Monday, March 9, 2015



Complete DHS Report for  March 9, 2015

Daily Report

Top Stories

 · Five BNSF Railway crude oil cars out of the 21 that derailed March 5 remained on fire March 6 potentially delaying shipments along the line in Galena, Illinois, for up to 48 hours. – Reuters

6. March 6, Reuters – (Illinois) Five cars still on fire in Illinois following BNSF train derailment carrying ND crude. Five BNSF Railway cars out of the 21 that derailed March 5 remained on fire March 6 potentially delaying shipments along the line in Galena, Illinois, for up to 48 hours. No injuries were reported in the accident after the train carrying crude oil from North Dakota derailed on its way to Chicago. Source: http://www.inforum.com/news/accidents/3693596-five-cars-still-fire-illinois-following-bnsf-train-derailment-carrying-nd

 · A severe winter storm March 5 left more than 400 drivers stranded on Interstate 24 in Kentucky for several hours and caused a pileup of 200 semi-trucks on Interstate 65 in Elizabethtown. – Associated Press

10. March 5, Associated Press – (National) Snowstorm strands drivers in Kentucky, sends plane skidding in NY; record low temps up next. A severe winter storm covered the Northeast March 5 after moving across the South, which left more than 400 drivers stranded on Interstate 24 in Kentucky for several hours and caused a pileup of 200 semi-trucks on Interstate 65 in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Slippery conditions caused a Delta flight to skid off the runway and crash through a fence at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, while about 4,400 flights in and out of the U.S. were canceled. Source: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/295134771.html?page=1&c=y

 · Health officials reported March 5 that the H5N2 strain of avian influenza was detected at a Pope County, Minnesota poultry farm and that about 15,000 turkeys housed in one barn died as a result of the virus. – St. Paul Pioneer Press

12. March 6, St. Paul Pioneer Press – (Minnesota) Deadly strain of bird flu found in Minnesota turkey flock; public not at risk. Health officials reported March 5 that the H5N2 strain of avian influenza was detected at a Pope County poultry farm and that about 15,000 turkeys housed in one barn died as a result of the virus since February 26. The remaining 100 turkeys at the farm were culled as a precaution, and four workers were being monitored due to occupational risk, while authorities reported that the risk of exposure to the general public is very low. Source: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27653197/serious-strain-bird-flu-found-minnesota-turkey-flock

 · Charges against two former owners of California-based 350Green LLC were announced March 4 in Chicago alleging the pair falsely obtained nearly $3 million in federal grants administered by Chicago and government agencies in Pennsylvania and California. – Chicago Tribune

19. March 4, Chicago Tribune – (Illinois; Pennsylvania; California) Two picked to build Chicago-area car-charging stations charged with fraud. Charges against two former owners of California-based 350Green LLC were announced March 4 in Chicago alleging the pair falsely obtained nearly $3 million in federal grants administered by Chicago and government agencies in Pennsylvania and California. The two former owners allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for expenses in order to obtain grant money, falsely claimed the company paid subcontractors and vendors, and made up statements about the company’s financial status. Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-electric-car-fraud-met-20150304-story.html

Financial Services Sector

5. March 5, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington – (Washington) Couple who fled to Eastern Europe during bank fraud investigation enter guilty pleas. A King County couple that had fled to Moldova pending a 2009 indictment, pleaded guilty March 5 to charges related to a mortgage fraud scheme in which they allegedly submitted 55 fraudulent construction loan packets worth $49 million to Westsound Bank, while diverting some of the funds for personal use, collecting commissions on property sales, and costing the bank over $10 million in losses. One of the suspects was extradited back to the U.S. in December 2014, and the other returned in February 2015 to resolve the case. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/seattle/press-releases/2015/couple-who-fled-to-eastern-europe-during-bank-fraud-investigation-enter-guilty-pleas

Information Technology Sector

20. March 6, Help Net Security – (International) Fake “Flash Player Pro” update delivers password-stealing trojan. Security researchers at F-Secure discovered a new malware campaign in which users with previously compromised routers and domain name system (DNS) server settings are being targeted with fake Adobe Flash Player Pro installation notifications that contain the Fareit trojan, allowing attackers to steal passwords and download other malware onto the infected system. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2982

 21. March 6, Softpedia – (International) SSL/TLS cipher suite downgrade affects all supported Windows versions. Microsoft released a security advisory that its Secure Channel (Schannel) used in all versions of Windows is vulnerable to Factoring RSA Export Keys (FREAK) attacks that force secure sockets layer (SSL) and transport layer security (TLS) cryptographic protocols to use a weak RSA key through a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack, allowing hackers to decrypt HTTPS traffic. Microsoft has not yet specified a release date for patching the vulnerability. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/SSL-TLS-Cipher-Suite-Downgrade-Affects-All-Supported-Windows-Versions-475080.shtml

22. March 6, Help Net Security – (International) Cryptowall makes a comeback via malicious help files. Security researchers at Bitdefender Labs discovered a new spam email campaign targeting users worldwide, in which attackers have sent hundreds of emails with Compiled HTML (.chm) files that install the Cryptowall ransomware when opened. Researchers believe the attack is targeting employees from different organizations to compromise company networks. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2981

Communications Sector

23. March 6, Bend Bulletin – (Oregon) BendBroadband outages continue. BendBroadband reported that email and voice-mail services for about 39,000
subscribers in Bend, Oregon, were interrupted for approximately 8 hours March 4 due to technical problems. BendBroadband’s parent company, TDS Telecom, blamed aging equipment for the outage, which has been the third interruption since January. Source: http://www.bendbulletin.com/business/2945587-151/bendbroadband-outages-continue