During the week of August 10-16, 2020, the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities was one of 38 partners in Iowa and 3452 partners nationwide that participated in OSHA’s Safe and Sound Campaign. This annual event is held to raise safety awareness among employees and to encourage every workplace to develop and implement a safety and health program. A safety and health program is a proactive way to manage hazards in the workplace to prevent illnesses and injuries and includes management leadership, worker participation, and a systematic approach to finding and fixing hazards.

Click here for more information on the Safe + Sound 2020 Year in Review

Join IAMU for a fun-filled day on one of Iowa’s great golf courses.

Event Date: Monday, June 28, 2021
Location: Pleasant Valley Golf Course
Iowa City, Iowa

https://pleasantvalleyic.com/

Registration and Sponsorship Opportunities coming soon.

For More Info: Contact Steve Marsh at 515.289.1999 or email smarsh@iamu.org.

From Kansas Municipal Utilities - KMU Dispatch - December 22nd, 2020

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is aware of compromises of U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure entities, and private sector organizations and issued an alert. CISA said that it is aware of active exploitation of a vulnerability in versions of the SolarWinds Orion Platform software, and the agency expects that removing this threat actor from compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging for organizations.

CISA, which falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is encouraging affected organizations to read advisories from SolarWinds (https://www.solarwinds.com/securityadvisory) and FireEye (https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/12/evasive-attacker-leverages-solarwinds-supply-chain-compromises-with-sunburst-backdoor.html) for more information. FireEye is a cybersecurity firm.

In its security advisory, SolarWinds said it was made aware that its systems “experienced a highly sophisticated, manual supply chain attack” on SolarWinds Orion Platform software builds. In the security advisory, SolarWinds offers several steps for parties to take related to use of the SolarWinds Orion Platform.

Meanwhile, DHS on Dec. 13 said that the relevant SolarWinds Orion products are currently being exploited by malicious actors. This tactic permits an attacker to gain access to network traffic management systems, DHS said. Disconnecting affected devices is the only known mitigation measure currently available, it said.

“CISA understands that the vendor is working to provide updated software patches. However, agencies must wait until CISA provides further guidance before using any forthcoming patches to reinstall the SolarWinds Orion software in their enterprise,” DHS said.

Utilities using the SolarWinds Orion platform software should follow the guidance from CISA as additional information becomes available. More information is available from CISA at: https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-352a