Thursday, August 8, 2013
Complete DHS Daily Report for August 8, 2013
Daily Report
Top Stories
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
and U.S. Department of Justice filed two lawsuits against Bank of America for
allegedly making misleading statements and failing to disclose important
information ahead of a sale of $850 million of residential mortgage-backed
securities in 2008. – Reuters See item 8
below in the Banking and Finance Sector
• The mayor of Sweetwater and the mayor of
Miami Lakes, Florida, were arrested August 6 by the FBI on charges that they
were involved in alleged kickback and bribery schemes in connection with
federal grants. – Associated Press
27.
August 7, Associated Press – (Florida)
FBI arrests 2 Fla. mayors on extortion charges. The mayor of Sweetwater
and the mayor of Miami Lakes were arrested August 6 by the FBI on
bribery-related charges. Agents alleged that both mayors were involved in kickback
and bribery schemes in connection with federal grants. Source: http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/fbi-arrests-2-fla-mayors-on-extortion-charges
• The use of exploding shooting targets were
banned in 5 States by the U.S. Forest Service August 5 after authorities blamed
the devices for sparking 16 wildfires since 2012. – Reuters (See item 30)
30.
August 6, Reuters – (National) 16
wildfires blamed on exploding shooting targets. The use of exploding
shooting targets, often made up of canisters containing two chemicals that
blend and explode when struck by a bullet, were banned in 5 States by the U.S.
Forest Service August 5 after authorities blamed the devices for sparking 16
wildfires since 2012. Source: http://news.msn.com/us/16-wildfires-blamed-on-exploding-shooting-targets
• City officials announced that the Los
Angeles Fire Department’s 9-1-1 system failed 5 times in July, blaming the
failure on a computer software error in their database. – Los Angeles Times
35.
August 6, Los Angeles Times –
(California) New breakdowns reported in LAFD’s 911 computer systems. City
officials announced that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s 9-1-1 system failed
5 times in July, blaming the failure on a computer software error in their
database. The software glitch was corrected but the possibility of future
crashes remains. Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lafddata/la-me-lafd-computer-crashes-20130806,0,4572677.story
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
8. August 6, Reuters – (National) U.S. accuses
Bank of America of mortgage-backed securities fraud. The U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Justice filed two lawsuits
against Bank of America for allegedly making misleading statements and failing
to disclose important information about the mortgages behind a sale of $850
million of residential mortgage-backed securities to investors in 2008. Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/06/us-bofa-justice-idUSBRE9750ZU20130806
9. August 6, Reuters – (International) UBS to
pay $49.8 mln to settle SEC fraud charges over CDO. Swiss bank UBS agreed
to pay $49.8 million to settle charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission that it misled investors about the risks involved in a 2007 bond
transaction which caused $130 million in investor losses. Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/08/06/ubs-sec-settlement-idINL1N0G714220130806
For another story,
see item 37 below in the Information Technology Sector
Information Technology Sector
36. August
7, Threatpost – (International) Fort Disco brute-force attack campaign
targets CMS websites. A researcher at Arbor Networks reported that a botnet
called Fort Disco is active in attacks targeting Web sites built on content
management systems (CMS) to gain control of systems. Fort Disco is currently
made up of around 25,000 compromised Windows machines. Source: https://threatpost.com/fort-disco-brute-force-attack-campaign-targets-cms-websites/101723
37. August
7, Help Net Security – (International) Expect more Android security issues in 2013. Trend
Micro released their second quarter 2013 Security Roundup Report which found
that the number of malicious and high-risk Android apps has grown rapidly from
the previous quarter, to 718,000 from 509,000. Malware targeting online banking
also grew, increasing 29 percent from the first quarter. Source: https://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2555
38. August
7, Softpedia – (International) Malware disguised as “F-Secure Security Pack”
browser extension. F-Secure warned users that cybercriminals are using the
company’s name to distribute a malicious browser extension called “F-Secure
Security Pack” that makes social media posts on users’ networks without
permission. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Malware-Disguised-as-F-Secure-Security-Pack-Browser-Extension-373860.shtml
39. August
7, Softpedia – (International) Four critical security holes fixed in Firefox
23. Mozilla released the newest version of its browser, Firefox 23, closing
13 security vulnerabilities, 4 of which were rated critical. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Four-Critical-Security-Holes-Fixed-in-Firefox-23-373746.shtml
40. August
6, Computerworld – (International) Digital stakeout of Chinese hacker gang
reveals 100+ victims. Two researchers from Dell SecureWorks presented
findings of their surveillance of the “Beijing Group” Chinese hacking team
during its campaign using the Comfoo remote access trojan (RAT) to target IT,
energy, government, and communications organizations. The surveillance gave
insight into the group’s methods and patterns, including their attempts to
target makers of videoconferencing hardware for use in eavesdropping. Source: https://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/080613-digital-stakeout-of-chinese-hacker-272592.html
41. August
6, The Register – (International) Xerox copier flaw changes numbers in
photocopied docs. A student researcher discovered a flaw in some Xerox
printers can alter numbers when printing from .pdf documents at certain quality
settings. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/06/xerox_copier_flaw_means_dodgy_numbers_and_dangerous_designs/
Communications Sector
42.
August 7, Iroquois County Times-Republic –
(Illinois; Indiana) Fiber optic cable cut causes outages. A fiber optic
cable cut in the Gilman area affected Internet services for between 20,000 and
30,000 Mediacom modem customers from Watseka, Illinois, to parts of Indiana.
Source: http://www.newsbug.info/iroquois_countys_times-republic/article_4bbc54e4-ff26-11e2-b844-0019bb2963f4.html
43.
August 6, KHQA 7 Quincy – (Illinois) U.S.
Cellular customers complain of service problems. U.S. Cellular customers in
the Quincy area were without cellular phone service August 6 in the second
widespread outage in 2 weeks, but did not receive word on the cause behind the
outage. Source: http://www.connecttristates.com/neighborhood/story.aspx?id=925272#.UgKAmJK1FKA
44.
August 6, WPTV 5 West Palm Beach –
(Florida) Comcast experiencing widespread outage. Comcast alerted its
customers in the West Palm Beach area August 6 that it was aware of and
addressing a widespread outage and would inform customers when service returns.
Source: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/comcast-experiencing-widespread-outage
For
another story, see item 40 above in the Information Technologhy
Sector
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