Complete DHS Report for
December 3, 2015
Daily Report
Top Stories
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged
Connecticut-based companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner, as well as its founder
December 1 for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme in which more than 10,000
investors were bilked out of $20 million. – U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission See item
6 below in the Financial Services
Sector
• Officials reported December 2 that the nationwide recall
of celery products contaminated with E. coli expanded to include more than
155,000 products in 18 States sold in several commercial stores. – ABC News
12. December
2, ABC News – (National) Concern over E.coli outbreak leads to celery
recall at major grocery stores. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
reported December 2 that the nationwide recall of celery products contaminated
with E. coli expanded to include more than 155,000 products in 18 States after
the products were linked to California-based Tracy Farms Pacific Inc. The
recall was expanded to include products sold at numerous grocery store chains
including Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, and Safeway stores, among other
retailers. Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/fda-celery-recall-expanded-major-grocery-stores/story?id=35526676
• Emergency 9-1-1 service for portions of Mitchell County,
Iowa, remained down December 2, requiring residents to use cellular phones
after service became unavailable for customers November 25. – Mason County
Globe Gazette
23. December
2, Mason County Globe Gazette – (Iowa) Partial 911 outage
continues in Mitchell County. Emergency 9-1-1 service for portions of
Mitchell County remained down December 2, requiring residents to use cellular
phones or call an administrative line after service became unavailable for
Windstream and Century Link customers November 25. The county’s emergency
services coordinator reported that the issue appeared to be with the telephone
companies, not with the county’s 9-1-1 equipment. Source: http://globegazette.com/news/local/partial-outage-continues-in-mitchell-county/article_d4b07bee-5c17-5d45-8e19-28832e5901dd.html
• Three Virginia men were indicted in Federal court
December 1 for three-counts of robbery conspiracy following an FBI
investigation that revealed the men were plotting to attack synagogues and
black churches with stolen machinery. – Associated Press
26. December
2, Associated Press – (Virginia) Federal grand jury indicts 3 in alleged race war
plot. Three Virginia men were indicted in Federal court December 1 for three-counts
of robbery conspiracy following an FBI undercover investigation that revealed
the men were plotting to rob a silver and coin dealer, use the money to buy
weapons and land, as well as train for a race war, all in an attempt to shoot
or use explosive devices to attack synagogues and black churches. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/02/us/ap-us-church-attack-plot.html?_r=0
Financial Services Sector
6. December
1, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (Connecticut)
SEC charges Bitcoin mining companies. Officials
from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged
Connecticut-based companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner, as well as its founder
December 1 for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme in which more than 10,000
investors were bilked of $20 million from August 2014 – December 2014 by
participating in a fraudulent mining scheme in which the companies promised
returns earned by the Bitcoin mining activities, but never directed funds
towards such activities. Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-271.html
Information Technology Sector
24. December
2, Securityweek – (International) Google patches over dozen serious flaws in
Chrome. Google reported December 1 that its newest version of Chrome 47
includes 41 security patches that address a dozen high severity issues
discovered by independent researchers including out-of-bounds access
vulnerabilities in V8, Skia, PDFium, use-after-free flaws in Extensions and
Document Object Model (DOM), and a type confusion in PDFium, among other
patched vulnerabilities. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/google-patches-over-dozen-serious-flaws-chrome
Communications Sector
25. December
1, KSL 5 Salt Lake City – (Utah) Thieves steal $100K in batteries,
wires from SLC cellphone towers. Authorities are searching for the individuals
responsible for 5 thefts that occurred between November 30 and December 1 at
cellphone towers in Salt Lake City, which left between $80,000 and $100,000 in
total damages. Suspects stole batteries and copper wires at each site.