Complete DHS Report for January 26, 2016
Daily Report
Top Stories
• The South Coast Air Quality Management District forced
Southern California Gas Co., to begin the immediate shut down of a damaged well
leaking natural gas at its storage facility in Porter Ranch and establish a
detention center, among other actions January 23. – Los Angeles Times
1. January
23, Los Angeles Times – (California) Regulators order new steps to
contain gas leak near Porter Ranch. The Hearing Board of the South Coast
Air Quality Management District approved an abatement order January 23
requiring Southern California Gas Co., to begin the immediate shut down of a
damaged well leaking natural gas at its Aliso Canyon storage facility in Porter
Ranch, establish a leak detention system, and conduct an independent health
study. Once the leak is stopped and the well is shut down the utility is
required to improve air quality monitoring in the San Fernando Valley
community, among other requirements. Source: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-porter-ranch-regulators-approve-comprehensive-abatement-order-over-massive-gas-leak-20160123-story.html
• The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
issued a recall January 22 for approximately 5 million vehicles equipped with
potentially defective Takata Corp air bag inflators. – Reuters
4. January
22, Reuters – (National) New Takata air bag recall to cover five million
U.S. vehicles. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
issued a recall
January 22 for approximately 5 million
vehicles equipped with potentially defective Takata Corp air bag inflators
after testing and a fatal accident in December 2015 revealed that the inflators
can explode and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger areas. The
automakers affected by the recent recall included Volkswagen AG, Audi AG,
Daimler's Mercedes-Benz AG, Saab Automobile AB, and four others that were
manufactured or distributed in the U.S. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-takata-recalls-exclusive-idUSKCN0V02BS
• A severe winter storm January 23 – January 24 caused at
least 28 deaths, over 16,000 flight cancellations, multiple airport closures,
and power outages affecting 250,000 customers. – USA Today
7. January
24, USA Today – (National) Blizzard 2016: What you need to know the day
after. A severe winter storm January 23 – January 24 impacted over 60
million people along the east coast and dumped approximately 17 – 30 inches of
snow in several States, which lead to at least 28 storm-related deaths, a
travel ban, the shutdown of public transportation, over 16,000 flight
cancellations, multiple airport closures, and power outages affecting 250,000
customers. Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/24/blizzard-2106-everything-you-need-know/79259422/
• The U.S. President’s administration announced January 22
that the U.S. Department of Defense will take over the storage of records from
Federal background checks following a 2015 cybersecurity breach. – New York
Times
17. January
22, New York Times – (National) Storage of records of background checks shifted
after last year’s security breach. The U.S. President’s administration
announced January 22 that the U.S. Department of Defense will take over the
storage of
records from Federal background checks following a 2015 cybersecurity breach at
the U.S. Office of Personnel Management which compromised the personal
information of more than 20 million people. A new agency, the National
Background Investigations Bureau, will be in charge of processing Federal
background checks and the information will be stored in the Internet “cloud,”
among other changes announced as part of the background check system overhaul. Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/us/politics/storage-of-records-of-background-checks-shifted-after-last-years-security-breach.html
Financial Services Sector
5. January
22, San Francisco Bay City News – (California) 3 arrested in
insurance fraud scheme that intentionally damaged cars near Salinas. The
owners of San, Francisco-based Universal Automotive and West Market Auto Body
were arrested January 22 for conspiracy to commit a crime and insurance fraud
after the three men and 11 suspected auto shops allegedly participated in a $1
million “scratch out” insurance-fraud scheme in which they convinced car owners
to vandalize undamaged cars offsite and file false insurance claims, splitting
the money for the repairs with the car owner and keeping the remaining money
for profit. Source: http://kron4.com/2016/01/22/3-arrested-in-insurance-fraud-scheme-that-intentionally-damaged-cars-near-salinas/
Information Technology Sector
21. January
25, SecurityWeek – (International) Backdoor found in several Fortinet products. Fortinet
released an advisory stating that several of its products including versions of
FortiSwitch switches, FortiAnalyzer centralized log and reporting appliances,
and FortiCache web cashing appliances were susceptible to a management
authentication flaw after company researchers discovered the flaw affected
various products following previous reports that the bug only affected its
FortiOS system. The flaw can be exploited to log in to vulnerable devices with
administration privileges via a shell scripting (SSH) in Interactive-Keyboard mode using
a shared password used among all devices. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/backdoor-found-several-fortinet-products
22. January
25, Softpedia – (International) Simple yet efficient Linux backdoor Trojan
discovered. Security researchers from Dr. Web discovered a trojan with
backdoor capabilities named Linux.BackDoor.Xunpes can copy files, delete files,
launch files into execution, run bash commands, and log keystrokes, among other
actions by infecting a device via a dropper component that downloads the
malware payload and enable attackers to send over 40 different types of
commands to any infected host through a command and control (C&C) server. Source:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/simple-yet-efficient-linux-backdoor-trojan-discovered-499371.shtml
23. January
24, Softpedia – (International) XSS bug in Magento allows attackers to take
over online shops. The Magento project released patches fixing a stored
cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in its content management system (CMS)
that powers online shops after security researchers from Sucuri discovered that
the flaw can be exploited when users register a new account or when users change
their current account’s email address as the CMS system has an improper data
filtering mechanism that allows attackers to enter malicious code next to their
email addresses, allowing hackers to steal cookies and use them to illegally
access the site later, among other malicious actions. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/xss-bug-in-magento-allows-attackers-to-take-over-online-shops-499331.shtml
24. January
22, SecurityWeek – (International) CryptoWall 4.0 spreading via Angler Exploit
Kit. Bitdefender researchers discovered that the CrytoWall 4.0 was added to
the Angler Exploit Kit (EK) to encrypt files on an infected device and allow
attackers to demand users pay a ransom in order to decrypt files by disguising
itself as an AV solutions tester to protect user’s data, while encrypting
victims’ data and convincing victims that the “CryptoWall Project” is not
malicious.
Communications Sector
Nothing to report