Tuesday, July 24, 2012


Daily Report

Top Stories

  A civilian employee working aboard the USS Miami submarine in Kittery, Maine, was charged with setting a fire that heavily damaged the vessel in May and a second near it in June, Navy investigators said. – Associated Press

7. July 23, Associated Press – (Maine) Civilian worker charged with setting both fires aboard, near submarine in Maine shipyard. Navy investigators said a civilian employee working as a painter and sandblaster aboard the USS Miami submarine at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, was charged with setting a fire that heavily damaged the vessel in May and a second near it in June. In a complaint filed July 23 in federal court in Maine, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service said the man was charged with two counts of arson involving the submarine. The submarine has been in dry dock for an overhaul at the shipyard. Court documents indicate the man was assigned to do paint stripping in the torpedo room. He first denied involvement in the fires, then later admitted involvement. He was scheduled for a court appearance July 23. Estimates put the damage to the submarine at $400 million. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/civilian-worker-charged-with-setting-both-fires-aboard-near-submarine-in-maine-shipyard/2012/07/23/gJQAfBgO4W_story.html

 A third bomb threat targeted the Ambassador Bridge July 21, according to a call made to the FBI. The FBI did not treat the threat as credible and determined it was not necessary to close down the bridge. – Windsor Star

12. July 22, Windsor Star – (Michigan; International) Third bomb threat at Ambassador Bridge. A third bomb threat hit the Ambassador Bridge July 21. Windsor, Ontario police said they were notified by customs officials that the call was made to the FBI. The phone number was the same one that called in a bomb threat for the Ambassador Bridge July 18. “The call was received by the FBI. Same as last time,” said a Windsor police staff sergeant. The FBI did not treat the threat as credible and determined it was not necessary to close down the bridge. This was the seventh bomb threat to hit the Windsor-Detroit area in just over a week. Threats were made at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, the Cobo Center, Comerica Park, the new site of The Windsor Star in downtown Windsor, and two others at the Ambassador Bridge. Source: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/07/22/third-bomb-threat-at-ambassador-bridge/

 Cargill Beef recalled almost 30,000 pounds of ground beef July 22. The meat may be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) and associated with an ongoing multiple State outbreak of SE. – Food Safety News

13. July 23, Food Safety News – (National) Cargill recalls fresh beef after 7-State Salmonella outbreak sickens 33. July 22, Cargill Beef recalled almost 30,000 pounds of 85 percent lean, fresh, ground beef, produced by the company in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, May 25. The meat may be contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) associated with an ongoing multiple State outbreak of SE. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said it became aware of the the problem “during the course of an ongoing investigation of a multi-State outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis involving 33 case-patients from 7 states (MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VA, and VT.)” Hannaford Stores in those States were named as a retail outlet for that meat by the FSIS. Cargill contacted its customers to ensure they know which of their ground beef products were affected by this recall. Source: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/07/cargill-recalls-30000-pounds-of-fresh-ground-beef/

 Demonstrators stormed a police department in Orange County, California, July 22 to protest an officer-involved shooting that left an unarmed man dead and led to a violent clash between witnesses and police. – Associated Press

31. July 23, Associated Press – (California) Demonstrators protest California police shooting. Demonstrators stormed a police department in Orange County, California, July 22 to protest an officer-involved shooting that left an unarmed man dead and led to a violent clash between witnesses and police. A crowd swarmed the Anaheim Police headquarters’ lobby as the chief held a news conference to discuss what happened the night before. The protesters chanted as officers stood by and watched. The chief said two officers were placed on paid leave after one of them fatally shot a man. The shooting sparked a melee in the neighborhood as some threw rocks and bottles at officers who were securing the scene for investigators to collect evidence. The department’s spokesman said that as officers detained an instigator, the crowd advanced on officers so they fired bean bags and pepper balls at them. Throughout the night, police in multiple marked and unmarked squad cars attempted to control an unruly crowd gathered near the shooting scene, the Orange County Register reported. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/demonstrators-protest-california-police-shooting-220720596.html

 The man accused of going on a shooting rampage that killed 12 people at a movie premiere appeared in court in Colorado July 23. According to police, his apartment was filled with trip wires, explosive devices, and unknown liquids. – Associated Press

42. July 23, Associated Press – (Colorado) Colo. shooting suspect appears in court dazed, silent. A man accused of going on a shooting rampage at a movie premiere July 20 appeared in court in Colorado July 23. The incident left 12 people dead and 58 others injured. The suspect is expected to be formally charged July 30. He is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, and he could also face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations. Police said the suspect began buying guns at Denver-area stores nearly 2 months before the July 20 shooting and that he received at least 50 packages in 4 months at his home and at school. He recently bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition over the Internet, the Aurora police chief said. The suspect’s semiautomatic assault rifle jammed during the attack, forcing him to switch to another gun with less firepower, a federal law enforcement official told the Associated Press. A 100-round ammunition drum was found in the theater, but officials said they did not know whether it jammed or emptied. The suspect’s apartment was filled with trip wires, explosive devices, and unknown liquids. Police, FBI officials, and bomb squad technicians evacuated the surrounding buildings and spent most of July 21 disabling the booby traps. Officials at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus were looking into whether the man used his position in a graduate program to collect hazardous materials. Source: http://www.delawareonline.com/viewart/20120723/NEWS01/120723011/Colo-shooting-suspect-appears-court-dazed-silent

Details

Banking and Finance Sector

8. July 22, Bloomberg News – (National) Ex-BofA executive indicted for fraud in municipal bond probe. A former Bank of America executive was indicted for allegedly participating in what prosecutors said was a “far-reaching conspiracy” to defraud municipal bond investments through bid rigging, Bloomberg reported July 22. The former head of Bank of America’s municipal derivatives desk was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, wire fraud, and conspiracy to make false entries in bank records. Bank of America, which self-reported the illegal activity, has been cooperating for more than 4 years with Justice Department prosecutors who said bankers paid kickbacks to CDR Financial Products to rig bids on investment contracts sold to local governments. From 1998 until 2006, the former executive allegedly conspired with CDR Financial Products to increase the number of and profitability of investment agreements and municipal finance contracts that went to the bank, according to the indictment. He won auctions for the investment contracts after other banks submitted intentionally losing bids, the government said. He then disguised kickbacks to CDR as fees on unrelated transactions. So far, 13 individuals from banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Co., and UBS AG pleaded guilty in the Justice Department’s investigation. Bank of America, JPMorgan, UBS, Wells Fargo and Co., and General Electric Co. paid more than $700 million in restitution and penalties. Source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Ex-BofA-Executive-Indicted-for-Fraud-in-Municipal-3723794.php

9. July 20, Redding Record Searchlight – (California; Nevada) Three plead guilty to federal securities fraud in Redding-based investment scheme. Three people pleaded guilty in federal court July 20 to securities fraud in an investment scheme that was based in Shasta County, California, and cost investors approximately $36.2 million. The defendants were indicted August 22, 2007, for a fraud scheme that involved life settlement insurance contracts or viaticals. From 2001 until 2006, two of the conspirators misrepresented and omitted information when selling the life settlement insurance contracts to investors. The pair told investors the investments were safe, secure, and risk-free, and investors were guaranteed high rates of return. As a result of their fraud, investors lost at least $18.4 million. Also according to court documents, between 2001 and 2004, another conspirator sold bonds that purportedly guaranteed investors would not lose their money. However, the bonding company he ran was a shell company and the bonds were not legitimate. None of the bonds were honored. As a result of his fraud, investors lost at least $17.8 million. Source: http://www.redding.com/news/2012/jul/20/three-plead-guilty-to-federal-securities-fraud/

Information Technology Sector

35. July 21, IDG News Service – (International) Dropbox says no evidence of hack in investigation of spam. Dropbox’s ongoing investigation into a possible security breach did not produce any evidence its systems were infiltrated, according to an update to the company’s user forum July 20. “As of today, we’ve found no intrusions into our internal systems and no unauthorized activity in Dropbox accounts,” said the update. Users on the forum indicated they did not receive any further spam July 20. Source: http://www.macworld.com/article/1167796/dropbox_says_no_evidence_of_hack_in_investigation_of_spam.html

36. July 20, IDG News Service – (International) Pinterest locks some user accounts due to spam outbreak. Pinterest locked an undisclosed number of user accounts as a result of a spam outbreak, the company confirmed in an email July 20. The accounts, which “were associated with a specific piece of spam,” may have been compromised, Pinterest acknowledged. However, the company blamed recent leaks of user login credentials from other Web sites, rather than a data breach of its own. The most public recent incidents of leaked credentials involved LinkedIn and Yahoo. Approximately 6.5 million encrypted LinkedIn account passwords were posted online in early June, and 450,000 log-in credentials from Yahoo and other companies were exposed the week of June 16. July 10, Pinterest began posting advice to users in its help forum about reinstating locked accounts, which was first reported on TechCrunch. July 16, Pinterest asked users whose accounts were locked to respond to a survey. The survey was later removed. The LLSocial blog noted it did not include questions about LinkedIn or Yahoo accounts. Rather, it asked about email, Facebook, and Twitter accounts and third-party Pinterest applications, according to LLSocial. However, Pinterest appears to have received the answers it needed. The company was working on re-activating the accounts in question, it said. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229416/Pinterest_locks_some_user_accounts_due_to_spam_outbreak

37. July 20, Infosecurity – (International) Many iOS apps access personal data without user permission. One in five iOS applications can access a user’s iPhone address book, two in five can track a user’s location, and more than one in three store user data without encrypting it, all without explicit user permission, according to research by Bitdefender. A chief security researcher at the firm explained the company used its Clueful app, which enables iPhone owners to learn what apps may be using personal data inappropriately, to collect data for the study. Apple removed the Clueful app from its App Store once Bitdefender collected its iOS app statistics. Source: http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/27091/

Communications Sector

38. July 21, Cookeville Herald Citizen – (Tennessee) Another copper theft at a cell tower. A third case of copper theft at a cell phone tower was reported, according to the Cookeville Police Department in Tennessee. The thieves stole copper wire from a U.S. Cellular tower site on Bunker Hill Road July 16, according to a report by an officer. The fence around the tower was cut and copper antenna wire was cut from the fence to the tower, the report said. A U.S. Cellular employee told the officer that replacing the stolen copper would cost approximately $3,500. Source: http://www.herald-citizen.com/view/full_story/19482132/article-Another-copper-theft-at-a-cell-tower?instance=latest_articles

39. July 20, Miami New Times – (Florida) South Miami-Dade Comcast TV and Internet service is down. Comcast service was out in a large section of the southern part Miami-Dade, due to a construction crew accidentally tearing out about 1,000 feet of fiber optic cable, the Miami New Times reported July 20. According to WFOR 4 Miami, Comcast could not say exactly how many customers were affected by the outage. The company said service would be back up by July 20. Source: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/07/south_miami-dade_comcast_tv_an.php