Thursday, August 28, 2014




Complete DHS Report for August 28, 2014

Daily Report

Top Stories

 · Severe storms August 26 knocked out power to up to 165,000 customers, flooded portions of Interstates 75 and 94, and flooded other roads in the Detroit, Michigan area. – Detroit News

1. August 27, Detroit News – (Michigan) 120K still without power after storms hit Metro Detroit. Severe storms August 26 knocked out power to up to 165,000 customers, flooded portions of Interstates 75 and 94, and flooded other roads in the Detroit metro area. Around 120,000 customers were still without power early August 27. Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140827/METRO08/308270047/120K-still-without-power-after-storms-hit-Detroit-area

 · Exxon Mobil Corp agreed to pay $1.4 million to the U.S. government in a settlement for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act from a 2012 oil spill in Louisiana in which the company discharged 2,800 barrels of crude oil after a pipeline ruptured. – New Orleans Times-Picayune

16. August 27, New Orleans Times-Picayune – (Louisiana) ExxonMobil to pay $1.4 million to settle alleged violation of the Clean Water Act in 2012 Torbert oil spill. Exxon Mobil Corp agreed to pay $1.4 million to the U.S. government in a settlement for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act stemming from a 2012 oil spill in Louisiana in which the company discharged 2,800 barrels of crude oil after a pipeline ruptured. The company is also facing additional incurred costs to respond to the oil spill and replace segments of the ruptured pipelines. Source: http://www.nola.com/business/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2014/08/exxonmobil_to_pay_14_million_p.html

 · Vandals caulked the ignition switches of 20 school buses and offloaded 9,000 gallons of diesel from a fuel tank at the AJ Myers & Sons school bus company facility in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, between August 22 and August 24. – KDKA 2 Pittsburgh (See item 22)

22. August 25, KDKA 2 Pittsburgh – (Pennsylvania) Thief nabs $27K of fuel from school bus company, clogs ignitions. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating after vandals caulked the ignition switches of 20 school buses and offloaded 9,000 gallons of diesel from a fuel tank at the AJ Myers & Sons school bus company facility in Latrobe between August 22 and August 24. Crews worked to clean the clogged ignition switches so the buses could be used for transporting students August 25. Source: http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/08/25/thief-nabs-27k-of-fuel-from-school-bus-company-clogs-ignitions

 · Time Warner Cable Inc., restored Internet services to about 14.5 million customers across the U.S. after an outage occurred during routine network maintenance August 27. – CNN Money See item 28 below in the Communications Sector

Financial Services Sector

5. August 26, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (International) SEC charges former Cleveland-area investment promoter with $18 million scheme. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint August 26 against a former Gates Mills, Ohio investment promoter for allegedly defrauding 51 investors out of over $18 million in securities offerings by misrepresenting the offerings, his trading record, and where the money would be invested. The investment promoter allegedly told investors that their funds would be invested in companies listed on the Mexican stock exchange but instead used their funds to invest in publicly traded securities and stole over $6 million for personal use. Source: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2014/lr23073.htm

6. August 26, Bloomberg News – (New York) Lippert/Heilshorn consultant charged with insider trading. A consultant for Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates Inc., was arrested and charged in federal court in New York City August 26 for allegedly engaging in insider trading using draft press releases from clients to gain insider knowledge and make $89,487 on one client’s stocks. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also sued the consultant August 26 for allegedly engaging in insider trading on six other stocks to make illicit profits of over $950,000. Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-08-26/lippert-heilshorn-consultant-charged-with-insider-trading

7. August 26, KYTX 19 Nacogdoches – (Texas) Capital One bank investigator now bank suspect. The FBI and Tyler, Texas police arrested the corporate security consultant of a Capital One bank branch August 26 for allegedly robbing bank workers outside the bank August 11, stealing two bags of money. Source: http://www.cbs19.tv/story/26371882/sources-tyler-capital-one-bank-robbery-suspect-arrested

Information Technology Sector

24. August 27, Softpedia – (International) Updated NetTraveler backdoor has encrypted configuration file. Researchers at Kaspersky Labs identified an updated variant of the NetTraveler (also known as Travnet or Netfile) malware being used in a spearphishing campaign that contains an encrypted configuration file. The NetTraveler malware has been used for as long as 10 years and is frequently used in attacks targeting diplomatic, government, military, and activist groups. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Updated-NetTraveler-Backdoor-Has-Encrypted-Configuration-File-456602.shtml

25. August 27, Help Net Security – (International) 470 million sites exist for 24 hours, 22% are malicious. Blue Coat researchers reported the results of an analysis of over 660 million unique hostnames requested by users and found that 71 percent of hostnames were sites that appeared for only 1 day, with around 22 percent found to be malicious sites used in short-lived attacks or botnet management. The largest number of 1-day sites were legitimate sites used by major online organizations. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=17297

26. August 27, The Register – (International) Ouch…right in the VIDEO GAME: Lizard Squad attacks Xbox, Twitch. Attackers calling themselves Lizard Squad launched distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against video game-streaming service Twitch and the Microsoft Xbox Live service August 26, disrupting service on Twitch for a time but failing to impact Xbox Live service. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/27/lizard_squad_hacking_rampage/

27. August 26, IDG News Service – (International) HP recalls 6M laptop power cords that can pose fire hazards. Hewlett-Packard announced a recall of over 6 million LS-15 AC power cords used with HP and Compaq branded laptops due to the potential for the power cords to overheat, melt, and pose a fire or burn hazard. The recall covers around 5.6 million units in the U.S. and 446,000 in Canada. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2599124/computers-all/hp-recalls-6m-laptop-power-cords-that-can-pose-fire-hazards.html

Communications Sector

28. August 27, CNN Money – (National) Time Warner Cable comes back from nationwide Internet outage. Time Warner Cable Inc., which serves about 14.5 million homes, restored Internet services to customers across the U.S. after an outage occurred during routine network maintenance August 27. Cable TV and phone services were not affected during the outage. Source: http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/27/media/time-warner-cable-outage/index.html

29. August 26, Reuters – (National) TWC to pay $1.1M to settle FCC probe. Time Warner Cable Inc., agreed to pay $1.1 million August 25 in a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after admitting that it violated the requirements for reporting network outages in 2013 and agreed to follow a 3-year compliance plan with the FCC to properly report all network outages in the future. The FCC requires that service providers promptly report network outages that last longer than 30 minutes, especially if it may affect emergency response facilities or up to 900,000 minutes of disrupted Internet or phone usage. Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2014/08/26/time-warner-cable-to-pay-11-mln-to-settle-outage-reporting-violation/

30. August 26, Elko Daily Free Press – (Nevada) Internet, voicemail services interrupted for Frontier customers. Many Frontier Communications customers in Elko remained without Internet or voicemail service August 26 due to an unidentified problem with equipment owned by Level Three Communications. The outage also affected services at the Elko County Sheriff’s Office. Source: http://elkodaily.com/news/internet-voicemail-services-interrupted-for-frontier-customers/article_f4701e0a-2d73-11e4-9fc7-0019bb2963f4.html