Complete DHS Report for October 14, 2016
Daily Report
Top Stories
• The U.S. Coast Guard and other authorities responded October 11
to a 20,000-gallon diesel fuel spill on the Intracoastal Waterway near Port
Isabel, Texas, after a towing vessel struck a dock and released the fuel. – KTRK
13 Houston
1. October 12, KTRK 13
Houston – (Texas) Coast Guard: 20,000 gallons of diesel spills into
water near South Padre Island. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and other
authorities responded October 11 to a 20,000-gallon diesel fuel spill on the
Intracoastal Waterway near Port Isabel, Texas, after a towing vessel struck a
dock and released the fuel. The cause of the collision is under investigation
and the USCG is working to assess the impact on the waterway and surrounding
areas. Source: http://abc13.com/news/coast-guard-20000-gallons-of-diesel-spills-into-waterway/1551945/
• Toyota Motor Corporation issued a recall October 12 for around
92,000 of its model years 2016 – 2017 Toyota Prius vehicles due to a problem
affecting the parking brakes that could cause the brake to become inoperative
without warning, thereby allowing the vehicle to roll away and increasing the
risk of injury. – TheCarConnection.com
4. October 12,
TheCarConnection.com – (International) 2016-2017 Toyota Prius recalled
to fix faulty parking brake: 92,000 U.S. vehicles affected. Toyota Motor
Corporation issued a recall October 12 for around 92,000 of its model years
2016 – 2017 Toyota Prius vehicles sold in the U.S. due to a problem affecting
the parking brakes that could cause the brake to become inoperative without
warning, thereby allowing the vehicle to roll away if it is not shifted into
park and increasing the risk of injury. The recall affects an additional
212,000 vehicles sold in Japan and 17,000 sold in Europe. Source: http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1106630_2016-2017-toyota-prius-recalled-to-fix-faulty-parking-brake-92000-u-s-vehicles-affected
• The owner of Budget Finance Company in New Martinsville, West
Virginia, was charged October 12 for allegedly running a more than $31 million
Ponzi scheme from 2005 – 2015. – U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District
of Ohio See item 6 below in the Financial Services Sector
• About 1 million gallons of untreated wastewater spilled into
Jack’s Creek in Washington, North Carolina, October 9 – October 10 after a
power outage and flooding from Hurricane Matthew caused a pump station to
overflow. – Washington Daily News
16. October 11,
Washington Daily News – (North Carolina) 1m gallons of wastewater spill
into creek. Approximately 1 million gallons of untreated wastewater spilled
into Jack’s Creek in Washington, North Carolina, October 9 – October 10 after a
power outage and flooding from Hurricane Matthew caused the pump station at
Fifth and Respess streets to overflow. Source: http://www.thewashingtondailynews.com/2016/10/11/1m-gallons-of-wastewater-spill-into-creek/
Financial Services Sector
5. October 13, WTVR 6
Richmond – (North Carolina; Virginia) 4 arrested in Caroline County
skimming scam after police chase. Four Brooklyn, New York residents were
charged the week of October 10 in Caroline County, Virginia, for their roles in
a credit card skimming scam after authorities discovered roughly 75 credit
cards, a card skimming device, and a credit card embossing machine, among other
illicit materials in the suspects’ vehicle. The individuals are suspected of
conducting credit card skimming operations at truck stops in North Carolina and
Virginia. Source:
http://wtvr.com/2016/10/12/4-arrested-in-caroline-county-skimming-scam-after-police-chase
6. October 13, U.S.
Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio – (National) Fraud charges
filed against owner of Budget Finance Company. The owner of Budget Finance
Company in New Martinsville, West Virginia, was charged October 12 for
allegedly running a more than $31 million Ponzi scheme from 2005 – 2015 where
she defrauded investors by mailing checks to those who requested periodic
payments, and sending them fake quarterly investment statements indicating
their account balances and interest paid. The charges allege the owner used
funds from new investors to repay previous investors, causing at least 25
investors between $9.5 million and $25 million in losses. Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/fraud-charges-filed-against-owner-budget-finance-company
For another story, see item 21
below from the Commercial
Facilities Sector
21. October 13, Softpedia
– (International) Vera Bradley retail stores expose payment card data
after PoS malware infection. Vera Bradley reported October 13 a breach in
its payment card processing system after finding point-of-sale (PoS) malware on
its network, which allowed a hacker to collect payment card data including card
numbers, cardholder names, expiration dates, and internal verification codes.
Officials reported the malware was active between July 25 and September 23 and
only affected those customers who shopped at the company’s retail locations. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/vera-bradley-retail-stores-expose-payment-card-data-after-pos-malware-infection-509237.shtml
Information Technology Sector
19. October 13,
SecurityWeek – (International) Attackers actively exploit recently
patched BIND flaw. The Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) reported that it
learned a high severity denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability patched in the
Domain Name Server (DNS) software BIND was exploited in the wild to crash
servers after Infobyte security researchers published a proof-of-concept (PoC) code
and Metasploit module demonstrating the attack.
20. October12,
SecurityWeek – (International) Cerber 4.0 fuels new wave of ransomware
attacks. Trend Micro security researchers reported that the latest variant
of the Cerber ransomware, dubbed Cerber 4.0 was being dropped by the RIG,
Neutrino, and Magnitude exploit kits (EK) in malvertising campaigns.
Researchers also found Cerber 4.0 uses a randomly generated file extension, and
has shifted from a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) ransom note to an HTML
Application (HTA) format. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/cerber-40-fuels-new-wave-ransomware-attacks
Communications Sector
Nothing to report