Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Complete DHS Daily Report for July 23, 2008
Daily Report
• The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed a $9,600 fine against Source Production and Equipment Co., Inc. in Louisiana, for failing to comply with NRC safety requirements regarding the use of a specific shipping package for transporting radioactive material. (See item 4)
• Government inspectors found the same bacteria strain on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled in Texas and issued a stronger warning for consumers to avoid fresh jalapenos. (See item 23)
Banking and Finance Sector
9. July 22, Tampa Tribune – (Florida) Negligent Florida let criminals infect mortgage industry. A Miami Herald investigation has found that from 2000 to 2007, regulators approved 10,529 people with criminal records to work in the mortgage profession. Some of these criminals committed nearly $85 million in mortgage fraud, stealing customers’ identities, their savings and even their homes. Regulators ignored a state law adopted in 2006 requiring criminal background checks on mortgage brokers. The backgrounds of more than half the people who wrote mortgages in Florida were never checked. Despite the epidemic of mortgage fraud in recent years, license revocations declined during the last five years. And regulators allowed at least 20 brokers to keep their license after committing fraud. The Herald also found more than 5,000 people with criminal records became loan originators between 2000 and 2007 - including 2,201 who had committed financial crimes such as “fraud, money laundering and grand theft.” Source: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jul/22/na-negligent-florida-let-criminals-infect-mortgage/
10. July 21, KING 5 Seattle – (Washington) Dozens of bank accounts drained in debit card scam. Dozens of victims have come forward after their bank accounts were drained by thieves. At least 75 people fell victim to a scam by simply using their debit card at a gas station and detectives expect many more reports to come in. Over the Fourth of July weekend, a highly organized group using stolen debit card information withdrew thousands of dollars from Pierce County, Washington, citizens’ bank accounts. The information was obtained by using electronic skimming machines placed on gas pumps at an ARCO gas Station in Pierce County. Detectives believe the information was stolen in August 2007. Almost a year later, the information was used at multiple banks to withdraw thousand of dollars from each account. This was done over the three-day weekend to avoid detection. The card numbers and pins were trapped and stolen at the station and were used at ATMs throughout the King County area. Most card loses are around $1,200, but some are much higher – up to $4,000, depending on account balance or overdraft rules. If anyone has used that ARCO station during that time frame, they should contact their financial institution and get a new card issued. Source: http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_072108WAB_credit_card_scam_KC.7bbe6bc4.html
11. July 21, Better Business Bureau Connecticut – (National) BBB Connecticut reports rogue debt collectors breaking the law. As Americans struggle to cope with rising debt loads, complaints to Better Business Bureaus about some debt collection practices increased 26 percent in 2007. Consumers’ most common complaints concern rude telephone calls, threats to have them arrested, using other forms of intimidation and violating federal law by ignoring the Do Not Call Registry. Some victims have even received repeated telephone calls on their cellular and home telephones. According to the Connecticut Better Business Bureau President, so-called third party debt collectors are going far beyond what the law permits them to do. Under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, debt collection companies are prohibited from abusive tactics to frighten people in debt, and obliged to treat debtors fairly. Some of the worst cases involve collectors calling neighbors, friends and employers in an effort to shame debtors into paying up. Consumers have a right to a written notice within five days after being contacted by a debt collector spelling out the name of the company, how much money they owe and how they can contest their claim if they believe they do not owe the amount stated in the document. Collectors are not allowed to contact consumers after receiving a letter asking them to stop, though they may still inform them what action they intend to take. Source: http://www.pr.com/press-release/96063
Information Technology
37. July 21, IDG News Service – (National) Details of major Internet flaw posted by accident. A computer security company on Monday inadvertently published details of a major flaw in the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) several weeks before they were due to be disclosed. The flaw was discovered several months ago by an IOActive researcher, who worked through the early part of this year with Internet software vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco, and the Internet Systems Consortium to patch the issue. The companies released a fix for the bug two weeks ago and encouraged corporate users and Internet service providers to patch their DNS systems as soon as possible. Although the problem could affect some home users, it is not considered to be a major issue for consumers. At the time he announced the flaw the researcher, who had planned to disclose details of the flaw during a presentation at the Black Hat security conference set for August 6, asked members of the security research community to hold off on public speculation about its precise nature in order to give users time to patch their systems. Some researchers took the request as a personal challenge to find the flaw before the talk. On Monday, the CEO of Zynamics.com (who uses the hacker name Halvar Flake) took a guess at the bug. His findings were quickly confirmed by Matasano Security in its Eastern publication. Matasano’s post discusses the technical details of the bug, saying that by using a fast Internet connection, an attacker could launch what’s known as a DNS cache poisoning attack against a Domain Name server and succeed, for example, in redirecting traffic to malicious Web sites within about 10 seconds. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9110418&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top
38. July 21, IDG News Service – (National) Ex-Microsoft manager gets 22 months for fraud. The woman formerly responsible for managing Microsoft Corp.’s Internet domain names was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for bilking the software maker out of $1 million in fake registration fees. The woman, a former program manager at Microsoft’s MSN division, pleaded guilty in January to charges that she used her position within the company to run a number of scams between 2000 and 2004. On Friday, she was sentenced to 22 months in prison, followed by three months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $923,641 in restitution. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9110384&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top
Communications Sector
39. July 20, Al Bawaba – (International) Omantel signs agreement to extend fiber optic submarine cable to Omani coasts. Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) and Middle East and North Africa Company (MENA) of Egypt have recently signed an agreement on the landing of a submarine fiber optics cable on the Omani coasts to enhance international telecommunications traffic between the Sultanate of Oman and the world. The chief executive officer of Omantel stressed the importance of the agreement as it would introduce huge capacities for submarine cables in the Sultanate. The project would provide great services for international telecommunications traffic, especially the Internet, through fiber optics in case of any cable cutoffs. It would provide alternative lines for international telecom network, as well as upgradable transmission facilities in support of Internet, e-commerce, video, data, and voice. The total cost of the project is about 400 million U.S. dollars. The 8000-kilometer long cable, which would provide a total capacity of 5.7 terra bytes, will arrive at Wilayat Al Seeb during the third quarter of 2009. Source: http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Oman/232383
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