Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Complete DHS Daily Report for November 12, 2008
Daily Report
Headlines
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Friday that Barber Foods Company is recalling approximately 41,415 pounds of frozen stuffed chicken products that may contain foreign materials. (See item 24)
24. November 7, U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service – (National) Maine firm recalls frozen stuffed chicken products that may contain foreign materials. Barber Foods Company — a Portland, Maine, establishment — is recalling approximately 41,415 pounds of frozen stuffed chicken products that may contain foreign materials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Friday. The products were produced on May 17, June 2, and August 4, and were made available for catalog or Internet purchase from the Schwan’s Home Service, Inc. by consumers nationwide. The problem was discovered after the Schwan’s Home Service, Inc. received consumer complaints of finding pieces of rubber in the product. FSIS has not received any reports of injury at this time. The following product is subject to recall: 20-ounce, cartons of “#584 SCHWAN’S STUFFED CHICKEN KIEV.” Source: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_041_2008_Release/index.asp
According to Computerworld, Arizona’s Department of Economic Security is notifying the families of about 40,000 children that their personal data may have been compromised following the theft of several hard drives from a commercial storage facility. (See item 32)
32. November 7, Computerworld – (Arizona) Arizona state agency loses data on 40,000 children in disk theft. Arizona’s Department of Economic Security (DES) is notifying the families of about 40,000 children that their personal data may have been compromised following the theft of several hard drives from a commercial storage facility. The information stored on the stolen disks included the names, addresses and phone numbers of families whose children were referred to the DES for early intervention services over the past several years. In the cases of families that had applied for and received services from the agency, their records also included Social Security numbers, a DES spokeswoman said. The DES provides services such as financial assistance and food stamps programs as well as ones that are aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect. According to the DES spokeswoman, the data on the stolen disks was password-protected but not encrypted. She said the disks were stored in a leased storage unit at a local Extra Space Storage facility that was broken into on October 14, and were part of a much broader array of items — including furniture and electronics —that were taken from multiple units at the facility. Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9119562&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_top
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
11. November 10, Register – (International) Visa trials PIN payment card to fight online fraud. Visa cards with a built in one-time code generator are to be trialed by four European banks. The technology is designed to tackle the growing problem of online credit card fraud. MBNA, a Bank of America company in the UK, Corner Bank in Switzerland, Cal in Israel, and IW Bank in Italy are to take part in limited trials of Visa’s new one-time code card. The next-generation cards feature a numeric keypad on the back of a plastic card. Customers enter their PIN code to generate a one-time password. This code, displayed on a card’s display panel, is then used to authenticate online purchases. The approach is an alternative to using a password when authenticating online purchases through the much-criticized Verified by Visa scheme. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/10/visa_one_time_code_card/
12. November 10, Reuters – (National) Government increases AIG bailout to $150 billion. The government dramatically boosted its bailout of insurer American International Group Inc. and eased the terms of its loans to the company on Monday after an initial rescue plan failed to stabilize the company. Under the new plan, the U.S. Treasury will take a $40 billion equity stake in AIG as part of a package of credits to prevent the collapse of what it called a “systemically important company.” The Federal Reserve is providing up to $112.5 billion in loans and funds for asset purchases. The new package, the largest bailout of a single company, provides AIG with about $27 billion more than previously extended and will leave the government exposed to billions of dollars of additional potential losses. “This is a one-off, created solely for AIG,” a U.S. Treasury official said of the transaction hammered out over the weekend. “This wasn’t done to help AIG shareholders. It gives the company the room it needs in its capital structure to execute its asset disposition plan,” the official told reporters in a background briefing. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4A92FM20081110
13. November 10, Economic Times – (California; Texas) Crisis brings down two more regional U.S. banks. Two more regional U.S. banks in California and Texas have collapsed. They were Houston-based Franklin Bank and Los Angeles-based Security Pacific Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said. Franklin Bank was closed by the FDIC and the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending. Its $3.7 billion in deposits were assumed by Prosperity Bank, Bloomberg financial news service reported Saturday. Security Pacific was closed by the California commissioner of financial institutions and the FDIC. Its $450.2-million in assets were acquired by Pacific Western Bank, the FDIC said. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International_Business/Crisis_brings_down_two_more_regional_US_banks/articleshow/3692700.cms
14. November 7, Bloomberg – (National) U.S. Treasury opens probe seeking improper trading. The U.S. Treasury opened a probe to identify any improper trading in U.S. government securities by bond investors and dealers, following increases in trades that fail to settle. The announcement Friday came after repeated warnings by the Treasury to bond dealers to fix settlement problems in the government securities market or face tougher regulation. The Treasury statement asks for information on the 2 percent two-year-note maturing September 30, 2010 and the 3 1/8 percent 5-year note maturing September 30, 2013. “Entities with reportable positions in either of these notes equal to or exceeding the $2 billion threshold must submit a separate report for the security to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York” before noon on November 14, the Treasury said Friday in a statement released in Washington. The confidential reports requested are for positions held on November 6 at the close of business. The CUSIP, or identification, number on the two-notes is 912828 JL 5, and the CUSIP number for the five-year notes is 912828 JM 3. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aUKkYSDtd8QU&refer=home
Information Technology
35. November 10, ComputerWeekly.com – (International) Up to 10,000 Web sites hacked into, unpatched visitors in danger, says Kaspersky. Hackers have launched a widespread Web site attack, leaving malicious links on up to 10,000 web servers, says security software firm Kaspersky Lab. Kaspersky says the servers hacked into are mainly located in Western Europe and the United States. It is not clear at this stage who has hacked the machines, but the expectation is that the number of infected sites will rise. The cyber criminals are adding a line of Javascript code onto the sites that redirects hacked site visitors to one of six servers. These sites then redirect the visitor to a server in China. That server can then launch a variety of attacks, targeting known flaws in the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers, Adobe’s Flash Player and ActiveX management controls, said Kaspersky. Victims who do not have fully patched PCs run the risk of allowing the remote attackers to install spyware on their machines, and then to steal their data. Source: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/11/10/233285/up-to-10000-websites-hacked-into-unpatched-visitors-in-danger-says.htm
36. November 7, eWEEK – (International) Hackers have painted a bull’s-eye on an Adobe Reader flaw patched by the company earlier this week. The attackers are targeting a vulnerability in Adobe Reader 8.1.2 uncovered by Core Security Technologies. According to an advisory from the SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Center, attackers are using malicious PDF files to exploit the bug, which Adobe Systems patched November 4. If successfully exploited, the bug could allow hackers to take complete control of a compromised system. The bug lies in the way Adobe Reader implements the JavaScript util.printf() function, and makes it possible to overwrite the program’s memory and control its execution flow. Exploit code for the flaw has already been posted to Milw0rm. In addition to Reader, the bug affects Adobe Acrobat 8.1.2. Officials at Adobe advise users to either update their software to Version 9 of Reader and Acrobat, which are not susceptible to the attack, or deploy the patch. Source: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Hackers-Target-Patched-Adobe-Reader-Flaw/
Communications Sector
37. November 10, Berkshire Eagle – (Massachusetts) Fiber optic project will help broadband. A new highway fiber optic installation project in Central Massachusetts will contribute to the eventual spread of broadband connectivity into rural western regions of the commonwealth. The $30.7 million project, dubbed the Intelligent Transportation System, includes installation of fiber optic cable backbone over 58 miles of I-91 and I-291 with 17 variable message signs and 33 closed-circuit television cameras. Through the new roadway broadband information system, the Traffic Operations Center at the Northampton District 2 office will be upgraded and directly linked to the MassHighway Traffic Operations Center in Boston. The project includes additional fiber lines that could be used for other purposes, including enabling broadband access. Source: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_10945211
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