Complete DHS Report for February 6, 2014
Daily Report
• Pacific Gas and Electric Company confirmed
an attack at its Metcalf, California transmission substation in 2013 where
snipers shot at the site and knocked out 17 transformers. – Wall Street
Journal
4.
February 4, Wall Street Journal – (California) Assault on California
power station raises alarm on potential for terrorism. Pacific Gas and
Electric Company confirmed an April 2013 attack at its Metcalf transmission
substation near San Jose where snipers shot at the site and knocked out 17
giant transformers that transmit power to Silicon Valley. Electric-grid
officials rerouted power and made repairs, and no one has been arrested in
connection with the attack. Source: http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304851104579359141941621778-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNDEwNDQyWj
• A winter storm caused State offices and
schools across several States to close and more than 10,000 flights were
delayed or cancelled nationwide. – Reuters
31.
February 5, Reuters – (National) Snow storm slams U.S. Plains,
Northeast. State offices and schools across several States were closed
February 5 after a winter storm February 4 caused snowfall, heavy winds, and
cold temperatures. More than 9,500 flights were delayed nationwide while
roughly 1,800 were cancelled. Source: http://news.msn.com/us/snow-storm-slams-us-plains-northeast
• U.S. Navy officials are investigating 30 or
more sailors in connection with alleged cheating on tests at a Charleston,
South Carolina training site. – Associated Press
32.
February 4, Associated Press – (South Carolina) Navy probing alleged
cheating on nuke reactor work. U.S. Navy officials are investigating 30 or
more senior sailors in connection with alleged cheating on tests used to
quality them as instructors taken at a Charleston, South Carolina training
site. The incident was reported by a senior enlisted sailor at the site
February 3. Source: http://news.msn.com/us/navy-probing-alleged-cheating-on-nuke-reactor-work
• Adobe
issued an emergency patch for a critical vulnerability in its Flash Player for
Windows, Linux, and OS X systems that could allow an attacker to gain remote
control of targeted systems. – Help Net Security See item 35
below in the Information Technology
Sector
Details
Financial Services Sector
10. February 5, Associated Press – (Florida) Officials:
22 charged in Fla. insurance fraud ring. Authorities in Florida announced
that they broke up an alleged home insurance fraud ring operating in south
Florida that used fraudulent claims to defraud insurers of at least $7.6
million. Twenty-two suspects were arrested, including the alleged ringleader
who worked as a licensed public adjuster. Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officials-22-charged-fla-insurance-fraud-ring-22366712
11. February 4, Reuters – (National) JPMorgan to pay
$614 mln in U.S. mortgage fraud case. JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to
pay $614 million and admit that it defrauded federal agencies by underwriting
sub-standard mortgage loans that were not eligible for insurance by the Federal
Housing Administration of Department of Veterans Affairs. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/05/jpmorgan-settle-idUSL2N0L928N20140205
12. February 4, Reno Gazette-Journal – (Nevada) Suspicious
activity in Washoe inmate’s account leads to credit card fraud lab. The
Washoe County Sherriff’s Office reported that four individuals were arrested
for allegedly running a fraudulent payment card operation after a suspicious
amount of money in a county jail inmate’s account was noticed by a booking
employee. Authorities seized thousands of credit card numbers and other
information during the arrests and expected more arrests to follow. Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20140204/NEWS0102/302040032/Suspicious-activity-Washoe-inmate-s-account-leads-credit-card-fraud-lab?nclick_check=1
13. February 4, Cleveland Plain Dealer – (Ohio) Leader
of Lithuanian credit union admits to charges involving $15 million fraud on
investors. The former leader of the now-defunct Taupa Lithuanian Credit
Union in Cleveland pleaded guilty February 3 to siphoning money from the credit
union as part of a scheme that caused more than $15 million in losses. Source: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/02/leader_of_lithuanian_credit_un.html
14. February 4, Portland Press Herald – (Maine) Ex-Maine
loan officer admits $14 million fraud scheme. A former loan officer for
Portland-based KeyBank pleaded guilty February 4 to using others’ identities to
obtain $14 million in loans and lines of credit that he used for personal
expenses. He was also charged with evading $1.3 million in taxes between 2006
and 2011. Source: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Ex-Maine_loan_officer_pleads_guilty_to_bank_fraud__tax_evasion_.html
15. February 4, Palm Desert Patch – (California) ‘Snowboarder
Bandit’ case update: Bank robber pleads guilty, sentenced to 8 years prison. A
man known as the “Snowboarder Bandit” pleaded guilty February 3 to robbing three
banks in the Coachella Valley and attempting to rob another between April 11
and May 4, 2012. The man previously pleaded guilty to robbing 10 banks in
Orange County between December 2011 and March 2012. Source: http://palmdesert.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/snowboarder-bandit-case-update-bank-robber-pleads-guilty-sentenced-to-8-years-prison
Information Technology Sector
35.
February 5, Help Net Security – (International) Adobe Flash flaw
exploited in the wild, update now. Adobe issued an emergency patch for a
critical vulnerability in its Flash Player for Windows, Linux, and OS X systems
that could allow an attacker to gain remote control of targeted systems. The
vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild and users were advised to
install the patch immediately. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=16313
36.
February 5, The Register – (International) iFrame attack injects code
via PNGs. Researchers at Sucuri identified an iFrame injection attack in
the wild that embeds malicious code in .PNG files. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/05/iframe_attack_injects_code_via_pngs/
37.
February 5, Softpedia – (International) 13 security holes fixed with
the release of Firefox 27. Mozilla released the newest version of its
Firefox browser, closing a total of 13 security vulnerabilities, including 4
rated as high-impact. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/13-Security-Holes-Fixed-with-the-Release-of-Firefox-27-424025.shtml
38.
February 5, Softpedia – (International) Rogue GOM Player update that
installed malware at Japanese nuclear plant analyzed. Researchers at
Kaspersky analyzed a malicious GOM Player update that infected a computer at a
Japanese nuclear power plant and found that malicious update contained a
legitimate update and a backdoor identified as Backdoor.Win32.Miancha. The
researchers believed that the attack was not targeted specifically to the
plant. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Rogue-GOM-Player-Update-That-Installed-Malware-at-Japanese-Nuclear-Plant-Analyzed-424085.shtml
Communications Sector
Nothing to
report