Complete DHS Daily Report for August 26, 2013
Daily Report
Top Stories
• The Nasdaq stock exchange was out of service
for nearly 4 hours after a technical issue caused trading to halt. – Wired.com
6.
August 22, Wired.com – (International)
Nasdaq stock exchange goes dark after tech glitch. The Nasdaq stock
exchange was out of service for nearly 4 hours August 22 after a technical
issue caused trading to halt. The New York Stock Exchange also stopped trading
and cancelled some orders due to the outage. Source: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/nasdaq-outage/
• CVS Caremark Corp. announced that they are
cutting off access to prescription pain-killers for more than 36 doctors and
other health care providers that were found to prescribe the drugs at a high
rate. – Reuters
21. August
22, Reuters – (National) CVS cuts access to pain-killers for suspect
doctors. CVS Caremark Corp. announced August 21 that they are cutting off
access to prescription pain-killers for more than 36 doctors and other health
care providers that were found to prescribe the drugs at a high rate. The
company identified health care providers from a database of nearly 1 million
with extreme patterns of prescribing the high-risk drugs. Source: http://news.msn.com/us/cvs-cuts-access-to-pain-killers-for-suspect-doctors
• Firefighters continued to battle
California’s Rim Fire after it burned through 64,000 acres and forced the
evacuation of 19 recreational areas. – Reuters
23.
August 23, Reuters – (California) Firefighters
struggle in rough terrain to tame huge blaze near Yosemite. Firefighters
continued to battle California’s Rim Fire after it burned through 64,000 acres
and forced the evacuation of 19 recreational areas in Stanislaus National
Forest. Nearly 2,500 homes were also given evacuation advisories. Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-fire-yosemite-20130822,0,6339838.story
• Around 68 people were arrested by federal
authorities and seven more are believed to have been involved in a multimillion
dollar Social Security fraud case in Puerto Rico. – Associated Press
24.
August 22, Associated Press – (Puerto
Rico) 75 Puerto Ricans charged in Social Security fraud. At least 68
people were arrested by federal authorities August 21 and seven more are
believed to have been involved in a multimillion dollar Social Security fraud
case in Puerto Rico after 3 doctors and 71 Social Security claimants were
charged with receiving over $2 million in disability benefit payments. Federal
agents launched the investigation in 2009 and believe those charged could have
gone on to take over $35 million from the government if they were not stopped.
Source: http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/75-puerto-ricans-charged-in-social-security-fraud
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
5. August 23, Cincinnati Business Courier – (Ohio)
Milford realtor charged in $15M investment scheme. A realtor from
Milford was charged with defrauding investors of at least $15 million through a
real estate investment scheme from her company, French Manor Properties, where
she allegedly diverted funds for her own use. Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2013/08/22/milford-realtor-charged-in-15m.html
6. August 22, Wired.com – (International) Nasdaq
stock exchange goes dark after tech glitch. The Nasdaq stock exchange was
out of service for nearly 4 hours August 22 after a technical issue caused
trading to halt. The New York Stock Exchange also stopped trading and cancelled
some orders due to the outage. Source: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/nasdaq-outage/
Information Technology Sector
31. August
23, Softpedia – (International) Linux users warned of privilege escalation
vulnerability in VMware workstation. VMWare advised users that VMware
Workstation and Player contain a vulnerability that could be exploited on
Debian-based Linux machines to escalate privileges to root. A workaround was
provided. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Linux-Users-Warned-of-Privilege-Escalation-Vulnerability-in-VMware-Workstation-377810.shtml
32. August 23, Help Net Security – (International) Popular
Windows downloader has secret DDoS capability. Researchers at ESET found
that download manager Orbit Downloader has been equipped with a distributed
denial of service (DDoS) component dating back to 2008. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2570
33. August 23, Softpedia – (International) Syrian
Electronic Army hijacks GoDaddy account, email addresses of ShareThis.com. Members
of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) hacktivist group gained access to the
GoDaddy account of ShareThis.com August 21, redirecting visitors to the SEA’s
Web site. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Syrian-Electronic-Army-Hijacks-GoDaddy-Account-Email-Addresses-of-ShareThis-com-377622.shtml
Communications Sector
See Item
30 below:
30.
August 22, San Bernardino Sun –
(California) Big Bear area emergency 9-1-1 phone calls diverted because of
damaged optic cable. Residents in the Big Bear area were urged to use cell
phones when calling 9-1-1 and areas outside the mountain August 22 after a
Verizon Fiber Optic Cable was damaged. There was no estimate as to when service
on landlines would be restored. Source: http://www.sbsun.com/technology/20130822/big-bear-area-emergency-9-1-1-phone-calls-diverted-because-of-damaged-optic-cable