Couple dies while ice fishing in Upstate NY; sheriff warns anglers to beware of thin ice

Loch Sheldrake, N.Y. — A couple went ice fishing Monday in the Catskills hours before a winter snowstorm was set to hit.

When the storm finally struck, the couple’s daughter could not reach them, deputies said. So the worried woman — who lives in New York City — called the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, deputies said, and asked for help.

The call from the concerned daughter sparked an extensive search that ended with a tragic discovery: The couple was found dead in a pond near their ice fishing gear, deputies said.

Viktor Nikitin, 63, and Svetlana Nikitin, 70, were found submerged Tuesday in 10 feet of water in a pond between Loch Sheldrake and Woodbourne, deputies said.

The search for the Loch Sheldrake couple began around 8:15 p.m. Monday when Fallsburg police officers stopped by the Nikitins’ Foxcroft Village residence, deputies said. When Fallsburg police discovered the couple wasn’t home, the sheriff’s office launched an “extensive” search of the area, deputies said.

Nikitins’ daughter told deputies her parents likely set out to go ice fishing around 1 p.m. Monday, deputies said. So the sheriff’s office headed out into the winter storm to check lakes and ponds throughout Sullivan County in search of the missing couple.

Around 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, a deputy found the Nikitins’ SUV close to a pond on Hutrat Road off Route 52, deputies said. But the only sign of the couple was ice fishing tip-ups on the pond.

Thin ice prevented the Loch Sheldrake Fire Department from immediately venturing out onto the pond, deputies said. Rescuers had to wait until sunrise, when the Sullivan County Bureau of Fire brought the equipment needed for the search.

Using a drone, the sheriff’s office spotted an area of open water on the pond near the ice fishing tip-ups, deputies said. New York State Police divers then ventured into the pond and found Viktor and Svetlana Nikitin dead in the water about 100 feet from the shore, deputies said.

An autopsy will officially determine how the couple died.

Sullivan County Sheriff Mike Schiff reminded anglers and other outdoor adventurers to beware of thin ice.

“We have had a stretch of warm weather and the ice on our lakes and ponds is not that thick,” he said. “Use extreme caution and always let someone know where you are going.

Russian hackers exploit six-year-old Cisco flaw to target US government agencies

APT28, a state-sponsored hacking group operated by Russian military intelligence, is exploiting a six-year-old vulnerability in Cisco routers to deploy malware and carry out surveillance, according to the U.S. and U.K. governments.

In a joint advisory issued on Tuesday, U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA along with the FBI, the NSA and the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Center detail how the Russia-backed hackers exploited Cisco router vulnerabilities throughout 2021 with the aim of targeting European organizations and U.S. government institutions. The advisory said the hackers also hacked “approximately 250 Ukrainian victims,” which the agencies did not name.

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, is known for carrying out a range of cyberattacks, espionage and hack-and-leak information operations on behalf of the Russian government.

According to the joint advisory, the hackers exploited a remotely exploitable vulnerability patched by Cisco in 2017 to deploy a custom-built malware dubbed “Jaguar Tooth,” which is designed to infect unpatched routers.

To install the malware, the threat actors scan for internet-facing Cisco routers using a default or easy-to-guess SNMP community string.

SNMP, or Simple Network Management Protocol, allows network administrators to remotely access and configure routers in place of a username or password, but can also be misused to obtain sensitive network information.

Once installed, the malware exfiltrates information from the router and provides stealthy backdoor access to the device, the agencies said.

Matt Olney, director of threat intelligence at Cisco Talos, said in a blog post this campaign is an example of “a much broader trend of sophisticated adversaries targeting networking infrastructure to advance espionage objectives or pre-position for future destructive activity.”

“Cisco is deeply concerned by an increase in the rate of high-sophistication attacks on network infrastructure — that we have observed and have seen corroborated by numerous reports issued by various intelligence organizations — indicating state-sponsored actors are targeting routers and firewalls globally,” Olney said.

Olney added that in addition to Russia, China has also been spotted attacking network equipment in several campaigns.

Earlier this year, Mandiant reported that Chinese state-backed attackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Fortinet devices to carry out a series of attacks on government organizations.

South Florida counties gear up for stinky seaweed season

Sargassum making its annual voyage to South Florida’s shorelines, threatening tourism and coastal ecosystem.

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Large patches of what will become stinky shoreline seaweed, stretching from the west coast of Africa to just off the southern cost of Cuba, are making their way to South Florida and local leaders are getting ready.

Local 10 News Photojournalist Curt Calhoon recently spotted sargassum, surface floating patches of brown micro algae, off the deck of a ship cruising through the Caribbean.

Brian Barnes is one of the University of South Florida researchers tracking a bloom via satellite.

“We call it the great Atlantic sargassum belt,” Barnes said. “They range in size from a handful to a square mile.”

In the ocean, it serves as a floating nursery for a variety of marine species.

The problem happens when it comes on shore. If not cleaned up properly, it can shade out corals and sea grass and create near-shore dead zones as it decays.

“It uses up all of the oxygen in the area and you can get a dead zone,” said Barnes. “As it decays, it can fall in the weather column and straight smother those ecosystems.”

As it starts to decompose, the sargassum releases hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs.

“Some people with asthma may have some respiratory issues, but not the broader population,” said Barnes.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the county will gear up as needed.

“We have a contract in place with a company that is removing sargassum from some of the hot spots,” she said.

Researchers who have been tracking the steady annual increase in sargassum say there are a variety of factors at play regarding why the naturally occurring micro algae is blooming patches upwards of a square mile in size, from warming seas to oceans rich in nutrients like human sewage and fertilizer run-offs from the world’s rivers into the sea.

“Definitely we are on alert and making sure there should be an increase — our current cost is $3.9 million per year for the contract,” said Levine Cava. “We do have requests for support from state and federal sources, so we are gearing up to bring attention to the fact that we do need help.”

Sargassum season typically runs from May to October, the same window as sea turtle nesting season.

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South Florida counties gear up for stinky seaweed season
Sargassum making its annual voyage to South Florida’s shorelines, threatening tourism and coastal ecosystem
South Florida coastal counties preparing for stinky seaweed season

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MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Large patches of what will become stinky shoreline seaweed, stretching from the west coast of Africa to just off the southern cost of Cuba, are making their way to South Florida and local leaders are getting ready.