Complete DHS Report for March18, 2015
Daily Report
Top Stories
· Three
suspects were charged March 16 in Connecticut for their roles in a multimillion
dollar international fraud scheme in which they allegedly used altered
documents and a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to secure loans and
transfer funds to banks overseas. – U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of
Connecticut See
item 6 below in the Financial Services Sector
· A water
advisory was issued for Port Angeles Harbor in Washington March 16 – March 23
following heavy rainfall that caused 7 million gallons of diluted sewage to
spill into the water. – Peninsula Daily News
15. March
16, Peninsula Daily News – (Washington) Rainfall pushes 7 million
gallons of diluted sewage into Port Angeles Harbor; health officials urge that
people stay out of water. Clallam County public health officials issued a
water advisory March 16 for Port Angeles Harbor in Washington following heavy
rainfall March 15 that caused 7 million gallons of diluted sewage to spill into
the water. The advisory was expected to remain in effect until March 23.
Source: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150316/NEWS/150319978
· Nearly
$5 million was seized from accounts affiliated with North Carolina-based Gate
City Transportation after the company allegedly billed Medicaid over $19
million for fraudulent ambulance services. – Greensboro News & Record
16. March 17,
Greensboro News & Record – (North Carolina) Government
seizes close to $5 million from Gate City Transportation and owner. Documents
filed with the U.S. District Court in Greensboro stated that the federal
government seized nearly $5 million from accounts affiliated with Gate City
Transportation and its owner after the non-emergency medical transportation
company allegedly billed Medicaid over $19 million for ambulance services from
January 2011 to September 2014 while only providing transportation services.
The company filed fraudulent paperwork stating that they provided basic life
support services to patients during transport, even though they did not own any
ambulances after the fall of 2010. Source: http://www.news-record.com/news/local_news/government-seizes-close-to-million-from-gate-city-transportation-and/article_6da7946e-cc5d-11e4-a3e0-1b5cedce9769.html
· Oregon-based
Advantage Dental reported March 16 that information for over 151,000 patients
was accessed after its internal membership database was breached in February
when an employee’s computer was infected with malware. – Bend Bulletin
17. March 16, Bend Bulletin – (Oregon) Advantage
Dental reports data breach. Redmond-based Advantage Dental reported March
16 that personal information, including Social Security numbers, of over
151,000 patients was accessed after its internal membership database was
breached in February when an employee’s computer was infected with malware. The
company has taken additional security steps to prevent any future attacks and
continues to investigate. Source: http://www.bendbulletin.com/health/2984021-151/advantage-dental-reports-more-than-151000-patient-records#
Financial Services Sector
5. March
16, KERO 23 Bakersfield – (California) Three defendants plead
guilty in Bakersfield mortgage fraud scheme. Three Bakersfield residents
pleaded guilty March 16 to charges related to a $5.6 million mortgage fraud
scheme in which the defendants allegedly conspired with others to use straw
buyers and fraudulent loan applications to purchase properties developed by
Jara Brother Investments and Pershing Partners LLC from 2007-2010. Four
co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty in connection to the scheme and two
others were indicted in the case. Source: http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/three-defendants-plead-guilty-in-bakersfield-mortgage-fraud-scheme
6. March
16, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut –
(International) Three individuals charged with defrauding banks and USDA
export financing program. The U.S. District Attorney for Connecticut
announced March 16 that three suspects were charged for their roles in a
multimillion dollar fraud scheme in which they allegedly used altered documents
and a U.S. Department of Agriculture export financing program to secure loans
from U.S. financial institutions, and then transferred the funds to foreign
banks in Russia for a commission. The foreign banks defaulted on over $10
million worth of loans from 2007-2012. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/newhaven/press-releases/2015/three-individuals-charged-with-defrauding-banks-and-usda-export-financing-program
Information Technology Sector
22. March 17, Softpedia – (International) D-Link
patches against critical remote command and code execution flaws. D-Link
released firmware updates patching two critical vulnerabilities that allowed
attackers to intercept network traffic and execute commands on vulnerable
devices and exploit cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks to create,
modify, or delete data and execute code. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/D-Link-Patches-Against-Critical-Remote-Command-and-Code-Execution-Flaws-475976.shtml
23. March 16, IDG News Service – (International) OpenSSL
mystery patches due for release Thursday. The OpenSSL Project Team released
an advisory stating that several undisclosed security vulnerabilities in the
open-source encryption software which utilizes the Secure Sockets
Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TSL) protocol will be patched March 19 in
versions 1.0.2a, 1.0.1m, 1.0.0r, and 0.9.8zf. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/article/2897793/openssl-mystery-patches-due-for-release-thursday.html
24. March 14, ZDNet – (International) BlackBerry
begins slow rollout for FREAK security flaw, most devices still at risk. BlackBerry
confirmed that all versions of newer BlackBerry 10 and older 7.1 devices along
with Blackberry Enterprise Service 12 and earlier, as well as the BlackBerry
messenger app on Android, iPhones, Windows phones, and iPads are all vulnerable
to Factoring RSA-EXPORT Key (FREAK) attacks that intercept encrypted traffic
and force weaker encryption. Blackberry is working to mitigate the
vulnerability. Source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/blackberry-slow-to-respond-to-freak-flaw-says-it-has-no-fix/
Communications Sector
Nothing to report