Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Friday, June 12, 2009

Complete DHS Daily Report for June 12, 2009

Daily Report

Top Stories

 According to the Meridian Star, an excavation crew digging a trench to lay in a natural gas pipeline found on Wednesday about 20 unexploded bombs in Clarke County, Mississippi. (See item 2)


2. June 11, Meridian Star – (Mississippi) Bombs uncovered during pipeline excavation. An Oklahoma excavation crew digging a trench to lay in a natural gas pipeline were surprised Wednesday morning when they found about 20 unexploded bombs in Clarke County, Mississippi. County Emergency Management Agency authorities and officials from the Clarke County Sheriff’s Department were called to the scene as were bomb squads from the Mississippi Department of Homeland Security in Jackson and Camp Shelby south of Hattiesburg. “During World War II about 60 families were displaced from 10,000 acres here to make room for a training and bombing range,” the sheriff said Wednesday afternoon. “Apparently the work crews here have found ordinance left over from some of those training exercises.” No one has been hurt, and none of the white phosphorous bombs detonated when they were uncovered with a back hoe. Source: http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/south/view/2009_06_11_Bombs_uncovered_during_pipeline_excavation/srvc=home&position=recent


 CNN reports that the World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying H1N1 has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic. (See item 23)


23. June 11, CNN – (International) Swine flu ‘not stoppable,’ World Health Organization says. The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying H1N1 has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic. Increasing the alert to Level 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said. As of Wednesday evening, the virus had spread to 72 countries, the health agency said. There were 25,288 confirmed cases and 139 deaths. The United States had 13,217 cases and 27 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on June 5. Also Thursday, authorities in Hong Kong ordered the closure of all elementary schools; kindergartens and day care centers in the city after 12 students were found to be infected with the virus. Authorities have not determined the source of the infection, said Hong Kong’s chief executive. This makes it the first cluster of swine flu cases in the city without a link to someone who had traveled overseas. Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/11/swine.flu.who/index.html


Details

Banking and Finance Sector

12. June 10, Dow Jones Newswire – (New York) Adviser Weitzman arrested in more than $6m fraud. An investment adviser surrendered to federal authorities on June 10 to face charges he misappropriated more than $6 million in client funds. According to a criminal complaint unsealed on June 10, the defendant, a former principal of AFW Asset Management Inc., has been charged with investment-adviser fraud, six counts of securities fraud and six counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors have alleged the defendant, between 2005 and March 2009, misappropriated millions of dollars in client funds, lied to investors about how their money was invested and improperly converted investor funds to his own use. The government claims the defendant advised clients to sell securities or sold securities on their behalf under false pretenses in order to take the proceeds for himself six times between October 2007 and January 2008. According to the complaint, about $7.3 million was deposited into an AFW account between July 2005 and March 2009 in which the defendant had sole signatory authority. More than $6.6 million was withdrawn from that account, including more than $3.89 million to the personal checking account of the defendant and his wife, prosecutors said. Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090610-709638.html


13. June 10, Bloomberg – (New York) Citigroup begins $58 billion conversion of shares. Citigroup Inc. began swapping $58 billion of preferred stock into common, a deal that will make the U.S. government the bank’s largest shareholder and close a shortfall in common equity found in stress tests last month. A portion of the Treasury’s $25 billion of preferred stock will be converted to common, the company said on June 10 in a statement, giving the government a 34 percent stake in the New York-based bank. Citigroup will also exchange as much as $33 billion of preferred securities not held by the government. Citigroup is counting on the transaction to replenish an equity base eroded by $27.7 billion of losses last year. The bank said in April it would delay the swap until government stress tests were completed. Those results came last month. It was also held up as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman questioned the company’s leadership, people familiar with the matter said. More than 17 billion shares may be issued to the government and other preferred holders, diluting existing stockholders by about 76 percent. The deal is set to expire July 24, and distribution would be made on July 30. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aV.hnNFzkEFo


Information Technology


33. June 11, VNUNet.com – (International) Security firm warns of new Mac malware. Security firm Sophos has reported seeing two new pieces of malware for Apple Mac computers. The first is a worm known as Tored-Fam, which spreads via email attachments and is simply a variant on the well known Tored family of malware that has been in circulation since last year. The worm collects email addresses and attempts to forward itself to other computers. A Sophos analysis of the worm’s source code suggests that it is being used to build a Mac botnet known as Raedbot. This is being assembled by a malware writer called ‘Ag_Raed,’ who is based in Tunisia. The second piece of malware is a Trojan called Jahlav-C, which is embedded in a bogus pornography Web site. Jahlav-C masquerades as an Active X video codec that needs to be downloaded in order to run the content. Source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2243917/two-pieces-mac-malware-surface


34. June 10, NextGov – (National) Cybersecurity tops priorities for DHS’ research and development arm. The Homeland Security Department’s science and technology office plans to triple spending on cybersecurity research and development, the acting Undersecretary told Congress on June 9, with most of the additional funds in the U.S. President’s fiscal 2010 budget request focusing on new ways to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure, including transportation and the electric grid. The Directorate for Science and Technology, which is the primary research and development arm of DHS, requested $968 million for fiscal 2010, a 3.8 percent increase over the previous year’s enacted budget. Of the $35 million in additional funds requested, DHS would earmark $5.4 million for cybersecurity, the Directorate’s acting Undersecretary told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism. The Undersecretary said cybersecurity would gain a 300 percent funding increase, compared with fiscal 2009, for the development of “leap-ahead technologies” that secure the nation’s computer networks and information infrastructure, including energy,transportation, telecommunications, and banking and finance. Source: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090610_3239.php

Communications Sector

35. June 10, Gallop Independent and Associated Press – (New Mexico) Qwest loses fiber-optic line, leaves area without communications. Emergency 911 services as well as Internet and long-distance phone service were knocked out in much of west-central NeMexico on June 9 when the driver of a tractor-trailer failed to clear an aerial fiber optic cable. Residents in the Gallup area lost the ability to make long-distance phone calls forseveral hours on June 9, as well as Internet service. Cell phone coverage was spotty untiservices returned. The outage affected local ATMs and all local businesses, including Safeway that accept EBT benefit payments, which are governed from an office in Albuquerque. The New Mexico Department of Public Safety spokesman said emergenccalls for all of Cibola and McKinley counties and part of Catron County were being rerouted with the help of other counties and ham radio operators. The spokesman said everything but local phone service was knocked out when the cable east of Grants was damaged. Emergency 911 calls were routed to Albuquerque and Valencia County, which then contacted authorities in Gallup using local numbers. The McKinley County Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management installed an Emergency Management Operations Center at Metro Dispatch. Officers with New Mexico State Police, Gallup Police Department, Gallup Fire Department and EMS gathered at the EOC in order to ensure communications between departments. Source: http://www.gallupindependent.com/2009/06June/061009incommunicado.html


36. June 10, Associated Press – (National) Friday is final curtain for analog TV signals. The last major TV stations that are still broadcasting in analog will turn those signals ofon June 12 and go all digital. The original February 17 deadline for the shutdown was delayed by the Presidential Administration after funding ran out for $40 coupons the government offered to help people buy converter boxes for old TVs. Now officials say the country is much better prepared than in February, though they still expect some viewers to be confused. About 3.1 million U.S. homes were unprepared to receive digital signals as of late May, according to the Nielsen Co. That is half the number that were unprepared in February, and the number will probably decline further by June 12, as procrastinators get around to replacing old TVs or hooking them up to converter boxes or cable or satellite service. Some people may believe the analog shutdown will be put off once again. But the U.S. President debunked that with a statement last week: “I want to be clear: There will not be another delay.” Because digital signals are more efficient than the analog TV broadcasts that have been on the air for six decades, the transition will make room in the airwaves for wireless Internet and emergency communications services. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4Aw5-Oq5nP5BrNdeQ3RKwvIbyPQD98ND3380