Complete DHS Report for December 29, 2016
Daily Report
Top Stories
• An operator at PDC Capital Group, LLC was charged December 27
after he allegedly used the firm to defraud investors in China into investing
$72 million in EB-5 projects. – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission See item 3
below in the Financial Services Sector
• Port Huron, Michigan officials reported that approximately 5,000
gallons of combined wastewater overflowed into the Black River December 26. – Port
Huron Times Herald
11. December 28, Port Huron
Times Herald – (Michigan) Wastewater discharges into Black River. The
Port Huron Wastewater Treatment Plant in Michigan reported that approximately
5,000 gallons of combined wastewater, including roughly 500 gallons of sanitary
wastewater, overflowed into the Black River by Riverside Drive at McPherson
Street December 26. Source: http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/port-huron/2016/12/28/wastewater-discharges-into-black-river/95907174/
• Officials announced December 27 that the personal information of
15,000 people may have been compromised after a former patient at the New
Hampshire Hospital in Concord accessed the information and posted it on the
Internet in October 2015. – Associated Press
12. December 27,
Associated Press – (New Hampshire) New Hampshire psychiatric patient
accused of data breach. The commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of
Health and Human Services announced December 27 that the personal information
of 15,000 people who have received department services may have been
compromised after a former patient at the New Hampshire Hospital in Concord
accessed the information using a computer in the facility’s library and posted
it on the Internet in October 2015. There is no evidence that the data was
misused or that banking information was accessed during the breach. Source: http://www.dailyprogress.com/new-hampshire-psychiatric-patient-accused-of-data-breach/article_8b048ffe-abd5-5d6e-8854-d874962d9125.html
• The former treasurer of Ballard County, Kentucky, pleaded guilty
December 27 for her role in a scheme where she obtained roughly $450,000 in
bank loans without authorization from the county’s Fiscal Court. – Glasgow
Daily Times
13. December 28, Glasgow
Daily Times – (Kentucky) Former Ballard County treasurer guilty of bank
and wire fraud. The former treasurer of Ballard County, Kentucky, pleaded
guilty December 27 for her role in a scheme where she obtained roughly $450,000
in bank loans using a $500,000 Ballard County Certificate of Deposit as
collateral without authorization from the county’s Fiscal Court and deceived
the court about the loans by failing to report the loans and concealing the
loan’s proceeds. The former treasurer also routinely wrote checks to herself
for fraudulent medical reimbursement payments that totaled more than $27,000.
Source:
http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/community/former-ballard-county-treasurer-guilty-of-bank-and-wire-fraud/article_c22bff08-5be4-5935-88c9-e52e022f1031.html
Financial Services Sector
3. December 27, U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission – (International) SEC charges lawyer
with stealing investor money in EB-5 offerings. A California-based attorney
and operator of marketing firm PDC Capital Group, LLC was charged December 27
after he allegedly used PDC Capital to defraud investors in China into
investing $72 million in several EB-5 immigrant investor program projects,
which included opening Caffe Primo restaurants, and developing assisted living
facilities, among other projects, and then outright stole at least $9.6 million
to fund his own businesses and personal expenses despite his supposed awareness
that his actions would violate Federal regulations and jeopardize the visas of
the foreign investors.Source: https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2016-281.html
For another story, see item 13
above in Top Stories
Information Technology Sector
16. December 27,
SecurityWeek – (International) IBM reports significant increase in ICS
attacks. IBM Managed Security Services reported that the number of attacks
targeting industrial control systems (ICS) increased by 110 percent in 2016
compared to 2015 due to brute force attacks on supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) systems. IBM stated that the U.S. was both the top
destination and top source of ICS attacks observed since the beginning of 2016,
with nearly 90 percent of ICS attacks targeting the U.S. and 60 percent coming
from the U.S.
Communications Sector
17. December 28,
SecurityWeek – (International) “Switcher” Android trojan hacks routers,
hijacks traffic. Kaspersky Lab researchers discovered an Android trojan,
dubbed Switcher is concealed as an Android client for the Chinese search
engine, Baidu, and a Chinese app for sharing Wi-Fi network details, and once
installed, guesses the username and password of the router that the infected
Android device is connected to in order to hack the router and replace the
device’s primary and secondary Domain Name System (DNS) servers with Internet
Protocol (IP) addresses leading to rogue DNS servers in order to redirect
traffic to a malicious Website. The researchers warned that Switcher targets
the entire network and exposes all users to a variety of secondary attacks.