Call for Volunteers

The Red Cross needs volunteers with system administration, network engineering and information security (infosec) expertise to assist in the design and implementation of a network of Internet kiosks. These kiosks will be deployed to all of the Red Cross shelters to be used be people displaced by the hurricane and flooding to report that they are alive and to try to contact others.

The Red Cross will be requiring a great deal of help to stand up the infrastructure as well as to actively safeguard it from eventual infection attempts from bots, worms, viruses, spyware and other sorts of malware.

Once we have accurate point-of-contact (POC) information for the Red Cross for this, we will post it in the ISC diary so folks can contact the Red Cross directly. In the meantime, if you are interested in helping the Red Cross in this challenge, please submit your contact information and availability to the Internet Storm Center here and we will pass your information on to the Red Cross. Please provide your name, location, phone number where you can be reached, and an email address. Also, a short list or summary of the skills you can provide.

SANS and the ISC would like to encourage folks with GIAC certifications and a desire to volunteer to help out the Red Cross with this effort. Even if this specific method of assistance is not feasible for you, any way in which you can assist the Red Cross, either nationally or in your local chapter, or perhaps assist another charitable organization such as the Salvation Army or local organizations, would be greatly appreciated at this time.

For more information about this technical challenge the Red Cross is facing, please see this article from the Washington Post.

One other request - the Shared Resources High Frequency Radio Program (SHARES) at the US Department of Homeland Security is looking for assistance from the amateur radio community to assist in running SHARES stations. According to a note from SHARES, "...we always can use more SHARES operators in additon to the 1,200 we already have in our databases. We definitely could use more SHARES stations directly in the affected area, such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, etc. Have them at key places, such as EOCs, refugee camps, logistic centers are all smart ideas." Contact information for those able to assist is at http://www.ncs.gov/n3/shares/contact.html

Red Cross Associated Sites

The Red Cross has posted a list of official cash donation sites for businesses and organizations affiliated with the Red Cross. This list is not all-inclusive but can be used as a starting point.

Katrina Related Fraud Continues

We continue to see more and more new web sites popping up proclaiming to be a charitable organization who is collecting donations for folks affected by Katrina. While there are some valid new sites out there, by far the majority of these continue to be nefarious in nature, setup by folks just out to make a quick buck.

If you wish to make a donation of cash or materials to help folks impacted by Katrina, I would recommend you provide your donations to an older, established organization and not to one formed in the last week. While there are valid new charities out there, they are quite possibly just learning how to deal with the distribution of the donations. An established organization should already have procedures, contacts and experience for dealing with the distribution of donations.

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David Goldsmith
dgoldsmith at sans.org