Wednesday, March 11, 2015



Complete DHS Report for  March 11, 2015

Daily Report

Top Stories

 · Six suspects were charged in Salt Lake City March 5 for their alleged roles in a loan modification scheme that defrauded over 10,000 individuals nationwide out of more than $33 million. – National Mortgage News See item 4 below in the Financial Services Sector

 · An Amtrak train crashed into a semi-truck on the tracks at the intersection of Highway 301 and North Carolina Highway 903 (N.C. 103) in Halifax March 9, derailing the train and leaving 55 passengers injured. – WRAL 5 Raleigh

5. March 10, WRAL 5 Raleigh – (North Carolina) US 301 reopened after Amtrak crash in Halifax. An Amtrak train crashed into a semi-truck stuck on the tracks at the intersection of Highway 301 and North Carolina Highway 903 (N.C. 103) in Halifax March 9, derailing the train and leaving 55 passengers injured. Highway 301 reopened March 10, 18 hours after closing due to the accident while N.C. 903 remained closed as crews worked to clear the debris and remove the electrical building being transported by the semi-truck. Source: http://www.wral.com/us-301-reopened-after-amtrak-crash-in-halifax/14503875/

 · Two ships collided in the Houston Ship Channel near Morgan’s Point in La Porte, Texas, and spilled an unknown amount of MTBE into the water prompting the closure of the channel in both directions March 9. – KHOU 11 Houston

8. March 9, KHOU 11 Houston – (Texas) Leak contained after 2 vessels collide in Houston Ship Channel. Two ships, a bulk carrier and a chemical tanker hauling 216,000 barrels of the gasoline additive MTBE, collided in the Houston Ship Channel near Morgan’s Point in La Porte, Texas, and began spilling an unknown amount of MTBE into the water prompting the closure of the channel in both directions March 9. Authorities reported that the spill was contained while a shelter-in-place order remained in effect for about 300 residents. Source: http://www.kvue.com/story/news/state/2015/03/09/leak-contained-after-2-vessels-collide-in-houston-ship-channel/24678733/

 · The Florida Department of Education Commissioner reported March 9 that the State’s new online standardized test was the target of a cyber-attack March 5, causing issues with log-ins and prompting computer screens to turn white. – Associated Press

14. March 9, Associated Press – (Florida) Florida’s top law agency investigating cyberattack on school standardized testing program. The Florida Department of Education Commissioner reported March 9 that the State’s new online standardized test was the target of a cyber-attack March 5, causing issues with log-ins and prompting computer screens to turn white. The vendor providing the test notified officials of the attack and authorities are continuing to investigate. Source: http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/185bca9f8e144d37a57f2aac2365594b/FL--School-Testing

Financial Services Sector

3. March 10, Hudson County Jersey Journal – (New Jersey) Former Kearny councilman pleads guilty in $13M mortgage fraud scheme. A former Kearny, New Jersey councilman pleaded guilty March 9 to his role in a $13 million mortgage fraud scheme in which he and co-conspirators recruited straw buyers from 2006-2011 to purchase condominiums and creating $4.7 million worth of mortgages based on false and fraudulent loan applications and closing documents. Source: http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2015/03/ex-kearny_councilman_pleads_gu.html

4. March 9, National Mortgage News – (National) Six charged in loan modification scheme. Six suspects were charged in Salt Lake City March 5 for their supposed roles in a loan modification scheme that defrauded over 10,000 individuals nationwide out of more than $33 million. Authorities allege the suspects created CC Brown Law LLC in 2009 to execute a largely telemarketing-based scheme to sell fake home loan modification services to distressed homeowners then kept the customers’ money without performing the services. Source: http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/news/distressed/six-charged-in-loan-modification-scheme-1046193-1.html

For another story, see item 21 below in the Information Technology Sector

Information Technology Sector

18. March 10, Softpedia – (International) Exploit code published for Elasticsearch remote code execution flaw. Security researchers at Xiphos Research created an exploit for a glitch in Elasticsearch versions earlier than 1.3.8 and 1.4.3 that allows server-side code execution by passing Groovy code in a search query and executing it in the sandbox. The glitch was patched in updates released February 11. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Exploit-Code-Published-for-Elasticsearch-Remote-Code-Execution-Flaw-475361.shtml

19. March 10, Threatpost – (International) Yahoo patches critical eCommerce, small business vulnerabilities. Yahoo recently patched vulnerabilities discovered by security researchers that could have allowed attackers to gain complete access to any user-run eCommerce Web site hosted on Yahoo’s eCommerce platform, Yahoo Small Business, including all site administration privileges, access to personally identifiable information, and control over prices of items in any Yahoo store. Source: https://threatpost.com/yahoo-patches-critical-ecommerce-small-business-vulnerabilities/111519

20. March 9, Softpedia – (International) Row Hammer DRAM bug exploited, unlocks access to physical memory. Security researchers from Google’s Project Zero leveraged a known vulnerability, dubbed Row Hammer, in some dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips to identify one exploit that runs as a Native Client program and escalates privilege to call the host system SYSCALLs directly, and another that runs as a normal process on Linux and escalates privilege and allows access to data in the entire physical memory. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Row-Hammer-DRAM-Bug-Exploited-Unlocks-Access-to-Physical-Memory-475303.shtml

21. March 9, NBC News – (International) FBI investigates possible ISIS supporters’ hack of Western sites. The FBI is investigating after hackers claiming to be affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) placed black flags attributed with the group, the words “hacked by ISIS, we are everywhere,” an invalid Facebook address, and an Adobe Flash audio plugin that played a song in Arabic on several U.S. Web sites over the weekend of March 7. Some of the businesses targeted during the attack include a speedway in Ohio, a Goodwill store and digital agency in Missouri, a historic condominium complex in New York, a zoo in California, and restaurants in Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hackers-claiming-be-isis-hit-montana-credit-union-n319696

Communications Sector

Nothing to report