Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Complete DHS Daily Report for September 30, 2008

Daily Report

Headlines

 According to the Washington Bureau, the executive branch has abruptly halted a government program that tests the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables, and field crops, arguing that the $8 million-a-year program is too expensive. (See item 24)

24. September 27, Washington Bureau – (National) Citing cost, USDA kills pesticide-testing program. The executive branch has abruptly halted a government program that tests the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables, and field crops, arguing that the $8 million-a-year program is too expensive — a decision critics say could make it harder to protect consumers from toxins in their food. Data from the 18-year-old Agricultural Chemical Usage Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were collected until this year, and the Environmental Protection Agency used the data to set safe levels of pesticides in food. The program was launched in 1990 to answer congressional concerns over the use of the chemical daminozide, or Alar, on apples. But now USDA contends the program is too expensive. The decision came as a shock to researchers at the EPA and elsewhere who have come to rely on the data, which measure how much pesticide farmers apply to certain crops each year. USDA had been scaling back the program over the last several years, alternating which fruits and vegetables are tested. In 2007, USDA tested only cotton and apples. Institutions that used the USDA data must now buy similar information from a private company. Those who have purchased the data packages said they cost about $500,000 to $700,000 a year. Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-pesticidessep28,0,6191823.story


 Federal Computer Week reports that the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico suffers from cybersecurity weaknesses that affect how it protects information on its sensitive but unclassified network, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. (See item 34)

34. September 26, Federal Computer Week – (New Mexico) GAO: Los Alamos Lab has cybersecurity gaps. The Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico suffers from cybersecurity weaknesses that affect how it protects information on its sensitive but unclassified network, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). That network includes sensitive data such as controlled nuclear information, export control information, and personally identifiable information about employees of the national lab, the GAO report released September 25 explained. The nuclear weapons lab has experienced breaches in its security in several incidents over the last decade. It was budgeted nearly $200 million in fiscal 2007 to provide for physical and cybersecurity. Despite improvements, the facility continues to have gaps in its physical security and cybersecurity, the GAO report concluded. Source: http://www.fcw.com/online/news/153921-1.html

Details

Banking and Finance Sector


14. September 29, Reuters – (National) Citi to buy Wachovia assets. Citigroup Inc. will buy the banking operations of Wachovia Corp. in a deal assisted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the FDIC said on Monday. Under the deal — struck in consultation with the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and the U.S. president — depositors will be fully protected and no cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund is expected, the FDIC said. “Wachovia did not fail; rather, it is to be acquired by Citigroup Inc on an open bank basis with assistance from the FDIC,” a statement on the FDIC’s website said. Citigroup will buy the bulk of Wachovia, including five depository institutions, and assume its senior and subordinated debt. Wachovia will retain ownership of its retail brokerage unit, AG Edwards, and its assets-management division, Evergreen. The FDIC said it would share losses with Citi on a pre-identified pool of Wachovia loans. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48S3D320080929?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10338


15. September 29, Reuters – (National) U.S. Treasury opens money market guarantee program. The U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday its temporary guarantee program for money market mutual funds was now in effect for at least three months. The Treasury said each fund regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission under rule 2a-7 that maintains a stable share price of $1 can now decide whether to participate in the program. To receive the government guarantee, participating money market mutual funds that had a net asset value of $0.9975 or more per share on September 19 must pay a fee of 1 basis point per share to the Treasury. Those with a net asset value below $0.995 on September 19 are not eligible for the program. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSWEQ00021620080929


16. September 28, IDG News Service – (National) Trojan can grab extra personal banking data. A Trojan horse program now available to a growing number of fraudsters can add data entry fields to legitimate online banking sites and entice consumers to give up sensitive information such as bank card numbers and PINs (personal identification numbers). The Limbo malware integrates itself into a Web browser using a technique called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) injection, said the head of new technologies at RSA Consumer Solutions. Because it is so closely integrated in the browser, it can operate even while the user is at the real bank site and can actually change the layout of that site, he said. “Nothing tells you that something is wrong here, with one exception: You’re being asked to provide some information that you were never asked to do before,” he said during a briefing for reporters and analysts earlier this week. “Limbo can get onto a user’s computer through many paths, including both pop-up messages that ask you to download an add-on program and methods that are invisible to the user,” he said. They sometimes get on to PCs in conjunction with other phishing attacks. And like other malware programs, Limbo is becoming available to more fraudsters through an underground market that includes a complex supply chain and falling prices. Limbo costs about US$350, down from about $1,000 a year ago and $5,000 two years ago, he said. Source: http://www.itworld.com/security/55421/trojan-can-grab-extra-personal-banking-data


17. September 27, Associated Press – (National) SEC scraps bank oversight program.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Friday it was ending a program of voluntary oversight for Wall Street investment banks that its chairman said clearly has not worked. The chairman of the SEC announced the agency’s decision to end the program under which SEC examiners inspected the five biggest Wall Street banks: Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Bear Stearns. The financial upheaval of the last six months has “made it absolutely clear that voluntary regulation does not work” for the bank supervision program, the chairman said in a statement. The program “was fundamentally flawed from the beginning, because investment banks could opt in or out of supervision voluntarily,” he said. The seismic regulatory shift allows the only two independent investment banks standing on Wall Street (Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) to create commercial banks that can take deposits, thereby bolstering their resources. It also puts them squarely under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve. Source: http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/27/news/economy/SEC_oversight.ap/index.htm


18. September 26, Minneapolis Star Tribune – (Minnesota) Federal officials: Petters tied to multi billion dollar fraud scheme. The chief executive of Petters Group Worldwide is the central figure in what authorities suspect is a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme that lured investors with empty promises, according to documents unsealed in federal court. In a sworn statement used to obtain nine search warrants, authorities said the capital raised through his equity company, Petters Co. Inc., was used “for his other business ventures and to support his extravagant lifestyle.” The government claims that the twin city businessman and a circle of associates played loose and free with investors’ money by creating the impression of a successful retail business that bought and sold phantom goods for more than 10 years. The government’s allegations are contained in an affidavit prepared by an FBI agent seeking court permission for a series of search warrants. It was unsealed Friday afternoon in St. Paul. Source: http://www.startribune.com/business/29817604.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUF

Information Technology


36. September 29, VNU Net – (National) Apple issues Java updates. Apple has issued updates for the Java components of its two most recent OS X releases. The three security fixes address a total of 38 Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) entries in Java. Each of the fixes addresses errors which could lead to remote code execution. Apple said that the errors contained both Mac-specific and Java-specific flaws. While Sun Microsystems develops and maintain Java software for several operating systems, Apple is among the vendors that have opted to develop Java components in-house. Source: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/85603,apple-issues-java-updates.aspx


Communications Sector


37. September 28, San Jose Mercury News – (National) New worry for mobile phones: malware. Security experts think mobile phones, particularly smart-phones with full operating systems, are the next malware (malicious software), battleground. The more phones perform the same functions as PCs, the greater the chance they will have similar vulnerabilities, experts say. Perhaps the best known handset virus is Commwarrior-A, a piece of malware identified in 2005 that spread to phones using the then-current version of the Symbian operating system via text messages. The number of pieces of mobile malware detected since then has grown steadily. Analysts say there all kinds of ways that mobile malware could make mischief. Hackers have already induced phones to exchange text messages with rogue operators that charge a high per-message fee. Security experts worry hackers could soon use the GPS feature built into many phones to track the location of their owners. And experts are alarmed that a new generation of spyware dubbed “snoopware” could eventually be used to turn on the microphone or camera on a phone, allowing a hacker to listen in on phone owners’ conversations or see their surroundings. Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10558223

Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Monday, September 29, 2008

Complete DHS Daily Report for September 29, 2008

Daily Report

Headlines

 Reuters reports that Washington Mutual Inc. was closed by the U.S. government in the largest failure of a U.S. bank. Its banking assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion. (See item 16)

See the details in the Banking and Finance section

 According to the Associated Press, two laptop computers and other equipment were stolen from a federal center in New Haven, Connecticut, that processes applications for a program that provides identification cards to workers with access to seaports. (See item 18)

18. September 25, Associated Press – (Connecticut) FBI investigates break-in at ID card contractor. Two laptop computers and other equipment were taken from a federal center in New Haven, Connecticut, that processes applications for a program that provides identification cards to workers with access to seaports, federal officials said. Authorities say the computers, a camera, and biometrics collection equipment were taken from the Grand Avenue site over the weekend. The FBI is assessing whether there was a threat to national security, said a spokesman. A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the stolen laptops do not pose a security risk. He says data is wiped clean daily and is encrypted, so it is not accessible to thieves. A TSA spokesman said one laptop was used for enrollment information and the other computer was used for administrative purposes and is passport protected with no personal identifying information. Source: http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news6702.html


Details

Banking and Finance Sector


16. September 26, Reuters – (National) WaMu is largest U.S. bank failure. Washington Mutual Inc. was closed by the U.S. Government in by far the largest failure of a U.S. bank, and its banking assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion. Washington Mutual is the largest U.S. savings and loan and was shut by the Federal Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) was named receiver. This followed $16.7 billion of deposit outflows at the Seattle-based thrift since September 15, OTS said. The FDIC chairman said the bailout happened on Thursday night because of media leaks and to calm customers. Customers should expect business as usual on Friday, and all depositors are fully protected, the FDIC said. It vaults JPMorgan past Bank of America to become the nation’s second-largest bank, with $2.04 trillion of assets, just behind Citigroup. Bank of America will go to number one once it completes its planned purchase of Merrill Lynch. FDIC said the acquisition does not cover claims of Washington Mutual equity, senior debt, and subordinated debt holders. It also said the transaction will not affect its roughly $45.2 billion deposit insurance fund. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48P05I20080926?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

17. September 26, Reuters – (National) Investor in Lehman preferred stock sues for fraud. An asset manager has sued a group of Wall Street firms that underwrote a $1.9 billion Lehman Brothers preferred stock offering in February, accusing them of misleading investors about Lehman’s financial health. The lawsuit contends that the prospectus issued ahead of the offering was false and misleading because it did not reveal Lehman’s significant exposure to the subprime mortgage market and also did not disclose that Lehman was in desperate need of capital because of deteriorating market conditions and rapidly falling values of its assets. Lehman itself was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit because it is in bankruptcy protection, though its chairman and chief executive and several other Lehman directors were named as individual defendants. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by institutional investors Fogel Capital Management, contends that investors who bought the preferred stock were misled about the risks of investing in Lehman. The suit seeks class-action status. Defendants include subsidiaries of Bank of America, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and several other firms that underwrote the offering, the lawsuit said. A Lehman spokesman said that the firm believed the lawsuit was without merit and “we will defend against it vigorously.” Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/bankingFinancial/idUSN2553310420080926

Information Technology


37. September 25, Times Online – (International) Father of the internet: ‘web is running out of addresses’. The world is about to run out of the internet addresses that allow computers to identify each other and communicate, the man who invented the system has told The Times. The “father of the internet” and one of the world’s leading computer scientists, said that businesses and consumers needed to act now to switch to the next generation of net addresses. Unless preparations were made now, he said, some computers might not be able to go online and the connectivity of the internet might be damaged. IP addresses are as crucial to websites as street addresses are for businesses but some network engineers predict that we will run out of them in two years. What is the solution? Every computer and online device is assigned a unique IP address, but the pool of unallocated numbers is about to dry up. When the internet system was founded in 1977, he set in place “internet protocol version four” (IPv4) which provided 4.2 billion addresses. With the number of internet-enabled devices, particularly mobile phones, soaring, less than 14 per cent of those addresses remain vacant. It is estimated that IPv4 addresses, each of which is a series of 32 binary digits, will run out in 2010 and possibly as early as next year. A new system, called IPv6, has been ready for implementation for more than a decade. Under IPv6, each address has 128 bits and so provides 340 trillion, trillion, trillion different addresses - that is 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. It is assumed that this will meet humanity’s needs for decades to come. The two protocol systems will run in tandem and IPv4 addresses will still work as normal. But if the IPv6 is not widely adopted, then those using it may find themselves unable to connect across the whole internet. Source: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4819803.ece


38. September 25, Computerworld– (National) Hackers resurrect notorious attack tool kit. Neosploit, the notorious hacker exploit kit that some thought had been retired months ago, has not only returned from the dead, but is responsible for a dramatic increase in attacks, a security researcher claimed today. “Neosploit’s back,” said the director of security research at Aladdin Knowledge Systems Inc. In July, researchers at RSA’s FraudAction Research Lab said that they had evidence that the creators of Neosploit were abandoning the business. For proof, RSA quoted a going-out-of-business message said to have originated with Neosploit’s authors. Neosploit, which first appeared in 2007, was a follow-on to the earlier MPack and a contemporary to another infamous exploit kit, WebAttacker. Those kits, including Neosploit, were used by cybercriminals to launch attack codes aimed at new vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer or third-party software such as Apple Inc.’s QuickTime. But Neosploit also boasted features new to the click-to-attack business, including sophisticated statistical analysis and management tools. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Security&articleId=9115599&taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=1


Communications Sector


39. September 25, Orange County Register – (California) KFI/640 AM flips switch on much-debated tower. A much-debated radio tower — on the same site where two previous towers crashed to the ground in the past four years — is standing tall and beaming a 50,000-watt signal throughout southern California as of Thursday evening. Officials at KFI/640 AM held a private ceremony to flip the switch and restore full power to a radio tower next to the I-5 freeway that reaches a potential audience of 11 million listeners. In 2004, a small plane crashed into a 760-foot-tall tower on approach to Fullerton Municipal Airport — less than two miles southeast of the tower. The La Mirada City Council eventually approved a plan to rebuild the tower on the original site at 654 feet tall. That approval came despite objections from the city of Fullerton, Fullerton Airport management, and a handful of pilots who said anything over 500 feet would again pose a serious safety risk to planes taking off and landing. La Mirada officials said they support having the tower in their city, because it would broadcast emergency information to millions of southern Californians after a natural disaster. Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/tower-officials-site-2169517-radio-mirada


40. September 24, BBC News – (International) Solar wind blows at 50-year low. The solar wind — the stream of charged particles billowing away from the Sun — is at its weakest for 50 years. Scientists made the assessment after studying 18 years of data from the Ulysses satellite which has sampled the space environment all around our star. Scientists expect the weakened wind to have a wide range of impacts. The charged wind particles carry with them the Sun’s magnetic field, and this has a protective role in limiting the number of high-energy cosmic rays that can enter the Solar System. More of them will probably now make their way through. The rays can damage satellite electronics, and if current solar wind conditions persist, engineers would have to take this into account when deciding how to “harden” their spacecraft. “Reduced solar activity also leads to the cooling of Earth’s upper atmosphere and if Earth’s upper atmosphere is cooler then there is less drag up there on satellites and this means we are left with much more debris up there,” said a professor from Boston University. Some researchers have attempted to link the intensity of cosmic rays at Earth to cloudiness and climate change. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7632331.stm

Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Friday, September 26, 2008

Complete DHS Daily Report for September 26, 2008

Daily Report

Headlines

 According to USA Today, a new government program aims to make it more difficult for terrorists to steal radioactive material from the nation’s hospitals and medical research labs to make “dirty bombs.” About 1,300 machines will be fitted with new security measures by the end of next year. (See item 10)

10. September 23, USA Today – (National) Feds work to secure potential ‘dirty bomb’ source. A new government program aims to make it more difficult for terrorists to steal dangerous radioactive material from the nation’s hospitals and medical research labs to make “dirty bombs.” About 1,300 machines in medical facilities will be fitted with new security measures by the end of next year that will make it much harder for anyone to steal the cesium chloride inside, officials at the U.S. Homeland Security and Energy departments said. Concerns about hospital security took on new urgency last year when government “red teams” were able to break into irradiation machines in as little as two minutes, said the head of Homeland Security’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. The retrofitted machines “will help keep potentially dangerous material safe and secure from theft or misuse,” said a spokesman of the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration. That agency is splitting the cost — up to $3,000 per machine — with Homeland Security. The work began this month at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The New York Police Department counterterrorism chief called the retrofits “very basic and relatively cheap” and said they are “long overdue.” Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-09-23-mednukes_N.htm

 The Houston Chronicle reports that a quarter of a million people in the Houston, Texas, region were without running water Tuesday, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which regulates more than 2,500 public water systems in the 10-county region hammered by Hurricane Ike. (See item 29)

29. September 23, Houston Chronicle – (Texas) Hundreds of thousands may stay without water for a while. A quarter of a million people in the Houston region were without running water Tuesday, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which regulates more than 2,500 public water systems in the 10-county region hammered by Hurricane Ike. Commission officials did not know about another 600,000 people because they have been unable to communicate with those utilities in the wake of the storm. The problem has myriad causes, including power outages and severe infrastructure damage in coastal areas. Some public water systems, which Texas regulators require to continue pumping in spite of power outages, have failed to do so, according to residents they serve and state officials. Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6019127.html

Details

Banking and Finance Sector


14. September 25, Associated Press – (Virginia) Brothers admit to million-dollar mortgage fraud. Federal prosecutors say two Virginia brothers have pleaded guilty in a million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme. Between April 2004 and September 2006, prosecutors say the two brothers received several real estate mortgage loans. Additionally, they pleaded guilty to conspiring with a Leesburg resident who aided in the scheme. The three overstated the Leesburg man’s income and omitted his liabilities so he could purchase properties they were selling. The brothers paid him $27,000 for each property he bought after they received more than $2 million in loans. Source: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/25/ap5469775.html


15. September 24, Mondo Visione – (Connecticut) SEC wins major hedge fund fraud case against Michael Lauer, head of Lancer Management Group. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that a district court judge today granted its motion for summary judgment against the architect of a massive billion-dollar hedge fund fraud. The head of two Connecticut-based companies – Lancer Management Group and Lancer Management Group II was found liable for violating the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws. He raised more than $1.1 billion from investors and his fraudulent actions caused investor losses of approximately $500 million. The companies were placed under the control of a Court-appointed receiver after the SEC filed its enforcement action in 2003. The judge’s order entered a permanent injunction against Lauer against future violations of Sections 17(a)(1)-(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), and Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (Advisers Act). The order reserved ruling on the SEC’s claim for disgorgement with prejudgment interest against Lauer, and on the amount of a financial penalty Lauer must pay. The SEC is seeking a financial penalty and disgorgement of the more than $50 million Lauer received in ill-gotten gains from his fraudulent scheme. Source: http://www.mondovisione.com/index.cfm?section=news&action=detail&id=77509


16. September 24, Mondo Visione – (National) CFTC sanctions four registered commodity pool operators for failing to file timely commodity pool. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today simultaneously filed and settled charges against four registered commodity pool operators (CPOs), charging them with failing to distribute to investors and file with the National Futures Association (NFA) one or more of their respective commodity pools’ annual reports in a timely manner. Mansur Capital Corporation of Chicago, Persistent Edge Management, LLC of San Francisco, and Stillwater Capital Partners, Inc. and Stillwater Capital Partners, LLC, both of New York, were charged in the CFTC action. The CFTC orders find that each of the four CPOs operated one or more commodity pools, including pools that operated as funds-of-funds. While each of the CPOs had obtained extensions of the prescribed deadlines for various pools and reporting years, each failed to timely comply with its obligations, in violation of CFTC regulations. Source: http://www.mondovisione.com/index.cfm?section=news&action=detail&id=77504


17. September 24, Mondo Visione – (Pennsylvania) CFTC files action to revoke the registration of Philadelphia Alternative Asset Management Company. The CFTC, in a Notice of Intent to Revoke Registration filed on September 24, 2008, alleges that the Philadelphia Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAM) is subject to statutory disqualification of its registration as a CPO based on a default judgment entered against PAAM in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on August 13, 2008. The order found that PAAM, from at least the fall of 2002 through at least May 2005, fraudulently solicited more than $280 million from individuals to participate in a commodity pool that traded commodity futures and options. The order also found that PAAM issued fraudulent trading account statements, misrepresented its trading record to prospective participants, and misappropriated pool funds. PAAM was ordered to pay restitution of approximately $276 million and an $8.8 million civil monetary penalty. Source: http://www.mondovisione.com/index.cfm?section=news&action=detail&id=77502


Information Technology


37. September 25, CXOtoday – (National) Cisco releases advisory for vulnerabilities. Cisco released 12 security advisories Wednesday. Eleven of the advisories address vulnerabilities in the IOS software that powers all Cisco hardware like routers and switches. One such advisory addresses vulnerabilities in Cisco Unified Communications Manager. Source: http://www.cxotoday.com/India/News/Cisco_Releases_Advisory_for_Vulnerabilities/551-93586-909.html


38. September 25, VNU Net – (National) Barracuda opens up spam blocking list. Barracuda Networks is to open its spam blocking list for companies to use free of charge. The Barracuda Reputation Block List (BRBL) is a dynamically updated list of known spam servers that can be used to block spam at the gateway. This means that companies do not have to run all incoming email though antivirus scanners and other filtering technologies, according to the firm. The BRBL will now be available for free download and includes a tool to report other spam servers. This is not the first time that Barracuda has given away security software. The company is currently being sued by Trend Micro for giving away its Clam antivirus engine without paying a license fee for a patent which Barracuda is challenging. Source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2226879/barracuda-opens-spam-blocking


Communications Sector

39. September 24, Agence France-Presse – (International) US telecoms satellite put into orbit: company. The Russo-Ukrainian rocket Zenit on Wednesday put the U.S. telecommunications satellite Galaxy-19 in orbit, Russia’s space flights regulator said. The satellite, manufactured by Space Systems/Loral, has a wide footprint covering the United States, the Caribbean region, Canada, and Mexico. The Zenit was launched from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean run by Sea Launch, in which U.S., Russian, Norwegian, and Ukrainian firms hold stakes, including aviation giant Boeing. Source: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_telecoms_satellite_put_into_orbit_company_999.html