Daily Report
Top Stories
· The New
Jersey Board of Utilities approved a $102.5 million New Jersey Natural Gas
project meant to harden its distribution and transmission system from damage
caused by severe storms. – Asbury Park Press
2. July
23, Asbury Park Press – (New Jersey) Gas utility will spend
$102.5M on improvements. The New Jersey Board of Utilities approved a
$102.5 million New Jersey Natural Gas project meant to harden its distribution
and transmission system from damage caused by severe storms. The 5-year project
will consist of six targeted projects meant to help mitigate the number and
duration of outages and improve the utility’s ability to respond and control
service outages. Source: http://www.app.com/story/money/business/2014/07/23/gas-utility-will-spend-m-improvements/13059399/
· Six
individuals were charged in connection with an alleged cybercrime ring that
took over accounts on the online ticket marketplace StubHub, used victims’
payment cards to make purchases of around $1 million, and then launder the
proceeds through accounts in several countries. – Help Net Security See item 6 below in the Financial
Services Sector
· Route 5 in
Camdenton, Missouri, was closed for 6 hours after a fatal accident on the
Niangua Bridge that killed four people and injured a fifth July 23. – KRCG
13 Jefferson City
12. July
23, KRCG 13 Jefferson City – (Missouri) Fatal crash closes
Niangua Bridge in Camden County. Route 5 in Camdenton was closed for 6
hours after a fatal accident on the Niangua Bridge that killed four people and
injured a fifth July 23 when a dump truck crossed over the centerline and
crashed into an oncoming vehicle. Officials determined that the dump truck’s
tire went flat causing the driver to lose control. Source: http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=1073821
· The TerraMar
Apartments complex under construction in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, caught fire
July 23, rendering the building a total loss and causing an estimated $2.75
million in damage. – Fort Walton Beach Daily News
33. July
23, Fort Walton Beach Daily News – (Florida) Fire destroys new apartment
complex. The TerraMar Apartments complex under construction in Santa Rosa
Beach caught fire July 23, rendering the building a total loss and causing an
estimated $2.75 million in damage. The source of the fire was deemed
undetermined, while fire officials ruled lightning, electrical, and natural gas
as probable causes. Source: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/photos-fire-destroys-new-apartment-complex-1.349451
Financial Services Sector
6. July
24, Help Net Security – (International) Six men charged in
StubHub cyber-theft case. Six individuals were charged in the U.S. in
connection with an alleged cybercrime ring that took over accounts on online
ticket marketplace StubHub, used victims’ credit cards to purchase tickets to
various entertainment events in New York City, sell the tickets, and then
launder the proceeds through PayPal accounts and bank accounts in the U.S.,
U.K., Canada, Germany, and Russia. The alleged fraud totaled around $1 million
and affected over 1,000 user accounts. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=17164
7. July
24, Associated Press – (Texas) Texan pleads guilty in oil, gas
investment scam. A Fort Worth man pleaded guilty July 23 to running an
investment scam by purporting to be the founder of a company called Blue Alpha
Energy and soliciting around $5.8 million from around 45 investors that was
then diverted to accounts and businesses he controlled. Source: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/texas/article_580a2054-334f-54eb-98cf-d0479364bf70.html
For another story, see item 32 below
from the Commercial Facilities Sector
32. July
23, Tampa Bay Times – (National) Tampa man accused of scamming
Apple out of $309,768. U.S. Secret Service officials arrested and charged a
Florida man for allegedly scamming Apple stores in 16 States out of a
collective $309,768 by tricking clerks into accepting fake authorization codes
to override a declined credit or debit card, a practice known as “forced sale”.
The suspect is accused of running the scheme 42 times, as well as trying to
defraud a car rental company and a Seattle hotel. Source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/tampa-man-accused-of-scamming-apple-out-of-309768/2189776
Information Technology Sector
25. July 24, The Register – (International) 50,000 sites backdoored through shoddy
WordPress plugin. A researcher with Sucuri reported that around 50,000 Web
sites were vulnerable to malware injection, defacement, and spam due to a
vulnerability in the MailPoet plugin for WordPress. The vulnerability can
affect Web sites that do not run MailPoet if the vulnerable plugin is present
elsewhere on the same server. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/24/50000_sites_backdoored_through_shoddy_wordpress_plugin/
26. July 24, Softpedia – (International) Fake Googlebots used for layer 7 DDoS
attacks. Incapsula issued a report that shows how malicious Web crawlers
that mimic Googlebots to bypass security are being used for various malicious
purposes. The majority of the fake crawlers were used for collecting marketing
information while 23.5 percent were used for application layer distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Fake-Googlebots-Used-for-Layer-7-DDoS-Attacks-451984.shtml
27. July 23, V3.co.uk – (International) DDoS attackers turn attention to SaaS
and PaaS systems, Akamai reports. Akamai released its Q2 2014 Global DDoS
Attack Report, which found a 22 percent increase in distributed denial of
service (DDoS) attack activity in the second quarter of 2014. The report also
found that around half of DDoS attacks targeted IT infrastructure, with vendors
of cloud services such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service
(PaaS) being common targets. Source: http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2356828/ddos-attackers-turn-attention-to-saas-and-paas-systems-akamai-reports
28. July 23, The Register – (International) Apple fanbois SCREAM as update BRICKS
their Macbook Airs. Users of Apple’s 2011 Macbook Air reported experiencing
nonresponsive systems after applying a version 2.9 EFI firmware update to their
systems, while others reported difficulties installing the update. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/23/apple_macbook_air_update_bricks_fanbois_machines/
29. July 23, Securityweek – (International) Metro News website compromised to
serve malware. Researchers at Websense reported July 22 that the Web site
of newspaper Metro.us was compromised and used to redirect visitors to a
malicious Web site hosting the RIG exploit kit. The RIG exploit kit then
attempts to exploit any present vulnerabilities in users’ software to install a
piece of malware identified as Win32/Simda. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/metro-news-website-compromised-serve-malware-rig-exploit-kit
Communications Sector
30. July 23, Softpedia– (National) Wall Street Journal acknowledges system
breach. The Wall Street Journal confirmed that its systems were compromised
when an attacker gained access to news site’s graphics servers, but that an
ongoing investigation did not reveal any signs of damage or tampering. An
individual using the handle “w0rm” known for breaching the systems of CNET
claimed responsibility and stated that they were willing to sell a database
stolen in the breach for one Bitcoin. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Wall-Street-Journal-Acknowledges-System-Breach-451796.shtml
31. July 22, Meadville Tribune – (Pennsylvania) Windstream to probe lines after major
phone outage. At least 8,400 residences and businesses lost Windstream
Communications phone service for approximately 12 hours July 22 when a City of
Meadville crew cut a fiber optic cable while fixing a curb at an intersection.
Windstream Communications officials are assessing the incident and the city’s
configuration of the fiber optic line network infrastructure. Source: http://www.meadvilletribune.com/local/x1618740171/Windstream-to-probe-lines-after-major-phone-outage
For another story, see item 29 above in the Information Technology
Sector