Friday, June 27, 2014




Complete DHS Report for June 27, 2014

Daily Report

Top Stories

 • An Indianapolis, Indiana man pleaded guilty June 25 to defrauding 5,000 investors from 50 countries by running a fake credit union, costing investors around $15 million. – Associated Press See item 5 below in the Financial Services Sector


 • Regions Bank and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated June 25 that the bank agreed to pay a $51 million penalty to end an inquiry where three former senior bank executives were charged with intentionally misclassifying $168 million in commercial loans in 2009. – Birmingham News See item 7 below in the Financial Services Sector


 • Albertsons was ordered June 24 to pay $3.4 million in penalties to settle allegations that the grocery store chain illegally transported, stored, managed, and disposed of hazardous waste at its 188 stores and distribution centers in California. – Los Angeles Times 

20. June 24, Los Angeles Times – (California) Albertsons to pay $3.4 million to settle illegal disposal case. Albertsons was ordered June 24 to pay $3.4 million in penalties to settle allegations that the grocery store chain illegally transported, stored, managed, and disposed of hazardous waste at its 188 stores and distribution centers in California. Waste generated at the locations included over-the-counter medications, pharmaceuticals, aerosol products, ignitable liquids, batteries, electronic devices, pool chemicals and other products. Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-albertsons-settlement-20140624-story.html

 • Heavy rains June 23 caused about 300,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater to overflow onto the grounds of the Port Wentworth, Georgia water treatment plant adjacent to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. – Savannah Morning News

21. June 26, Savannah Morning News – (Georgia) Heavy rain triggers major sewage spill in Port Wentworth. Heavy rains June 23 caused about 300,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater to overflow onto the grounds of the Port Wentworth water treatment plant adjacent to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The same storm caused an additional 9,100 gallons of sewage to spill at a lift station in Port Wentworth. Source: http://savannahnow.com/news/2014-06-25/heavy-rain-triggers-major-sewage-spill-port-wentworth

Financial Services Sector

4. June 26, Help Net Security – (International) Data breaches in 2013 exposed 14% of all debit cards. PULSE released the results of a study which found that 14 percent of debit cards from institutions in the study were affected by data breaches in 2013, and that consumers are continuing to shift to electronic payments, among other findings. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=17055

5. June 25, Associated Press – (International) Indiana man pleads guilty in fake credit union. An Indianapolis man pleaded guilty June 25 to defrauding 5,000 investors from 50 countries by running a fake credit union, Oxford International Credit Union, costing investors around $15 million. Source: http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/indiana-man-pleads-guilty-in-fake-credit-union/26667086

6. June 25, Associated Press – (California) 13 arrested in scheme to stage car crashes for insurance money. Thirteen people were arrested June 25 for their alleged involvement in a Riverside County-based auto insurance fraud scheme that staged fake accidents or submitted fraudulent accident reports, costing insurers over $300,000. Source: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/06/25/13-arrested-for-allegedly-staging-car-crashes-for-insurance-money/

7. June 25, Birmingham News – (Alabama) Regions Bank to pay $51 million for 2009 fraud by executives. Regions Bank and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated June 25 that the bank agreed to pay a $51 million penalty to end an inquiry where three former senior bank executives were charged with intentionally misclassifying $168 million in commercial loans in 2009. Source: http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2014/06/regions_bank_to_pay_51_million.html

8. June 25, Reuters – (National) U.S. brokerage must pay athletes $13.7 mln for Ponzi fraud - FINRA. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) stated June 25 that it ordered Success Trade Securities and its CEO to be ejected from the securities industry and repay $13.7 million in restitutions to investors that were defrauded in an alleged Ponzi scheme. FINRA found that the CEO and company sold investors $19.4 million in promissory notes by misrepresenting or omitting information in order to hide the company’s dire financial condition. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/25/wealth-investment-fraud-idUSL2N0P61LK20140625

9. June 25, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (New York) SEC charges former brokers with trading ahead of IBM-SPSS acquisition. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges in federal court in New York City June 25 against two former traders for allegedly trading on nonpublic information ahead of the 2009 acquisition of SPSS Inc., by IBM Corporation. The charges allege that the accused made around $300,000 in illicit profits and seeks the return of the ill-gotten gains. Source: http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370542161708

10. June 24, Nashville Tennessean – (National) S.C. lawyer charged in Springfield insurance fraud case. A Blythewood, South Carolina lawyer was charged June 24 for allegedly aiding other defendants in a $28 million fraud scheme that sold fake health insurance policies to over 17,000 people across the country. Six others were previously charged in the alleged fraud ring. Source: http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2014/06/24/sc-lawyer-charged-springfield-insurance-fraud-case/11336509/

For another story, see item 28 below from the Commercial Facilities Sector

28. June 25, Greenwich Time – (Connecticut) Splash Car Wash reports security breach. Splash Car Wash stated June 25 that the company experienced a payment card breach that affected around 1,400 customers at several of its locations, including Fairfield, Shelton, Greenwich, Cos Cob, Bridgeport, and West Haven. The company stated that malware was found on company systems and stole financial information between February 28 and May 16. Source: http://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/Splash-Car-Wash-reports-security-breach-5579561.php

 Information Technology Sector

23. June 26, NetworkWorld – (International) Hackers found controlling malware and botnets from the cloud. Researchers at Trend Micro released a blog post detailing the company’s findings regarding botnets and malware being hosted and controlled through cloud servers. The researchers reported that they observed a malicious command and control server hosted on DropBox in order to disguise its traffic as legitimate corporate traffic, among other findings. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/article/2369887/cloud-security/hackers-found-controlling-malware-and-botnets-from-the-cloud.html

24. June 25, Securityweek – (International) 22 vulnerabilities found in Oracle Database Java VM implementation. Security Explorations researchers reported finding 22 vulnerabilities affecting the Java Virtual Machine implementation used in Oracle Database which can be leveraged by an attacker to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary Java code on vulnerable Oracle Database servers. Six of the vulnerabilities have been fixed in the main codeline and are scheduled for a future Critical Patch Update. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/22-vulnerabilities-found-oracle-database-java-vm-implementation

Communications Sector

Nothing to report