Friday, April 4, 2014




Complete DHS Report for April 4, 2014

Daily Report

Details

 • Two New York men pleaded guilty April 1 to their roles in an international cybercrime and bank fraud ring that hacked into several financial services institutions and attempted to steal around $15 million. – Reuters See item 7 below in the Financial Services Sector

 • Eleven people were admitted to a hospital April 3 after a chemical was accidentally offloaded into the wrong tank at the Roanoke River Service Authority Water Treatment Works in Mecklenburg, Virginia. – WTVR 6 Richmond

12. April 3, WTVR 6 Richmond – (Virginia) 11 people taken to hospital after hazmat scare. Eleven people, including seven firefighters, were admitted to a hospital April 3 after Roanoke River Service Authority Water Treatment Works had a chemical accidentally offloaded into the wrong tank. Hazmat crews were called to remove the chemicals from the tank and residents near the plant were informed of the mishap. Source: http://wtvr.com/2014/04/02/mecklenburg-county-hazmat/

 • The operators of the Bullitt County sewage facility in Kentucky worked to install a temporary filtration system after a weld broke around a steel pipe, causing a wall to collapse and 400,000 gallons of raw sewage to spill per day since March 29. – Associated Press

14. April 1, Associated Press – (Kentucky) Damaged sewage plant discharging into Bullitt County Stream. The operators of the Bullitt County sewage facility worked to install a temporary filtration system after a weld broke around a steel pipe, causing a wall to collapse and 400,000 gallons of raw sewage to spill per day since March 29. Source: http://www.lex18.com/news/damaged-sewage-plant-discharging-into-bullitt-county-stream

 • Three U.S. Army service members were killed and 16 others were injured April 2 when a war veteran opened fire at the Fort Hood military base in Texas before the shooter shot himself when confronted. – Associated Press

16. April 3, Associated Press – (Texas) Gunman kills 3, wounds 16 at Fort Hood Army base. Three U.S. Army service members were killed and 16 others were injured April 2 when a war veteran opened fire at the Fort Hood military base in Texas when he apparently walked into a building, began firing his semi-automatic pistol, and continued firing after driving to and entering another building. The shooter was confronted by military police in a parking lot before shooting and killing himself. Source: http://news.msn.com/us/gunman-kills-3-wounds-16-at-fort-hood-army-base

Financial Services Sector

7. April 1, Reuters – (International) Two U.S. hackers admit to international cyber crime in N.J. court. Two New York men pleaded guilty April 1 in federal court in New Jersey to their roles in an international cybercrime and bank fraud ring that hacked into several financial services businesses and institutions and attempted to steal around $15 million by diverting funds to accounts and payment cards that they controlled. The alleged leaders of the ring are Ukrainian citizens and remain at large. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/usa-crime-cybercrime-idUSL1N0MT23O20140401

Information Technology Sector

22. April 3, Threatpost – (International) Yahoo encrypts data center links, boosts other services. Yahoo announced April 2 that it has begun encrypting all traffic moving between its data centers, turned encryption on between its email servers and others who support the SMTPLS standard, and turned on encryption on its home page, searches, and other properties to enhance user privacy and security. Source: http://threatpost.com/yahoo-encrypts-data-center-links-boosts-other-services/105228

23. April 3, Softpedia – (International) Cybercriminals add new component to Sality to hijack the DNS addresses of routers. Researchers at ESET analyzed a new component of the Sality malware that was recently added and allows the malware to hijack the primary DNS address of routers. The analysis showed that the malware targets specific router models and attempts to use a brute force attack to gain administrator access, and then changes the router’s DNS server address in order to direct users to fake installation sites. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cybercriminals-Add-New-Component-to-Sality-to-Hijack-the-DNS-Addresses-of-Routers-435654.shtml

24. April 3, Softpedia – (International) ISPs exposed to DNS DDoS attacks due to millions of vulnerable home routers. Researchers at Nominum reported finding over 5.3 million routers have open DNS proxies, which can put Internet service providers at risk of DNS amplification distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/ISPs-Exposed-to-DNS-DDOS-Attacks-Due-to-Millions-of-Vulnerable-Home-Routers-435608.shtml

For another story, see item 25 below in the Commnications Sector

Communications Sector

25. April 2, IDG News Service – (International) Russia’s Glonass system suffers major disruption. Some smartphones and GPS receivers that rely on the Russian Glonass satellite positioning system may have experienced problems for around 11 hours April 1 after the system was hit with a major but unknown disruption. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2014/040214-russia39s-glonass-gps-system-suffers-280355.html