Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Complete DHS Daily Report for September 20, 2011
Daily Report
Top Stories
• Seventeen people were injured September 20 when part of a building and the attached scaffolding collapsed onto a city bus in the Harlem section of New York City. – New York Post (See item 20)
20. September 20, New York Post – (New York) 17 injured after scaffold collapses on city bus in Harlem. Seventeen people were injured September 20 when part of a building and the attached scaffolding collapsed onto a city bus in the Harlem section of New York City, authorities said. The 3-story building's facade, along with the scaffolding, collapsed at 9:30 a.m. on W. 125th Street near Frederick Douglass Boulevard, sending pipes, rocks, and debris crashing down, witnesses said. People became trapped underneath the rubble and had to be rescued by firefighters. There were about 30 people on the Bx15 at the time of the accident, police said. The 17 injured people were taken to St. Lukes, Cornell, and Harlem hospitals with minor injuries, said a New York City Fire Department spokesman. Police said eight people who were injured were passengers on the bus. Two police officers were among the injured after they were hurt digging through the rubble, police said. The city's department of buildings is investigating the accident. Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/harlem_least_injured_after_scaffold_JtsoNU7pNeb20ytFyyRBsK
• Four people have died and 35 people in 10 states have been sickened in an outbreak of listeria traced to Colorado cantaloupes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said September 19. – Associated Press (See item 25)
25. September 19, Associated Press – (Colorado; National) Cantaloupe deaths: Several dead from eating tainted cantaloupe linked to Colorado. Four people have died in an outbreak of listeria traced to Colorado cantaloupes, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said September 19. One death occurred in Colorado, one in Oklahoma, and two in New Mexico. The death count could soon rise to six. A spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Heath said the CDC is in the process of confirming two additional deaths linked to the outbreak in his state. The CDC said 35 people in 10 states have been sickened in the outbreak so far. The illnesses are in California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia. Colorado has the most illnesses with 12 sickened, followed by Oklahoma with six, and New Mexico with five. The illnesses have been traced to fruit from Jensen Farms in Holly, Colorado. The Food and Drug Administration said September 19 it had found listeria in samples of Jensen Farms' cantaloupe taken from a Denver-area store, and on samples taken from equipment and cantaloupe at the farm's packing facility. Tests confirmed the samples matched the strain of the disease found in those sickened. Jensen Farms recalled its Rocky Ford-brand cantaloupes the week of September 12 after the illnesses were linked to its fruit. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/cantaloupe-deaths-colorado_n_970856.html
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
16. September 20, Gaithersburg Gazette – (Maryland; Virginia) Police find $60,000 in cash, gun during search of alleged bank robber’s residence in Beltsville. Police detectives and FBI agents believe the man responsible for 13 bank robberies in Montgomery County, Maryland, and Northern Virginia may have run out of luck thanks to a call from a tipster. The 44-year-old was arrested September 16 by Montgomery County police and FBI agents at his house in Beltsville, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman said. She said officers learned about the suspect when an anonymous caller contacted police after seeing photographs of him in the news. A person matching the man's physical description was linked by police to 9 robberies in Montgomery County and 4 in Virginia from July 2, 2010, to September 6, 2011, police said. He faces seven counts each for armed robbery and the use of a handgun in the commission of a crime, according to court documents filed in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count, said the assistant state’s attorney who presided over the suspect's September 19 bond review hearing. The lawyer said during the search police found the .44-caliber revolver and several items of clothing involved in the robberies, as well as $60,000 in cash. The suspect will likely face federal charges due to the number of offenses and because several police jurisdictions were affected, said an FBI spokesman for the bureau's Baltimore field office. Source: http://www.gazette.net/article/20110920/NEWS/709209993/1022/1022/police-find-60000-in-cash-gun-during-search-of-alleged-bank&template=gazette
17. September 20, Softpedia – (Texas) 3D printers used to create ATM skimmers. ATM skimmers were printed with high-tech 3D devices by a group of fraudsters who managed to steal more than $400,000 from unsuspecting bank customers, Softpedia reported September 20. The thieves replicated credit card slots on automated teller machines. The four men indicted by a federal court in June used a 3D printer to create scanners to place on ATMs. The scam began after the gang's leader was imprisoned for ATM fraud in 2009. The group's technical expert decided to print the front of ATM slots. The accomplice who handled the “heavy lifting” was a man from Missouri City, Texas. He was in charge with mounting skimmers on the machines, making sure that the surveillance camera's were blocked. The last member of the gang had the mission of driving all around Texas, emptying the bank accounts of the victims. According to the owner of a company that handles 3D printing, costs for a high-end device that could almost flawlessly reproduce the front of an ATM can reach $20,000. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/3D-Printers-Used-to-Create-ATM-Skimmers-222574.shtml
18. September 19, KOMO 4 Seattle – (Washington) Feds: 2 men installed skimmers on Eastside ATM machines. Federal agents the week of September 12 arrested in Seattle a pair of suspects accused of running an international crime ring, KOMO 4 Seattle reported September 19. Prosecutors said the men rigged ATM machines with skimmers to record bank account data, and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars. The pair mounted skimmers on ATM machines in Bellevue, Bothell, and Kirkland, federal prosecutors said, then transferred the information onto other cards, like gift cards. One of the men appeared in federal court September 19. A judge ordered him held until trial, fearing he may try to flee the country if he is released. The second man was due in court September 20. Prosecutors said the men are part of an organized crime ring from Romania. Investigators charged four other men in late 2010 in connection with the ring. Most of the suspects had entered the United States illegally, investigators said. Source: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/130167093.html
19. September 19, Federal Bureau of Investigation – (California; Illinois; New York) Fourth defendant charged in insider trading scheme involving former Citigroup investment banker. A federal grand jury in San Francisco charged a 52-year-old Orland Park, Illinois man with conspiracy and securities fraud relating to an insider trading scheme in which he made profits in excess of $1.1 million, a U.S. attorney announced. The indictment, unsealed September 19, stems from the insider trading scheme first charged in 2009 against a former investment banker from San Carlos, California, at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in New York; the banker's brother from Walnut Creek, California; and another conspirator from Pleasanton, California. The indictment said the banker misappropriated material, non-public data about confidential corporate acquisitions, financings, and other transactions in New York, in violation of his fiduciary duty and duty of trust and confidence to Citigroup and its clients. He then tipped his brother about the confidential transactions. The brother then tipped the 52-year-old Orland Park man, who is charged with trading on the material, non-public information about securities of four publicly traded biotechnology companies from 2005 through 2007. The 52-year-old was arrested by the FBI September 9 in Illinois. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of securities fraud is 20 years and a fine of $5 million, plus restitution if appropriate. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/sanfrancisco/press-releases/2011/fourth-defendant-charged-in-insider-trading-scheme-involving-former-citigroup-investment-banker
Information Technology Sector
38. September 20, The Register – (International) Crooks push fake anti-virus via Skype calls. Scareware pushers have turned to Skype with automated messages to pressure users into buying worthless security software. The scam is promoted via unsolicited calls on Skype during which a machine-generated message warns potential victims their computer security is "out-of-date." Victims are invited to visit a Web site selling fake anti-virus software for $19.95. The robotic message states: "Attention: this is an automated computer system alert. Your computer protection service is not active. To activate computer protection, and repair your computer, go to..." Users are confronted with the alarming alert when they click on a message from an account called "URGENT NOTICE." Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/20/skype_scareware_scam/
39. September 19, Computerworld – (International) Microsoft fixes SSL 'kill switch' blooper. Microsoft re-released an update September 19 for Windows XP to correct a snafu that left users vulnerable to potential "man-in-the-middle" attacks for most of the week of September 12. The September 19 update addressed a gaffe introduced when Microsoft blocked six additional root certificates issued by DigiNotar that were cross-signed by a pair of other certificate authorities. Microsoft admitted September 19 the update it shipped to Windows XP and Server 2003 users September 13 was flawed. "The versions...for Windows XP and for Windows Server 2003 contained only the latest six digital certificates cross-signed by GTE and Entrust," said Microsoft in a revised support document. "These versions of the update did not contain the digital certificates that were included in [earlier updates]." The earlier update, delivered by Microsoft September 6, blocked five DigiNotar root certificates. "If you installed update 2616676 and had not already installed update 2607712 or update 2524375, your system would not have been protected from the use of fraudulent digital certificates," Microsoft admitted. The re-released update for XP and Server 2003 has been added to Windows Update, Microsoft said. Customers who do not have Automatic Updates enabled should manually download and install the new version of the DigiNotar blocker. Windows Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008, and Server 2008 R2 were not affected by the update goof, according to Microsoft. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9220121/Microsoft_fixes_SSL_kill_switch_blooper
40. September 19, Softpedia – (International) Google alerts spread ZeroAccess trojans. Google Alerts members who want to be informed about trojans get a lot more than they bargained for, as they receive links with real threats waiting to be accessed by unsuspecting victims. After Bing and Yahoo search engines advertised Web sites containing malware, Google is now sending customers links to virus-laden pages. A researcher from CleanBytes set up his Google Alerts account to send him updates on anything related to trojans, and September 18 he received a link that apparently came from WCBI. After clicking on it, he was directed to a place that resembled a Megaupload site. The page is a fake and if the download button is pressed, a file called 2_setup(dot)exe, that is supposed to contain a trojan anti-virus, is offered. Upon submission to VirusTotal, the results revealed a ZeroAccess trojan was masqueraded as the innocent looking file. These types of software are able to hide themselves deep in the operating system, infecting the master boot record if not stopped in time. In this case, it appears the WCBI Web site was hacked and the search results poisoned, the researcher said. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Alerts-Spread-ZeroAccess-Trojans-222426.shtml
41. September 19, threatpost – (International) New DroidDream variant has ability to fight off other malware. DroidDream, a malicious program that targets Android devices, received a major overhaul, and now contains more features for stealing data and phishing the owners of compromised Android phones and tablets, according to a Trend Micro researcher. The latest update to the DroidDream malware, which Trend labeled "ANDROIDOS_DORDRAE.N" is spreading over third party mobile application Web sites, mostly in China. Building on earlier versions of the DroidDream malware, it includes expanded data theft capabilities, allowing remote attackers to siphon off SMS messages, call logs, mobile contact lists, and information related to Google accounts that may be stored on the compromised Android device, according to Trend's research blog. Source: http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/new-droiddream-variant-has-ability-fight-other-malware-091911
Communications Sector
Nothing to report
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