ZeroFox Physical Security Intelligence Daily Brief - October 13, 2024

ZeroFox Physical Security Intelligence Daily Brief - October 13, 2024

ZeroFox physical security experts collect, curate, and analyze information derived from open and proprietary sources for comprehensive context of the circumstances surrounding global events. Here is today’s daily roundup of major developments.

Brief Highlights

• Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall on Florida
• China Retaliates to EV Tariffs with Anti-Dumping Rules on Brandy Imports
• UK Intelligence Warns of Growing Sabotage, Assassination, and Terror Threats From Iran, Russia, and Islamic State

Hurricane Milton Makes Landfall on Florida

Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida's west coast, causing around 15 deadly tornadoes, home destruction, and power outages to nearly 2 million customers. The storm, which dropped to a Category-1 storm, caused over a dozen deaths and dropped over 18 inches of rain, marking a 1-in-1000-year rainfall event. A flash flood emergency was in effect for Tampa Bay, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. The life-threatening risk of storm surges, flash flooding, torrential rain, and destructive winds has led to one of the largest ever evacuation efforts in the state. Disaster-response teams removed tons of storm debris left behind by Hurricane Helene, which could otherwise cause tremendous damage on being made airborne by Hurricane Milton. Over 30 Waffle Houses in the path of the hurricane are closed; this is significant considering the “Waffle House Index”—which is an informal metric historically used by local disaster-response teams to determine localized impact of a disaster and allocate supplies and help accordingly.

China Retaliates to EV Tariffs with Anti-Dumping Rules on Brandy Imports

On October 8, 2024, China’s Commerce Ministry reversed an earlier decision to cancel tariffs on brandy imported from the European Union (EU) despite finding it had been sold in China below market prices. Instead, China announced anti-dumping tariffs, and from October 11, 2024, importers will have to provide a security deposit to Chinese customs when importing relevant brandies originating in the EU. China’s anti-dumping measures came days after the EU announced hefty tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs). Most imported brandy comes from France, and France was one of the EU states that supported the EV tariffs. Further strategic EU products are likely to be targeted in the near future.

UK Intelligence Warns of Growing Sabotage, Assassination, and Terror Threats From Iran, Russia, and Islamic State

On October 8, 2024, MI5 director general Ken McCallum said the United Kingdom is facing a growing threat from criminal and terror groups linked to Russia, Iran, and the Islamic State (IS). Russia has been accused of staging acts of sabotage across Europe, particularly targeting supporters of Ukraine or Russian opponents. This includes violent attacks on politicians, harassment, sabotage of critical infrastructure, and assassination attempts on dissidents. Iran is reportedly adopting similar tactics against Israeli and Jewish people across Europe, mainly by hiring assassins or kidnappers. McCallum also said the United Kingdom has disrupted thousands of IS plots since 2017. While some of those may have been orchestrated attacks, most are likely lone actors inspired by IS propaganda or events in the Israel-Hamas war to carry out small-scale attacks like knife attacks on public gatherings or vehicular assaults.