Monday, October 26, 2015



Complete DHS Report for October 26, 2015

Daily Report                                            

Top Stories

 • Officials announced October 22 that Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc., will pay $20 million as part of a settlement following the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. – Birmingham Business Journal

1. October 22, Birmingham Business Journal – (Alabama) Alabama to receive $20M from Transocean settlement. The governor of Alabama announced October 22 that Switzerland-based Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc., will pay $20 million, which will go into the Alabama State General Fund, as part of a settlement following the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers, caused a massive fire, and leaked over 3 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The settlement is part of a series of settlements reached to help boost local economies following the disaster.

 • Three additional cases of Shigella were reported October 22 in 2 California Bay Area counties, increasing the total amount of illnesses to 93. – Los Angeles Times

14. October 22, Los Angeles Times – (California) Shigella outbreak linked to San Jose restaurant spreads to other Bay Area counties. The San Mateo County Health System reported October 22 that 3 additional cases of Shigella were reported in 2 Bay Area counties, increasing the total amount of illnesses to at least 93 cases following an October 18 outbreak linked to a Mariscos San Juan Restaurant. Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/shigella-outbreak-linked-to-san-jose-restaurant-spreads-to-other-bay-area-counties/ar-BBmiW9G

 • Tennessee State University was closed October 23 following an October 22 fight in which an individual shot multiple rounds, killing 1 bystander and injuring 3 others. – Nashville The Tennessean

19. October 23, Nashville The Tennessean – (Tennessee) TSU campus fatal shooting victim identified. Tennessee State University was closed October 23 following a physical fight that broke out during a dice game on campus October 22 which led to an individual pulling out a gun and firing multiple rounds, killing 1 bystander and injuring 3 others. The shooter remains at large and authorities reported that the incident occurred over a dispute and that the campus is safe. Source: http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2015/10/23/3-shot-tsu-campus-one-critical-condition/74443452/

 • Federal and State officials brought charges against 25 individuals in 14 indictments October 22 for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and the National Guard Bureau through the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program. – U.S. Department of Justice

20. October 22, U.S. Department of Justice – (National) Twenty-five individuals indicted for wire fraud. The U.S. Department of Justice along with several other State and Federal agencies collaborated in an investigation that brought forward charges against 25 individuals in 14 separate indictments October 22 for their alleged participation in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and the National Guard Bureau of money and property by utilizing recruiters and recruiter assistants to enlist new members into the U.S. Army National Guard. The individuals allegedly cheated the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP) by creating accounts and entering false information in order to obtain recruiting bonuses. Source: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/twenty-five-individuals-indicted-wire-fraud

Financial Services Sector

6. October 22, Denver Post – (Colorado) Federal grand jury in Denver indicts pair in investment fraud. Two suspects from Colorado Springs and Nevada were indicted in the week of October 19 on charges alleging that they bilked over $17 million from investors from 2010 – 2011 through a fraudulent collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) loan scheme, and diverted substantial funds for personal use. One of the suspects reportedly misrepresented his experience and contact to investors in order to secure their funds.  Source: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29009638/federal-grand-jury-denver-indicts-pair-investment-fraud

Information Technology Sector

22. October 23, Softpedia – (International) CCTV cameras hijacked to form worldwide DDoS botnet. Security researchers from Incapsula discovered that hackers had used brute-force attacks to compromise over 900 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras running the BusyBox operating system (OS) and install malware derived from ELF_BASHLITE to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET request floods. One device was recorded sending over 20,000 HTTP requests per second. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/cctv-cameras-hijacked-to-form-worldwide-ddos-botnet-495166.shtml

23. October 23, Threatpost – (International) Joomla update patches critical SQL injection vulnerability. Joomla developers released an update to its content management system (CMS) addressing a Structured Query Language (SQL) injection vulnerability which could allow an attacker to gain access to data in a Web site’s backend, due to code in a Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) file in Joomla’s Administrator folder. The update also addressed two sets of inadequate access control list (ACL) checks that could have allowed potential read access to restricted data.Source: https://threatpost.com/joomla-update-patches-critical-sql-injection-vulnerability/115142/

For another story, see item 5 below from the Critical Manufacturing Sector

5. October 23, Softpedia – (International) Internet-connected cars can be tracked by anyone, not just governments. A researcher from Security Innovation and the University of Twente discovered that smart cars using V2X technology could have their locations tracked using $550 Wi-Fi sniffers that have digital signatures unique to each vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and European authorities proposed that V2X transmitters utilize pseudonyms for vehicles to enhance security. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/internet-connected-cars-can-be-tracked-by-anyone-not-just-governments-495161.shtml

Communications Sector

 24. October 22, KITV 4 Honolulu – (Hawaii) Phone outage on Big Island, Maui resolved. Hawaiian Telecom costumers experienced a widespread outage on the Big Island and Maui County October 22 due to a damaged aerial fiber-optic cable. Crews restored service and repaired the damage. Source: http://www.kitv.com/news/widespread-phone-disruptions-reported-on-big-island-maui-co/35991678

For another story, see item 21 below from the Emergency Services Sector

21. October 22, Associated Press – (National) FCC cuts inmates a break on phone call rates. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved October 22 to cap rates on all local calls, in-state long distance, interstate and international calls made by inmates in jails and prisons nationwide, among other changes, scheduled to go into effect in 2016.