Thursday, January 21, 2016



Complete DHS Report for January 21, 2016

Daily Report                                            

Top Stories

• The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a warning January 19 advising taxpayers to be aware of callers impersonating Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and threatening victims to pay back-owed taxes. – ABC News See item 3 below in the Financial Services Sector

• Authorities are investigating various threats of violence made via robocalls towards dozens of schools in six States January 19 which prompted evacuations, closures, and searches. – Washington Post

15. January 19, Washington Post – (National) Police investigate threats against schools in six states. Authorities are investigating various threats of violence made towards dozens of schools in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts January 19 which prompted evacuations, closures, and searches. No suspicious items were found and many of the threats were made via computer-generated robocalls. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/police-investigate-threats-against-schools-in-six-states/2016/01/19/49ffdc92-bee2-11e5-9443-7074c3645405_story.html

• The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) reported that there was a surge in incidents involving U.S. critical infrastructure in fiscal year 2015, which brought the total count to 295 incidents. – SecurityWeek See item 21 below in the Information Technology Sector

• A 4-alarm fire January 19 at a Center City, Pennsylvania apartment building prompted the response of 120 firefighters, an evacuation of 21 apartment units, and an evacuation of a surrounding apartment complex. – WCAU 10 Philadelphia

23. January 19, WCAU 10 Philadelphia – (Pennsylvania) Fire, now ice: Center City apartment fire. A 4-alarm fire January 19 at a Center City, Pennsylvania apartment building prompted the evacuation of 21 apartment units and a surrounding apartment complex, and caused more than 120 firefighters to remain on site for over 2 hours containing the incident. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries and an investigation is ongoing to determine the cause of the blaze. Source: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Center-City-Apartment-Fire-Philadelphia-365830431.html

Financial Services Sector

1. January 19, Canton Repository – (Ohio) Lake Twp. man pleads guilty in investment fraud case. The owner of Lake Township-based Keystone Capital Management pleaded guilty January 19 to one count of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering charges after he reportedly ran a Ponzi scheme which defrauded 19 investors out of nearly $5.5 million between October 2009 and September 2013. The owner also used his client’s money to pay personal and business expenses and promote and prolong his investment scheme, among other illegal actions. Source: http://www.cantonrep.com/article/20160119/NEWS/160119215

2. January 19, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (Colorado) SEC: Alternative fund manager overcharged fees, misled investors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced January 19 that Equinox Fund Management LLC agreed to pay $400,000 in penalties, $600,000 in prejudgment interest, and $5.4 million in refunds to investors to settle allegations that the company overcharged management fees and misled investors by deviating from its valuation methodology for its future funds, The Frontier Fund (TFF) holdings. Source: https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2016-11.html

3. January 19, ABC News – (National) US Department of Treasury warns taxpayers about a ‘frightening’ fraud scam. The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a warning January 19 advising taxpayers to be aware of callers impersonating Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and threatening victims to pay back-owed taxes following reports that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) received 900,000 reports of fraudulent calls, resulting in over $26.5 million in victim losses since October 2013. TIGTA is urging people to hang up on the fraudulent callers. Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/us-department-treasury-warns-taxpayers-frightening-fraud-scam/story?id=36366276

For another story, see item 21 above in Top Stories

Information Technology Sector

17. January 20, Softpedia – (International) Apple releases 28 security fixes for iOS, OS X and Safari. Apple released 28 security patches for its iOS and Mac OS X operating systems (OS) and its Safari web browser through updated versions of OS X El Capitan 10.11.13, Safari 9.0.3, and OS X kernel that addressed critical vulnerabilities and allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code in the operating system’s kernel and execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system to trick a victim into accessing a malicious Web site. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/apple-releases-28-security-fixes-for-ios-os-x-and-safari-499159.shtml

18. January 20, Help Net Security – (International) Intel patches MiTM flaw in its Driver Update Utility. Intel Corporation patched a remotely exploitable vulnerability in its Intel Driver Update Utility program that could have been exploited by attackers to conduct a man-in-the-middle (MiTM) attack to corrupt transferred data, leak information, and conduct arbitrary code execution. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=19349
19. January 20, SecurityWeek – (International) Oracle released 248 security fixes. Oracle released its Critical Patch Update (CPU) that fixed 248 vulnerabilities including authentication flaws and security issues in its Oracle Database, Java SE, and Oracle E-Business Suite, as well as other products. The company advised users to ensure all their products were updated to the newest versions to avoid exploitation. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/oracle-releases-248-security-fixes

20. January 20, The Register – (International) Cisco patches borked web box proxy hole. Cisco released a patch fixing a vulnerability in its Web Security Appliance versions 8.5.3-055, 9.1.0-000, and 9.5.0-235 that allowed unauthenticated remote attackers to circumvent functionality that prevents proxied network traffic and bypass security restrictions due to improper handling of malformed Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) methods. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/20/cisco_patches_borked_web_box_proxy_hole/

21. January 20, SecurityWeek – (International) Critical infrastructure incidents increased in 2015: ICS-CERT. The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) reported that there was an increase in incidents involving U.S. critical infrastructure in fiscal year 2015, increasing the total count to 295 incidences. Officials reported the increase was due to a spear-phishing campaign launched by an advanced persistent threat (APT) group against organizations in critical manufacturing, energy, transportation systems, government facilities, healthcare, and the communications sector, among other sectors. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/critical-infrastructure-incidents-increased-2015-ics-cert

Communications Sector

See Item 21 above in Top Stories