Complete DHS Report for
November 25, 2015
Daily Report
Top Stories
• Utility crews worked to restore power to 29,000 customers
that remained without service in Spokane County November 23 while public
schools remained closed through November 27following a November 17 winter
storm. – Associated Press
1.
November 23, Associated Press –
(Washington) Tens of thousands in Washington state shiver without power. Utility
crews worked to restore power to 29,000customers that remained without service
in Spokane County November 23 following a November 17 winter storm that downed
power poles and trees, and knocked out power to 180,000 customers. Public
schools were closed through November 27 due to the outage and debris that
blocked sidewalks. Source:
http://www.theolympian.com/news/state/washington/article46036540.html
• The U.S. Department of State issued a worldwide travel
alert November 23 through February 24 citing increased threats from militant
groups, and urged the public to remain vigilant and ware of surroundings during
travel. – Reuters
9. November
24, Reuters – (International) U.S. issues global travel alert as manhunt continues
for Paris attackers. The U.S. Department of State issued a worldwide travel
alert November 23 through February 24 citing increased threats from militant
groups, and urged the public to remain vigilant and aware of surroundings
during travel. Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/24/us-france-shooting-belgium-idUSKCN0TA03H20151124
• Highway 42 in Clayton was shut down between Glen Laurel
and Castleberry Road for approximately 14 hours November 23 – November 24 after
crews hit an 8-inchunderground gas line in the area that caused a gas leak. – WTVD
11 Durham
10. November
24, WTVD 11 Durham – (North Carolina) NC-42 reopen after major gas leak in Clayton. Highway
42 in Clayton was shut down between Glen Laurel and Castleberry Road for
approximately 14 hours November 23 – November 24 after crews hit an 8-inch
underground gas line in the area that caused a gas leak. Source: http://abc11.com/traffic/nc-42-shut-down-in-clayton-due-to-major-gas-leak/1096312/
• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are
investigating cases of E. coli illnesses linked to Costco Wholesale chicken
salad products in Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Washington November 23. – Associated
Press
18. November
23, Associated Press – (National) Costco pulls chicken salad off shelves due to E.
coli. The Washington State Department of Health reported November 23 that
at least one case of E. coli in King County was linked to chicken salad
purchased at Costco Wholesale Corporation stores after a person fell ill from
consuming the product. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported that Colorado, Montana, and Utah have also confirmed E. coli cases
linked to the product. Source: http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2015/11/23/costco-pulls-chicken-salad-off-shelves-due-to-e-coli/76295426/
Financial Services Sector
8. November
24, Softpedia – (International) ModPOS is a sophisticated criminal malware
framework targeting POS devices. Security specialists from iSIGHT Partners
discovered November 24 a new complex form of malware called ModPOS that targets
U.S. retailers’ point-of-sale (PoS) systems via its three modules including Uploader/Downloader,
Keylogger, and POS Scrapper that use obfuscation and encryption to evade
security software and use its command and control (C&C) server to instruct
the infected device to fetch other modules, once the stolen information is deemed
valuable. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/modpos-is-a-sophisticated-criminal-malware-framework-targeting-pos-devices-496643.shtml
For another story, see item 35 below from the Commercial Facilities Sector
35. November
23, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – (Wisconsin) Wilderness resort
reports credit card data breach. Wisconsin Dells officials reported
November 23 that its Wilderness Resort’s point-of-sale (PoS) system for processing
credit and debit card transactions was compromised and may affect guests with
reservations from March 9 – June 8 after a malware was found in its systems.
The malware was removed and the resort is offering one year of free credit
monitoring to guests who may have been affected. Source: http://www.jsonline.com/business/wilderness-resort-reports-credit-card-data-breach-b99621592z1-353041801.html
Information Technology Sector
28. November
24, Securityweek – (International) Lenovo patches privilege escalation flaws in
system update. Lenovo released a new version of its System Update software
addressing a security flaw, including a local unprivileged vulnerability, in
which an attacker can gain administrative privileges on a victim’s system by
predicting the temporary administration account generated by SUService.exe, as
well as allowing a local unprivileged attacker to execute commands on users’
Windows systems. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/lenovo-patches-privilege-escalation-flaws-system-update
29. November
24, IDG News Service – (International) Dell security error widens as researchers dig
deeper. Researchers from Duo Security discovered that new Dell laptops were
found with a self-signed root digital certificate, eDellRoot, which can allow
attackers to conduct a man-in-the-middle attack, spy on incoming data, and use
private keys to create their own digital certificates to produce fake Web sites
that appear legitimate. Dell Inc. reported they plan to release instructions on
how to remove the certificates. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3008077/security/dell-security-error-widens-as-researchers-dig-deeper.html#tk.rss_security
30. November
23, Softpedia – (International) ISIS retaliates against Anonymous, leaks data
of “To-be-killed” US officials. Hackers from the Islamic State Hacking
Division leaked a list containing data about employees who served on bases
located in the Middle East, including personnel from the U.S. Defense
Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the CIA, and the National Counterterrorism
Center, the U.S. National Guard, and other Federal government agencies, via a
Twitter account. The leak was contained. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/isis-retaliates-against-anonymous-leaks-data-of-to-be-killed-us-officials-496593.shtml
31. November
23, Softpedia – (International) Researchers find multiple Chrome extensions
secretly tracking users. Researchers from Detectify Labs discovered that
Google Chrome extensions including HooverZoom, SpeakIt, ProxFlow, Instant
Translate, and other extensions were embedded with an analytics code to track
users’ browsing history, collect data from cookies, and view secret access
tokens from Facebook Connect without users’ consent while surfing across Web
sites in different browser tabs. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/researchers-find-multiple-chrome-extensions-secretly-tracking-users-496596.shtml
Communications Sector
Nothing to report