Thursday, April 18, 2013
Complete DHS Daily Report for April 18, 2013
Daily Report
Top Stories
• A settlement
between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and SAC Capital Advisors
for $602 million over insider trading was approved by a federal judge, but was
conditioned on a future ruling regarding no-fault settlements involving
Citigroup. – Bloomberg News See item 3
below in the Banking and Finance Sector
• The main reservation system for American
Airlines went down April 16, causing thousands of passengers to be stranded at
airports and on airplanes. – Fox News
11.
April 16, Fox News – (National) American
Airlines says systems fully restored after outage left flights grounded
nationwide. The main reservation system for American Airlines went down
April 16, causing thousands of passengers to be stranded at airports and on
airplanes. The system was later restored, but continued delays and
cancellations were expected. Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/16/american-airlines-reservations-system-down-flights-grounded-nationwide/
• To reduce the risk of sewage backups into
basements during heavy rains, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
allowed 595 million gallons of untreated wastewater to spill into local
waterways. – Associated Press
17. April 17, Associated
Press – (Wisconsin) Milwaukee
sewers spilled 595 million wastewater gallons into local waterways. To
reduce the risk of sewage backups into basements during heavy rains, the
Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District allowed 595 million gallons of
untreated wastewater to spill into local waterways. The district pumped
wastewater from its main tunnel into disinfection chambers at the sewage
treatment plant and mixed it with chlorine before discharging it into the Lake
Michigan as an emergency measure. Source: http://lacrossetribune.com/milwaukee-sewers-spilled-million-wastewater-gallons-into-local-waterways/article_411ead34-a715-11e2-9145-001a4bcf887a.html
• A letter addressed to the U.S. President
containing a substance deemed suspicious was intercepted by the U.S. Secret
Service April 17 at an off-site mail facility. – Associated Press
20.
April 17, Associated Press –
(Washington, D.C.) Secret service says suspicious letter mailed to U.S.
President, intercepted away from White House. A letter addressed to the
U.S. President containing a substance deemed suspicious was intercepted by the
U.S. Secret Service April 17 at an off-site mail facility. Officials are
investigating the incident and are testing the substance. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-says-suspicious-letter-mailed-to-obama-intercepted-away-from-white-house/2013/04/17/fe4570f2-a772-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html
• Officials are investigating an envelope that
tested positive for ricin discovered at an off-site U.S. Capitol mail facility
in Washington, D.C. The envelope was addressed to a U.S. senator and
authorities are conducting a full analysis to ensure preliminary results were
conclusive. – CNN
21.
April 17, CNN – (Washington, D.C.) Envelope
tests positive for ricin at Washington mail facility. Officials are
investigating an envelope that tested positive for ricin discovered at an
off-site U.S. Capitol mail facility in Washington, D.C. The envelope was
addressed to a U.S senator and authorities are conducting a full analysis to
ensure preliminary results were conclusive. Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/tainted-letter-intercepted/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
• Nearly a mile of Boston’s Boylston Street
remained closed off April 17 along with some surrounding blocks as
investigators looked for additional information surrounding the bombing of the
Boston Marathon April 15. Pictures from the bomb scene showed remains of the
explosive device including a circuit board, wires, and a battery believed to be
inside a pressure cooker inside a nylon backpack that also may have included
ball bearings, nails and other debris. – Reuters
42.
April 17. Reuters – (Massachusetts) Boston
bomb probe focuses on bags and pressure cooker. Nearly a mile of Boston’s
Boylston Street remained closed off April 17 along with some surrounding blocks
as investigators looked for additional information surrounding the bombing of
the Boston Marathon April 15. Pictures from the bomb scene showed remains of
the explosive device including a circuit board, wires, and a battery believed
to be inside a pressure cooker inside a nylon backpack that also may have
included ball bearings, nails and other debris. Source: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/boston-bomb-probe-looking-pressure-cooker-backpacks-061852664--sector.html
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
3. April 16, Bloomberg News – (National) SAC's record $602
million SEC settlement approved. A settlement between the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission and SAC Capital Advisors for $602 million over insider
trading was approved by a federal judge, but was conditioned on a future ruling
regarding no-fault settlements involving Citigroup. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-16/sac-s-record-602-million-sec-settlement-approved.html
4. April 16, Associated
Press – (National) Hedge
fund manager pleads guilty to Ponzi scheme. A Portland hedge fund manager
pleaded guilty to running a $37 million Ponzi scheme in which he misused funds
from over 100 investors from several States. Source: http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020793558_aporhedgefundguiltyplea1stldwritethru.html
5. April 16, U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission –
(Arizona) SEC charges two Arizona-based brokers with defrauding investors in
tankless water heater venture. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
charged two Arizona brokers with diverting at least $1.8 million in investor
funds and fraudulently obtaining more than $6 million in stocks through a
business venture they ran. Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2013/2013-63.htm
6. April 16, KABC 7 Los
Angeles –
(California) '$5K Bandit' arrested after 4th robbery at same Los Alamitos
bank. A suspect known as the "$5K Bandit" was arrested in Los
Alamitos after his fourth alleged robbery of the same bank. He is suspected of
robbing the bank once in 2011 and twice in 2012. Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=9067235
7. April 16, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission –
(International) SEC charges Canada-based investment banker with insider
trading. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Toronto,
Canada-based investment banker with insider trading for allegedly using insider
information from promoting investment ideas to the Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board to illicitly make over $163,000 in profits on trades. Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2013/2013-62.htm
8. April 15, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission –
(Colorado) SEC charges Denver-based businessman with insider trading. The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Denver businessman with
insider trading for allegedly trading on insider information he obtained from
the CEO of Delta Petroleum ahead of a large investment into the company. The
accused agreed to settle by paying $900,000 and being barred from the
securities industry and from public company leadership roles for 5 years.
Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2013/2013-61.htm
For another story,
see item 38
Information Technology Sector
34. April 17, Softpedia – (International) Oracle fixes 128
vulnerabilities with April 2013 CPU. A Critical Patch Update (CPU) from
Oracle closed a total of 128 security vulnerabilities in its various products,
including 42 in Java SE, 39 of which can be exploited without authentication.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Oracle-Fixes-128-Vulnerabilities-With-April-2013-CPU-345992.shtml
35. April 17, The H – (International) Apple updates
Safari and Java 6 support. Apple released updates for its Safari browser
that correspond to newly-released Java updates, as well as adding a function
that allows users better control over when Java applets are run. Source: http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Apple-updates-Safari-and-Java-6-support-1843736.html?
36. April 17, IDG News
Service –
(International) DDOS attacks have increased in number and size this year,
report says. A report by Prolexic found that the volume, frequency, and
duration of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks have increased
significantly during the first 3 months of this year. Source: http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/459331/ddos_attacks_increased_number_size_year_report_says/
37. April 17, Softpedia – (International) Bots used to
attack Israeli websites on April 7 spread out in 27 countries. Trend Micro
analyzed a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack by hackers, associated
with Anonymous, on Israeli Web sites and found that most of the traffic came
from outside Israel and that many IP addresses used in the DDoS attack were in
botnets under the control of cybercriminals. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bots-Used-to-Attack-Israeli-Websites-on-April-7-Spread-Out-in-27-Countries-346038.shtml
38.
April 17, SC Magazine –
(International) 'Magic' malware detected, with UK firmly in its sights. Seculert
discovered a new variety of malware dubbed 'Magic' that can set up backdoors
and may have other functions. The malware has gone undetected for almost a
year, primarily targeting the U.K. with other targets found in the U.S., Italy,
and Germany. Source: http://www.scmagazineuk.com/magic-malware-detected-with-uk-firmly-in-its-sights/article/289193/
39.
April 16, CSO Online – (International)
Tactics of WordPress attackers similar to bank assaults. Security
researchers found similarities in recent brute-force attacks on WordPress Web
sites and the methods used to create the Brobot botnet used in distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attacks on financial institutions. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/041613-tactics-of-wordpress-attackers-similar-268753.html
40.
April 15, Dark Reading –
(International) Mobile malware up 163 percent in 2012, study says. A
report by NQ Mobile found that malware targeting mobile devices increased 163
percent in 2012, and that the Android operating system was targeted by nearly
95 percent of mobile malware discovered in 2012. Source: http://www.darkreading.com/mobile-security/167901113/security/vulnerabilities/240152977/mobile-malware-up-163-percent-in-2012-study-says.html
For
another story, see item 41 below in the Communications Sector
Communications Sector
41.
April 16, SC Magazine –
(International) “Syrian Electronic Army” defaces NPR website, Twitter
accounts. Members of a Syrian organization devoted hacking into Web sites
claimed they defaced National Public Radio’s main Web site, five Twitter
accounts belonging to NPR, and its blog April 15. Source: http://www.scmagazine.com/syrian-electronic-army-defaces-npr-website-twitter-accounts/article/289036/
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