DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Friday, June 8, 2007

Daily Highlights

The Oregonian reports the Bonneville Power Administration's massive electrical substation near the Columbia River has been sabotaged by metal thieves; two Bonneville Power facilities have been hit in the past week. (See item 4)
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The Associated Press reports a South Carolina man was charged Wednesday, June 6, with threatening to poison the capital city's water system using chemicals he had illegally buried in his back yard. (See item 18)
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WBRC reports Birmingham and Trussville, Alabama, water customers were notified on Wednesday, June 6, of mandatory water restrictions taking effect in response to the continued drought as Birmingham Water Works moves to its Stage Three water conservation plan. (See item 19)·

Information Technology and Telecommunications Sector

31. June 06, Reuters — IBM to buy Watchfire security software firm. IBM said on Wednesday, June 6, it will buy privately held security and compliance testing software company Watchfire Corp. for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, IBM said in a statement. IBM said Watchfire's technology would be combined with IBM's Rational software products, which let users conduct performance tests while developing software. Top technology companies including Microsoft Corp., Cisco Systems Inc. and Google Inc. have been acquiring security companies to protect customers from malicious software attacks and spam mail.
Source: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2142284,00.asp

32. June 06, IDG News Service — Google acquires server software company PeakStream. Google on Tuesday, June 5, acquired PeakStream, a developer of software for multicore and parallel processors, the company said. PeakStream's Website was not available following the acquisition. A version of its product page cached on Google's Website described it as the first commercial software product to allow programming of multicore and parallel processors, allowing optimization of these increasingly prevalent chipsets.
Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/06/06/Google−acquires−Pe akstream_1.html

33. June 06, InformationWeek — Critical bugs discovered in Yahoo Messenger. Yahoo is working on a patch for critical Yahoo Messenger vulnerabilities that could enable a remote hacker to take control of a user's system. "We recently learned of a buffer overflow security issue in an ActiveX control," a Yahoo spokesperson said in an e−mail to InformationWeek. "This control is part of the code for Web cam image upload and viewing. Upon learning of this issue, we began working towards a resolution and expect to have a fix shortly."
Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articl eID=199901856

34. June 06, Agence France Presse — Hoax text message spreads tsunami terror in Indonesia. Thousands of people fled their homes in panic on the Indonesian coast after hoax text messages spread warning them that a tsunami will hit the region, journalists and officials said Wednesday, June 6. "The possibility is that a tsunami may take place on June 7," said part of a short telephone text message (SMS) that is widely circulating in various coastal areas of Nusa Tenggara province, local journalists said. A check of several coastal districts in the province showed that thousands had left their homes on the coast in at least three districts to flee to higher grounds since Tuesday, they said. The regional meteorology and geophysics office said that the SMS warning did not come from their office. "Earthquakes and tsunami cannot be predicted and we have not issued such warning," office head Rivai Marulak told AFP.
Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070606101917.31jf2ey b&show_article=1