Friday, August 1, 2014




Complete DHS Report for August 1, 2014

Daily Report

Top Stories

 · Bank of America was ordered to pay a $1.27 billion penalty after the bank was found liable for defective loans sold by the former Countrywide Financial Corp., to government-controlled mortgage companies. – Reuters See item 7 below in the Financial Services Sector

 · Approximately 15,000 residents in Nashville, Tennessee, were with little or no water after a 30-inch water main broke July 30, affecting several pump stations in the area and prompting crews to build a temporary bypass around the Thompson Lane pumping station until permanent repairs are made. – WKRN 2 Nashville

15. July 31, WKRN 2 Nashville – (Tennessee) Service restored to most after massive water main break. Approximately 15,000 residents in Nashville, Tennessee, were with little or no water after a 30-inch water main broke July 30 in a space difficult to access, affecting several pump stations in the area. Crews worked to build a temporary bypass around the Thompson Lane pumping station in order to provide water and until permanent repairs are made. Source: http://www.wkrn.com/story/26152692/water-main-break-causes-outages-in-nashville

 · Five suspects, including one security guard, were arrested over a number of days in connection with the July 21 armed robbery of $181,000 from the Caesars Atlantic City casino in New Jersey. – Reuters

28. July 30, Reuters – (New Jersey) Five arrested for Atlantic City casino heist. New Jersey State Police reported July 30 that five suspects, including one security guard, were arrested over a number of days in connection with the July 21 armed robbery of $181,000 from the Caesars Atlantic City casino. Authorities stated that much of the stolen cash was recovered, along with articles of clothing used during the robbery. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/30/us-usa-new-jersey-heist-idUSKBN0FZ2M720140730

 · Federal authorities arrested a Texas man July 28 suspected of sending more than 500 hoax letters filled with white powder to locations worldwide, prompting lockdowns and emergency responses since 2008. –South Begenite (See item 29)

29. July 29, South Bergenite – (International) Feds: Pre-Super Bowl white powder letter hoaxer in custody. Federal authorities arrested July 28 a Texas man suspected of sending more than 500 hoax letters filled with white powder to locations worldwide, including U.S. government offices, aerospace companies, schools, daycares, and hotels, and prompting lockdowns and emergency responses since 2008. Officials believe the suspect is connected to letters sent to at least 5 hotels and 2 post offices in towns surrounding MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in January, prior to the 2014 Super Bowl. Source: http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime-and-courts/feds-pre-super-bowl-white-powder-letter-hoaxer-in-custody-1.1059038

Financial Services Sector

7. July 30, Reuters – (National) Bank of America ordered to pay $1.27 bln for Countrywide fraud. A federal judge ordered Bank of America to pay a $1.27 billion penalty after the bank was found liable for defective loans sold by the former Countrywide Financial Corp., to government-controlled mortgage companies. A former Countrywide executive was also found liable for her role in the fraud and ordered to pay $1 million in penalties. Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2014/07/30/bank-america-ordered-to-pay-127-bln-for-countrywide-fraud/

8. July 30, Odessa American – (Texas) One pleads guilty in mortgage fraud conspiracy case. A woman pleaded guilty July 29 to her role in a same-day property flip fraud scheme in which she worked with three other defendants in Odessa and Midland to create fraudulent property sales that inflated resale prices on around 800 properties and involved $45 million in loans. The three other accused include a realtor and two real estate company owners who were allegedly also part of the scheme. Source: http://www.oaoa.com/news/article_e7e76c18-183a-11e4-bfa8-001a4bcf6878.html

For another story, see item 27 below from the Commercial Facilities Sector

27. July 30, Associated Press – (Nevada) Bellagio robbery suspect is convict from Kansas. Clark County authorities arrested a suspect July 26 believed to be connected to the July 25 armed robbery of $43,500 from the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. Officials reported that the suspect may also be responsible for the July 22 robbery of a south Las Vegas City National Bank. Source: http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/bellagio-robbery-suspect-is-convict-from-kansas

Information Technology Sector

23. July 31, Securityweek – (International) Innominate patches vulnerability in mGuard industrial security routers. Innominate Security Technologies fixed a vulnerability in its mGuard series of industrial security routers that could have allowed an unauthenticated attacker to obtain configuration information. The routers are frequently used in the manufacturing, healthcare, and communications industries, and users were advised to update their firmware to close the vulnerability. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/innominate-patches-vulnerability-mguard-industrial-security-routers

24. July 31, The Register – (International) POW! Apple smites Macbook Air EFI firmware update borkage. Apple released a firmware update for 2011 and later MacBook Air systems that addresses an issue encountered by users in an EFI firmware update released the week of July 21 that caused MacBooks to become unresponsive. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/31/apple_macbook_air_sleep_patch_repatched/

25. July 30, Softpedia – (International) Pushdo botnet continues to stay strong. Researchers with Bitdefender reported that they have recorded a steady increase in the number of infected systems attempting to contact the command and control servers for the Pushdo malware botnet, with around 200,000 unique IP addresses observed. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Pushdo-Botnet-Continues-to-Stay-Strong-452835.shtml

Communications Sector

See item 23 above in the Information Technology Sector