Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Friday, November 21, 2008

Complete DHS Daily Report for November 21, 2008

Daily Report

Headlines

 According to Bloomberg, shippers controlling almost a quarter of the global fleet of crude-oil supertankers may avoid Egypt’s Suez Canal after an increase in piracy off east Africa, potentially raising the cost of delivering the commodity. (See item 1)

1. November 20, Bloomberg – (International) Oil supertankers may avoid Suez on Somalia piracy. Shippers controlling almost a quarter of the global fleet of crude-oil supertankers may avoid Egypt’s Suez Canal after an increase in piracy off east Africa, potentially raising the cost of delivering the commodity. A.P. Moeller Maersk A/S, Europe’s biggest shipping line, Thursday became the first company to say it will divert oil tankers to sail around South Africa, following the lead of Norwegian chemicals shipping line Odfjell SE. Euronav NV, TMT Co. Ltd., BW Shipping Managers Pte, and Frontline Ltd. say they are reviewing whether to reroute their oil tankers. Avoiding the Suez Canal will delay oil deliveries and reduce the supply of available vessels. There have been at least 88 attacks against ships in the area since January, and Somalian pirates are holding 250 crew hostage on board 14 merchant vessels. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aHbiuomk7e.Y&refer=energy


 Pasadena Star-News reports that five branches of the Department of Children and Family Services in California received letters Monday containing a white powdery substance. A statement from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors identified the substance found at the Lancaster office as arsenic. (See item 17)

17. November 18, Pasadena Star-News – (California) Mailed powder raises alarm at government buildings. Five branches of the Department of Children and Family Services received letters Monday containing a white powdery substance and what investigators called rambling political rhetoric, authorities said. Authorities said Tuesday no one at any of the offices targeted – in El Monte, West Covina, Lancaster, Baldwin Hills and Chatsworth - exhibited any symptoms of illness as a result of coming into contact with the powder. Police have no suspects. Hazardous materials crews who responded to the El Monte DCFS office about 2:30 p.m. Monday initially believed the powder was rat poison, an El Monte police Lt. said. However, FBI officials are conducting further tests. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever sent the substance to the Lancaster office. A statement from the Board identified the substance found at the Lancaster office as arsenic. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is working with the postal inspection services on the case. Source: http://www2.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_11019361


Details

Banking and Finance Sector


9. November 20, Newsday – (New York) Glen Head millionaire accused of stealing $50M. A Glen Head millionaire who was a key figure in a Congressional corruption scandal has been accused in a lawsuit by a mortgage company of involvement in a scheme to steal more than $50 million through a network of companies in the New York City and on Long Island. The 60-year-old, who is serving an 8-year federal prison sentence for laundering bribes paid to a former Representative from California, was sued last week by DLJ Mortgage Capital Inc. of Manhattan in federal court over what the firm claims was a massive scheme lasting several years. During recent sentencing proceedings in San Diego federal court involving the bribery case, a prosecutor told the Judge that there is evidence the defendant and some of his relatives were involved in mortgage fraud and that there was a pending investigation. The assistant U.S. attorney told the judge the probe was “very much an ongoing investigation” that would last until the end of the year. According to the lawsuit, the scam involved “at least 95 real estate sales and mortgage loan transactions sold to DLJ and other financial institutions.” The defendant’s wife and other relatives, as well as attorneys, title agents, and various companies were also sued. An attorney for DLJ Mortgage Capital said the firm was seeking to attach or freeze assets of the defendant and other defendants. Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/crime/ny-nykont195934539nov20,0,7896600.story


10. November 20, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services – (International) PayPal users frozen out of accounts. PayPal users are being locked out of their accounts after changing their default currency setting, leaving them with no way to access or withdraw their money. “I’ve been getting this error since two weeks, I can’t login to my account, I can’t pay for my bills, I can’t withdraw money, nothing,” complains one user on the Ebay support forum. The complaints date back to the end of September, but many customers are yet to have their problems resolved by PayPal’s technical support team. Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2814294.html


11. November 20, Newsday – (New York) Feds accuse 16 in LI mortgage fraud schemes. Federal officials Wednesday arrested 16 people who they said were involved in two multimillion-dollar Long Island mortgage fraud schemes, including one suspected of being tied to a drug distribution ring. The schemes are believed by investigators to have bilked lenders of a total of $13.9 million through finance companies in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. Brooklyn federal prosecutors said one of those arrested controlled Property Cash Inc. of Greenlawn. According to an indictment unsealed yesterday, Property Cash was nominally in the name of his girlfriend who was also charged. Federal agents also arrested another suspect, who according to court papers controlled Home Cash Inc. of Huntington Station. According to the indictment, the defendants used straw buyers with good credit to fraudulently obtain mortgages to pay for homes in Huntington, Greenlawn, Bay Shore, and Uniondale at inflated prices. The defendants gained control of the properties through use of a “foreclosure rescue scheme” in which they promised homeowners in danger of defaulting on their mortgages that they could sign their properties over to Home Cash or Property Cash, a method that stole the equity, the indictment charged. The various straw buyers, who were paid up to $10,000 for their participation, had their credit inflated by the defendants, the indictment stated. Once the defendants acquired the properties, they flipped them at prices inflated with the help of licensed appraisers, prosecutors charged. The scheme lost lenders $8.8 million, prosecutors said. Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/crime/ny-nyfrau205934540nov20,0,6861797.story


12. November 19, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services – (Texas) First National warns of phishing scheme. Some First National Bank of Bryan, Texas, customers have been receiving e-mails that appear to be from the bank asking account holders to update their information on the bank’s Web site. The e-mail directs users to a fake site that mirrors First National’s online banking site. The mirror site was designed to fool customers into revealing personal account information. The fake Web site has been shut down, but new impostor sites are likely to continue popping up, said the president and chief operating officer of Prosperity Bank, which acquired First National Bank of Bryan this month. Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2814294.html


Information Technology


33. November 20, Byte and Switch – (International) Online backup moves out of the data center. Traditionally, backup systems focused on making copies of information stored on central servers. With the growing acceptance of mobility (wireless connections, laptops, cell phones), information is no longer always stored centrally, and that change has made the challenge of properly securing information more difficult for IT managers. “Addressing mobility issues will be the online backup industry’s biggest challenge during the next few years,” said the vice president for channels at Asigra Inc. Users represent a large part of that challenge. “If a company gives users the responsibility of backing up data, chances are they won’t do it consistently or correctly,” said the vice president of marketing at Mozy, the online backup service that is part of Decho, a newly created unit of EMC Corp. Management tools to oversee a large number of employees are just evolving. “In many cases, it is difficult for IT departments to consolidate backup information for multiple machines,” said the principal research analyst at Gartner Inc. Currently, there is virtually little to no integration between the desktop backup systems and services used to protect corporate servers. The number of devices that end users rely on is changing, but most of these services primarily support Microsoft Windows machines. Some can restore files generated on a Macintosh or Linux computer, but few of the services work with new devices, such as smartphones. Source: http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=168351&WT.svl=news2_1


Communications Sector


34. November 20, TechNews World – (National) NASA tests new deep-space cyber-net. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has tested a communications network that facilitates data communication over millions of miles. They are calling it the “Interplanetary Internet,” though it’s based on technology that differs from the Web’s standard TCP/IP method. Earthbound Net traffic presumes connections will remain constant, but in space, connection interruptions must be expected. The software protocol was a joint venture between NASA and a vice president at Google. To communicate across millions of miles, the Interplanetary Internet needs to be robust enough to withstand the delays, disruptions and disconnections that are inherent when relaying data through space. Unlike TCP/IP on Earth, the new DTN protocol used by the system does not assume a continuous end-to-end connection, according to NASA. In its design, if a destination path cannot be found, the data packets are kept rather than discarded. Each network node maintains custody of the data for as long as necessary until it can safely communicate with another node. This means data can be sent without worry that it will be lost if an immediate path to the destination does not exist at that time. Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/NASA-Tests-New-Deep-Space-Cyber-Net-65219.html?wlc=1227186864


35. November 19, Agence France-Presse – (International) Damaged Nigerian satellite can’t be recovered: officials. A Nigerian satellite launched last year has failed and cannot be recovered, officials said on Wednesday. The satellite — which was launched to provide phone, broadband Internet, and broadcasting services to rural Africa — was switched off last week due to a battery charging problem. “We don’t think we can recover it,” a spokeswoman of the satellite’s managing firm, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat), told AFP. On Tuesday, the head of NigComSat told lawmakers in the administrative capital Abuja that efforts to recover power supply had failed. “The satellite has now been maneuvered to the parking orbit and cannot be recovered for use again,” he said, noting that to leave it in its previous orbit would have risked loss of control and possible damage to other satellites. The $257 million Chinese-built satellite was launched into space from China in May 2007. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gFYssSKeydLeaMu2LSdiLBuFz5IQ


36. November 19, Information Week – (National) Verizon-Alltel merger nearly done, U.S. Cellular next? The Federal Communications Commission this week removed the last hurdle in the path of Verizon Wireless’ acquisition of Alltel, raising the possibility that U.S. Cellular may become the next acquisition target. The FCC has marked five more small markets for divestiture, with U.S. Cellular being one of the last standing major wireless providers in the country. In adding to its earlier approval of the Verizon-Alltel deal, the FCC told Verizon that it will have 120 days after the deal is closed to divest itself of a total of 105 markets. The divestiture list has gradually grown from the 85 markets Verizon originally suggested to the 105-market final figure, but still far short of the 218 markets that originally had been marked for divestiture consideration. That leaves U.S. Cellular, the sixth largest cell phone service provider, as the last major provider standing. It has 6.2 million subscribers and it uses the same CDMA infrastructure utilized by Verizon and Alltel, making an acquisition relatively easy. When Verizon and Alltel are merged, their combined assets will make the company the largest cell phone provider in the United States. Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/telecom/business/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212100848&subSection=All+Stories

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