / Reddit
In the attend of the appearance of a ideal relationship, a devastating betrayal lurked, breaking her heart and shattering her world. Here is the anecdote of a lady who bravely faced heartbreak, deceit, and the difficulties of an unplanned pregnancy.
DETROIT (AP) — Amazon’s self-driving robotaxi unit is being investigated by the U.S. government’s highway safety agency after two of its vehicles braked suddenly and were rear-ended by motorcyclists.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents posted on its website Monday it will evaluate the automated driving system developed by Zoox.
Both crashes involved Toyota Highlander SUVs with autonomous driving technology. They happened during daytime hours, and the agency confirmed that each of the Amazon vehicles was operating in autonomous mode leading up to the crashes. In one crash a motorcyclist suffered minor injuries, and a Zoox driver reported minor injuries in the other, according to reports. Both happened last month, one in San Francisco and the other in Spring Valley, Nevada.
The agency said the probe will focus on the performance of the company’s automated driving system during the crashes, as well as how it behaves in crosswalks around pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.
In a statement, Zoox said it is committed to working with NHTSA to answer its questions. “Transparency and collaboration with regulators is of utmost importance,” the company said. Zoox said the vehicles had human safety drivers on board.
Zoox reported the crashes under an order to automated vehicle companies issued in 2021.
Amazon acquired Zoox in June of 2020 for a price that analysts pegged at over $1 billion. In 2023 the Foster City, California, company said one of its funky-looking four-person shuttles autonomously carried employees on public roads on a mile-long (1.6 kilometer) route between two Zoox buildings.
The company has launched a shuttle service exclusively for its employees. Analysts say they expect Amazon to use the Zoox system for autonomous deliveries.
Zoox shuttles don’t have a steering wheel or pedals. The carriage-style interior of the vehicle has two benches that face each other. It measures just under 12 feet (3.7 meters) long, about a foot (a third of a meter) shorter than a standard Mini Cooper. It is capable of going up to 75 mph (121 kilometers per hour), although it started running on public roads at up to 35 mph, the company said.
Zoox already was under investigation by NHTSA. In March of 2022 the agency began looking into the company’s certification that its vehicle met federal safety standards for motor vehicles.
The agency said at the time that it would look into whether Zoox used its own test procedures to determine that certain federal standards weren’t applicable because of the robotaxi’s unique configuration.
