Friday, June 3, 2011
Complete DHS Daily Report for June 3, 2011
Daily Report
Top Stories
· Mount Clemens Daily Tribune reports that to prevent sewer backups, about 2.3 billion gallons of sewage was dumped into Lake St. Clair and other local waterways in Michigan due to recent heavy rains, forcing the continued closure of three local beaches. (See item 38)
38. June 1, Mount Clemens Daily Tribune – (Michigan) 2.6 billion gallons of sewage dumped into Lake St. Clair. About 2.3 billion gallons of sewage was dumped into Lake St. Clair and other local waterways in Michigan due to the recent heavy rains, forcing the continued closure of three local beaches. Metro Beach in Harrison Township and the two St. Clair Shores beaches — at Memorial Park and Blossom Heath — are off-limits because of high E. coli bacteria levels. The Macomb County Health Department is now reporting that the heavy rains which commenced May 25 on caused sewer systems to overflow in 15 different locations along the lakeshore, the Clinton River and the river’s tributaries. Of the total pollution discharged, at least 2 million gallons consisted of raw sewage. The volume of untreated sewage that was spewed into the waterways starting May 25 could rise dramatically once all the figures are in. At the George W. Kuhn Drain in Madison Heights (formerly the Twelve Towns Drain), Oakland County officials sent 1.6 billion gallons of treated sewage gushing into the Red Run Drain over a 54-hour period on May 25-27. Officials said the discharges are necessary to prevent sewer backups that would flood thousands of home basements. As of June 1, the county has experienced 3.6 billion gallons of pollution discharges in 2011. Source: http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2011/06/01/news/doc4de6c9f1a3499027023942.txt?viewmode=fullstory
· CNNMoney reports hundreds of personal Gmail accounts, including those of some senior U.S. government officials, were hacked as a result of a massive phishing scheme originating from China, Google said June 1. (See item 44)
44. June 2, CNNMoney – (International) Massive Gmail phishing attack hits top U.S. officials. Hundreds of personal Gmail accounts, including those of some senior U.S. government officials, were hacked as a result of a massive phishing scheme originating from China, Google said June 1. The account hijackings were a result of stolen passwords, likely by malware installed on victims’ computers or through victims’ responses to e-mails from malicious hackers posing as trusted sources. That type of hack is known as phishing. Gmail’s security systems themselves were not compromised, Google said. The company believes the phishing attack emanated from Jinan, China. In addition to the U.S. government personnel, other targets included South Korean government officials and federal workers of several other Asian countries, Chinese political activists, military personnel, and journalists. After the most recent cyber attack, a Chinese official insisted June 2 that his government takes the attacks seriously. A spokesman from Google declined to comment on how the company obtained the information about the most recent hack. Public information, user reports, and a third-party hacking blog called Contagio was used to determine the scope, targets, and source of the attack. Source: http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/01/technology/gmail_hack/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
17. June 2, Salem News – (Massachusetts) Man, woman sought in 7 bank robberies are nabbed in Andover. Two suspects in a string of bank robberies stretching across eastern Massachusetts were arrested outside the Eastern Bank on Main Street in Salem, Massachusetts, at 5 p.m. May 31. The two are being charged by Andover police with attempting to commit a crime. They will likely face additional state and federal charges, according to an Andover police lieutenant. One of the suspects has already admitted to police that he was involved in seven other robberies across the state — at various banks in Lynnfield, Salem, Canton, Reading, Melrose, Braintree and Everett. The arrest was the culmination of a lengthy investigation by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force and an all-day surveillance of the two suspects, police said. Source: http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1697307960/Man-woman-sought-in-7-bank-robberies-are-nabbed-in-Andover
18. June 2, Omaha World-Herald – (Nebraska) Omahans accused of Ponzi scheme. An estimated 130 investors from the Omaha, Nebraska area lost everything they put into a supposed low-risk investment plan that authorities are now describing as a Ponzi scheme with a total loss of $4.7 million. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a federal lawsuit against an Omaha attorney and two Omaha residents, alleging that they defrauded investors of their money, engaged in a Ponzi scheme and spent investors’ money on golf club memberships and trips to Europe. The federal lawsuit alleges that the three used more than $850,000 to make Ponzi-style payments in which they redirected investors’ money to other investors to meet promised returns. According to the lawsuits, from August 2005 to at least July 2008, the three ran investment pools by the names Elite Entities and MJM Enterprises. They billed the pools as low-risk but aggressive ways to trade in commodity futures contracts and off-exchange foreign currency contracts. Instead of disclosing the pools’ actual trading performance, defendants periodically provided pool participants with account statements that showed huge returns. After the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance began investigating the three, the lawsuit said, the deceit continued. The Trading Commission lawsuit contends that the three represented to the state that they had shut down Elite. The commission said they failed to inform state regulators that they had reorganized the business under the name MJM Enterprises. Source: http://www.omaha.com/article/20110602/NEWS01/706029903/0
19. June 1, KFDA 10 Amarillo – (Texas) Banking breach has hundreds scrambling to recover money. It was confirmed June 1 that thousands of dollars have been stolen from account holders with The People’s Federal Credit Union in Texas. The banking breach has many scrambling to recover their money. A ring of criminals is cleaning out the debit card accounts of hundreds of account holders, many in Amarillo, Texas. The criminals are using a computer program to generate debit card numbers. When they find a valid number, they issue a card and use it at places in other states that do not require a pin. Source: http://www.newschannel10.com/story/14822946/banking-breach-has-hundreds-scrambling-to-recover-money
20. June 1, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal – (Minnesota) MN man pleads guilty to $7M insurance scam. An Eden Prairie, Minnesota man pleaded guilty May 31 to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in a $7 million insurance scam in which he submitted false claims for his business. He faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and another 10 years for money laundering. The man was charged April 20 with defrauding Zurich North America by submitting false insurance claims for his business, Security Management Technologies. Prosecutors said the man reported lightning damage to supercomputers at his business in June 2008 and kept about $9.5 million meant for equipment replacement from the insurance company. He also kept $1.9 million for business interruption coverage that was based on a falsified tax return, according to the charges. Criminal investigators from the Internal Revenue Service seized three aircraft, a boat, three vehicles and more than $5 million from bank accounts. Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2011/06/01/mn-man-pleads-guilty-to-7m-scam.html
21. June 1, Grand Rapids Press – (Michigan; Illinois; Ohio) Saginaw woman pleads guilty in multi-state stolen check scheme. On June 1, a Saginaw, Michigan woman pleaded guilty to bank fraud in connection with a crime ring that stole purses to cash stolen checks and defraud banks in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio of at least $58,305. The government said that beginning in January, ―several male associates whose real identities were not known to‖ the woman broke into parked cars and stole checkbooks and identification, including drivers’ licenses. ―Thereafter, and at the direction of those male criminal associates, she forged high numbers of stolen checks by making them payable to other victims of the break-ins, disguised herself as those payee victims, and then used the stolen means of identification of payee victim to negotiate, or attempt to negotiate, the forged checks at banks …,‖ an assistant U.S. Attorney wrote in a plea agreement. The woman faces up to 30 years in prison when sentenced. Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/saginaw_woman_pleads_guilty_in.html
22. June 1, Wall Street Journal – (International) IMF taking steps against possible hacking threat. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken steps to combat a possible cyber attack from hacking group Anonymous Operations, a spokesman said June 1. Website Zero Hedge on June 1 had a post linking to an Anonymous Operations Twitter account that suggested hackers would target the IMF’s website in relation to the fund’s work with Greece. The IMF is one of several key negotiators trying to work with the struggling European nation as it seeks to restructure a bailout package and its debt obligations. In statements previously attributed to the group, the hacking collective has blamed the IMF and Greek government for the conditions of fund aid to the country. In a May 25 statement cited by Zero Hedge and attributed to Anonymous, the group said ―the people of Greece have been left with no other option than to take to the streets in a peaceful revolution against the economic tyrants that are the IMF.‖ Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/imf-taking-steps-against-possible-hacking-threat-2011-06-01
Information Technology
50. June 2, The Register – (International) Apple strikes back with update blocking new scareware. Apple has updated Mac OS X to detect a piece of scareware that managed to bypass its malware-blocking measures. A variant of a rogue antivirus package known as MacDefender was introduced May 31 that evaded the malware protection feature built into the latest version of the Mac operating system. The variant was introduced just hours after Apple had added a malware signature designed to stop downloads of the malicious program. The latest update is specifically designed to detect a file called mdInstall.pkg, which installs MacDefender.C. Like similarly named programs such as MacGuard, the programs get installed after Mac users are tricked into believing their machines are riddled with infections. The ruse works by presenting people surfing Google Images, Facebook, and other sites with images depicting an antivirus scan on a Mac hard drive. Inevitably, the scan falsely claims that the users’ machines are compromised and urges the rogue antivirus package be installed immediately. Apple added the MacDefender definitions May 31, following widely scattered evidence that the social engineering attacks were achieving their intended result. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/02/apple_mac_scareware_updte/
51. June 1, IDG News Service – (International) Facebook video scam puts malware on Mac and Windows. Facebook seems unable to stop scammers from circulating malicious Web links that install fake antivirus software on victims’ computers. The scam was spotted May 31 by antivirus vendor Sophos. At that time the criminals behind it were luring victims into installing the software by offering links purportedly to a video of the disgraced former International Monetary Fund Managing Director and a hotel maid. The scam switched June 1 and the link was supposed to be an X-rated video of two female celebrities. In both cases there is no such video. People who click on the link are sent to a Web site that tries to install the fake antivirus software. The scam is slightly different, depending on whether the victim is using a Mac or a PC. On the PC, the site tells victims that they need to install the latest version of Adobe Flash Player to watch the video. But the software they install is actually the fake antivirus program. On the Mac, there is a pop-up window that looks like a security warning. When victims click to ―fix‖ the security problems, they end up installing the fake software. The same type of software, MacGuard or MacDefender, has recently been plaguing Mac users. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217229/Facebook_video_scam_puts_malware_on_Mac_and_Windows
52. June 1, Help Net Security – (International) Auto-dialing trojans migrate to Android devices. Auto-dialing malware has migrated from Symbian devices to Android ones, warns NetQin Mobile researchers. The trojan has been spotted embedded in over 20 Android applications offered for download on various online forums, including Donkey Jump, Jungle Monkey, Gold Miner, Voice SMS, Drag Racing, and others. Once one of these applications is installed, the trojan prompts the user to upgrade the app. The ―upgrade‖ installs the trojan and prompts the user to restart the application, which formally activates the trojan. The goal of the trojan is to steal users’ private information and send it to a remote server, and to dial or send text messages to predetermined numbers, which results in higher monthly bills for the users. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1739
For another story, see item 44 above in Top Stories
Communications Sector
53. June 1, Fargo Forum – (North Dakota) WDAY TV, AM radio equipment damaged. After Memorial Day storms brought station programming to a halt for WDAY TV and WDAY-AM 970 radio, engineers are assessing damage. WDAY Channel 6 news went down May 30, and when a generator could not keep the equipment cool enough, programming was shut down. While regular programming resumed May 31, Xcel Energy restored power to the station about 4:50 p.m. Although there was no direct damage to the building or the station, the WDAY operations manager said the temperature will take its toll on the equipment. Even though no permanent damage was sustained to the news station, storms damaged all three WDAY-AM 970 radio towers. Source: http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/321817/group/News/
54. June 1, WRBL 3 Columbus – (Georgia) West Point conference call building evacuated, about 37 reported sick. The Senior Vice President of Global Operations for InterCall said the building located on O.G. Skinner Drive has been shut down after chemicals used to clean the building made at least 37 people sick in West Point, Georgia. He said the walls of the building were cleaned June 1 through June 2. When the 3rd shift employees came on some of them reported to be nauseous or have a headache. A West Point Police Chief was on scene of the evacuation. He said about 20 to 35 people so far have been transported to the hospital. Source: http://www2.wrbl.com/news/2011/jun/01/west-point-conference-call-building-evacuated-abou-ar-1914260/
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