Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Complete DHS Daily Report for June 30, 2009

Daily Report

Top Stories

 E.W. Scripps Co. reports that a US Airways flight with at least 130 people on-board made a hard landing as it touched down at Tampa International Airport in Florida on Saturday. The plane’s front tires blew on touchdown, and the hard impact caused the front landing gear to collapse. (See item 13)


13. June 28, E.W. Scripps Co. – (Florida) US Airways plane makes hard landing at Tampa International Airport. A US Airways flight gave its passengers quite a scare after making a hard landing as it touched down at Tampa International Airport June 27. The Boeing 737 sat on Tampa International Airport’s Bayside runway, near the airport entrance road, for most of the afternoon, after the plane’s front tires blew on touchdown. The hard impact caused the front landing gear to collapse. The aircraft’s nose sat inches from the tarmac as passengers were de-planed at the rear of the aircraft. “We heard a boom and we saw sparks shooting by the window and the whole plane just went, boom,” said a passenger. A US Airways spokesperson says the flight was almost full with 138-people on-board, plus five crew members and passengers that were headed from Philadelphia to Tampa. None were hurt. Source: http://www.abcactionnews.com/content/news/breakingnews/story/US-Airways-plane-makes-hard-landing-at-Tampa/J4S8mFG6PEqaw5-jy4S08Q.cspx


 The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service announced on Sunday that JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colorado establishment, is voluntarily expanding its June 24 recall to include approximately 380,000 pounds of assorted beef primal products that may be contaminated with E. coli. The beef products were distributed both nationally and internationally. (See item 19)


19. June 28, U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service – (National) Colorado firm expands recall of beef products due to possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination: class I recall. JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colorado establishment, is voluntarily expanding its June 24 recall to include approximately 380,000 pounds of assorted beef primal products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on June 28. Together with trace-back information and laboratory data, the recall is being expanded as a result of FSIS’ cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in an ongoing investigation into 24 illnesses in multiple states, of which at least 18 appear to be associated. This investigation prompted the company to re-examine the effectiveness of their food safety system for the April 21 production of beef primals, and they are conducting this recall out of an abundance of caution as the safety of the products produced on a portion of that day could not be assured. The beef products were produced on April 21, 2009 and were distributed both nationally and internationally. The recalled products include intact cuts of beef, such as primals, sub-primals, or boxed beef typically used for steaks and roasts rather than ground beef. FSIS is aware that some of these products may have been further processed into ground products by other companies. The highest risk products for consumers are raw ground product, trim or other non-intact product made from the products subject to the recall. Source: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_034_2009_Expanded/index.asp


Details

Banking and Finance Sector

11. June 28, Wall Street Journal – (California; Georgia; Minnesota) Regulators close five more banks. Federal and state regulators on June 26 closed five banks in California, Georgia and Minnesota, bringing the number of failures nationwide this year to 45. The California Department of Financial Institutions shut down two banks in the state, Los Angeles-based Mirae Bank and MetroPacific Bank of Irvine. On June 26, the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance shut down the Community Bank of West Georgia, based in Villa Rica, and the Neighborhood Community Bank of Newnan. Meanwhile, Minnesota suffered its first bank failure of the year, when Horizon Bank of Pine City was closed by the Minnesota Department of Commerce. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was named receiver of all five banks, estimated the failures would cost the agency’s deposit insurance fund about $264.2 million. All of Mirae Bank’s deposits were purchased by Wilshire State Bank, also of Los Angeles. In addition, Wilshire will buy about $449 million of the bank’s assets, with the FDIC planning to dispose of the rest later. Mirae had total assets of $456 million and deposits of $362 million on May 29. MetroPacific Bank’s deposits, except about $6 million from brokers, were bought by Sunwest Bank of Tustin, California. As of June 8, MetroPacific had $80 million in assets and $73 million in deposits. Horizon Bank’s deposits were bought by Stearns Bank of St. Cloud, Minnesota, which paid a premium 0.75 percent. Stearns also agreed to purchase about $84.4 million of assets. Horizon Bank had total assets of $87.6 million and deposits of $69.4 million at the end of March. CharterBank, based in West Point, Georgia, will assume all the deposits of Neighborhood Community Bank, agreeing to purchase about $209.6 million of assets. Neighborhood had total assets of $221.6 million and total deposits of $191.3 million as of March 31, and the FDIC will retain the remaining assets for disposition at a later date. Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124620810976765407.html


12. June 27, Associated Press – (National) Madoff ordered to forfeit over $170 billion. A disgraced financier has been ordered to forfeit over $170 billion, prosecutors said on June 26. A U.S. District Judge entered a preliminary order of forfeiture on June 26, according to an Acting U.S. Attorney. The order forces the financier to give up his interests in all property, including real estate, investments, cars and boats. According to earlier court documents, prosecutors reserved the right to pursue more than $170 billion in criminal forfeiture. That represents the total amount of money that could be connected to the fraud, not the amount stolen or lost. The government also settled claims against the financier’s wife, according to the June 26 order. Under the arrangement, the government obtained her interest in all property, including more than $80 million of property to which she had claimed was hers, prosecutors said. The order makes it clear, though, that nothing precludes other departments or entities from seeking to recover additional funds. The agreements strip the couple of all their interest in properties belonging to them, including homes in Manhattan, Montauk, and Palm Beach, Florida, worth a total of nearly $22 million. Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iVRaRYcWFCQgMxBfNtbcfT98Zr4QD992OQU82


Information Technology


31. June 26, PC World – (International) Security experts visualize botnets with an eye toward defense. Not all botnets are organized in the same way. That is the conclusion of a report from Damballa which seeks to categorize the dominate structures. It attempts to explain why certain types of blocking and filtering will work against some botnets, and not for others. “The ‘hybrid’ threat banner is often cast about,” says the vice president of Research, Damballa, an enterprise security company specializing in botnet mitigation, “But that label means nothing to teams tasked with defending the enterprise. By explaining the topologies (and their strengths and weaknesses) these teams can better visualize the threat.” The Star structure is the most basic and offers individual bots a direct communication with the Command and Control (CnC) server. It can be visualized in a star-like pattern. However, by providing direct communications with one CnC server the botnet creates a single point of failure. Take out the CnC server and the botnet expires. The vice president says the Zeus DIY botnet kit, out of the box, is a star pattern, but that botmasters often upgrade, making it multiserver. “In most cases, particular botnets can be classed as a member of just one CnC topology — but it is often down to the botnet master which one they choose.” Multi-Server is the logical extension of the Star structure using multiple CnC servers to feed instructions to the individual bots. This design, says the vice president, offers resiliency should any one CnC server go down. It also requires sophisticated planning in order to execute. Srizbi is a classic example of a multi-server CnC topology botnet. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/blogs/bizfeed/167492/security_experts_visualize_botnets_with_an_eye_toward_defense.html


32. June 26, Baltimore Examiner – (International) Jackson, Fawcett spur Internet fraud. While most of the country mourns the deaths of two celebrities, fraudsters seek opportunity by tricking heartbroken followers. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) issued an alert on June 26 warning of increased spam campaigns, phishing attacks and malicious code attacks surrounding the stars’ deaths. Some scams may result in identity theft. Fraudsters have taken advantage of other situations to swindle personal information and money following national and worldwide disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Asian Tsunami. In addition to phishing and malicious code attacks, there were many charity scams. Charity and fan paraphernalia scams are expected to be associated with the celebrity’s names. Some of these scams will claim to collect donations from unsuspecting consumers for charitable causes supported by the late stars. Some scams may collect credit card and bank account information as payment for charitable donations or for the purchase of celebrity memorabilia. There will be no donations or souvenirs, the financial account information handed over will be used by the fraudsters to commit existing account fraud, a form of identity theft. Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-9215-Identity-Theft-Examiner~y2009m6d26-Jackson-Fawcett-spur-internet-fraud


For another story, see item 33 below.


Communications Sector

33. June 26, IDG News Service – (International) China remains spam haven due to ‘bulletproof’ hosting. An overwhelming majority of Web sites promoted through spam are hosted in China at service providers that many times choose to ignore complaints and allow illegal activity, according to research from the University of Alabama. The director of research in computer forensics in the university’s computer and information sciences department wrote on his blog that it is well past the time to declare a spam crisis in China. The university reviewed millions of spam messages seen throughout this year from its Spam Data Mine, which analyzes junk mail for threats. In those messages were links to hundreds of thousands of Web sites. A total of 69,117 unique domains hosted those Web sites. Seventy percent, or 48,552, hosted Web sites that ended in “.cn,” the country-code top level domain for China. Again, about 70 percent of Web sites were located on computers within China. “It is very normal that more than one-third of the domain names we see each day in spam messages come from China,” the director wrote. “When one also considers the many ‘.com’ and ‘.ru’ domain names which are also hosted in China, the problem is much worse.” Typically when suspicious Web sites are detected, security companies will send a complaint to a hosting company, which may also act as a registrar, or seller of domain names. The site is typically taken offline. However, some companies in China and elsewhere offer so-called “bulletproof” hosting, where Web sites are allowed to stay online or spam operations can continue unabated. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/167452/china_remains_spam_haven_due_to_bulletproof_hosting.html


34. June 26, Honolulu Advertiser – (Hawaii) Sandwich Isles Communications unveils new undersea cable. Sandwich Isles Communications (SIC), a local telecommunications company that services Hawaiian Homestead communities statewide, has completed installation of its new, state-of-the-art, undersea fiber optic cable connecting the five major Hawaiian islands (Kaua’i, O’ahu, Maui, Moloka’i and the Big Island). “We are pleased to be fulfilling our commitment to provide state-of-the-art telecommunications services to our customers in Hawaiian Homestead communities,” said the SIC Chief Executive Officer. “We believe our new undersea network will change the face of telecommunications in Hawaii, allowing for much needed economic growth and high technology jobs in our state, particularly on the neighbor islands.” With 48 strands of pure glass fiber, SIC’s marine network is the largest in the state, with the bandwidth to carry 2.9 Terabits of data per second. Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090626/GETPUBLISHED/906260370

Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Monday, June 29, 2009

Complete DHS Daily Report for June 29, 2009

Daily Report

Top Stories

 According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, an electrical explosion on June 25 outside the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor building near Port Clinton, Ohio has shut down a transformer controlling one of two high-voltage power lines connecting the power plant to emergency external power. (See item 6)


6. June 26, Cleveland Plain Dealer – (Ohio) Electrical explosion shuts down transformer at Davis-Besse nuclear power plant. An electrical explosion outside the Davis-Besse nuclear reactor building near Port Clinton, Ohio has shut down a transformer controlling one of two high-voltage power lines connecting the power plant to emergency external power. No one was hurt, and no radioactive materials were involved, plant owner FirstEnergy Corp. told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a report June 26. Davis-Besse is continuing to generate power, for now. The “catastrophic failure-explosion” of an electrical current monitoring device on the transformer occurred early June 25, according to the report. The failure means the reactor is operating with only one source of outside power that might be needed in the event of a reactor emergency. But NRC regulations require two, separate outside power sources at all times as well as two onsite diesel generators for emergency power. FirstEnergy must shut down the reactor in 72 hours — early June 28 — if crews cannot replace the device and re-energize the transformer and outside line. The company did not promptly report the incident, according to the filing, because “the severity of the…failure was not recognized because of the nighttime conditions and minimal lighting in the area.” FirstEnergy said it believes the explosion was “likely a result of equipment failure and not the result of any equipment tampering.” A plant spokesman said crews had not found any other damaged equipment and expected to complete repairs June 26. NRC inspectors are also investigating. Source: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/06/electrical_explosion_shuts_dow.html


 The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will inspect automatic train-control signals on the Market-Frankford Line made by French manufacturer Alstom S.A., the same company that made the signals on the Metro in Washington D.C., where a possible signal malfunction is under investigation in the June 22 train collision. (See item 8)


8. June 26, Philadelphia Inquirer – (Pennsylvania; International) SEPTA to inspect signals like those in D.C. crash. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will inspect automatic train-control signals on the Market-Frankford Line made by the same company that made the signals on the Metro in Washington D.C., where a possible signal malfunction is under investigation in the June 22 deadly train collision. The electronic signal circuits along the tracks tell passing trains when to stop or slow down. The signals on the Market-Frankford Line, like those in Washington and many other U.S. cities, were made by Alstom S.A., a large French manufacturer of transportation equipment and power plants. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators in Washington are focusing on the signal circuits in a 740-foot stretch where the collision killed 9 people and injured about 80. Testers found “anomalies” with those circuits, NTSB officials said. “Whether trains are operated in automatic or manual, these circuits are vital,” said a spokeswoman of the NTSB. “We’re particularly interested in the speed commands that might be sent from that circuit when there’s a train standing on that circuit.” In Philadelphia, crews will inspect all the circuits on the 13-mile Market-Frankford Line, said SEPTA’s assistant chief engineer for communications and signals. There are about 50 signal circuits on the Blue Line, he said. Source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20090626_SEPTA_to_inspect_signals_like_those_in_D_C__crash.html


Details

Banking and Finance Sector

12. June 25, Boston Globe – (Massachusetts; New York) Investment manager pleads guilty in a $9 million fraud. A 65-year-old Massachusetts investment manager pleaded guilty on June 24 to securities fraud for running a Ponzi scheme that cost 70 investors, many from the Bay State, about $9 million. The guilty party faces up to 20 years in jail and $5 million in penalties after settling the criminal charges with federal officials in New York. He also settled similar civil charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in which he agreed to repay more than $8.7 million. Officials have not yet determined whether he has money or other assets to repay his victims. And he could face additional fines, a SEC spokesman said. “We’ll try to find whatever can be recovered in order to [get it] to the investors,” he said. The guilty party promised investors consistently high returns. He told them his River Stream Fund had earned about 20 percent a year since 2001, using a trading strategy based on short-term market trends, authorities said. In fact, River Stream lost money or had minimal returns most of the time, paid as much as $9 million in bogus profits, and returned capital to investors with money given to him by other investors, according to court documents. Meanwhile, he took more than $2.5 million in fees for himself. Before his fund collapsed in April 2008, the guilty party claimed it held about $18 million, when in reality it had only $101,600, according to prosecutors. Source: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/06/25/investment_manager_pleads_guilty_in_a_9_million_fraud/


Information Technology


27. June 26, SoftPedia – (International) Over 2.7 billion vulnerable programs installed on U.S. computers. Reputed Danish vulnerability intelligence provider Secunia has recently released version 1.5 of its free Personal Software Inspector (PSI) application. Statistics gathered by the software reveal frightening numbers, such as 2,720,800,000 vulnerable programs being installed on U.S. computers. Secunia PSI is a free application that scans the programs installed on a computer in order to determine if they are affected by any security vulnerabilities. In order to make this assessment, PSI queries the company’s database of security advisories, one of the most complete in the world. If an application is found to be vulnerable, PSI verifies if any update or newer version that might fix the issue is available and provides the user with a direct download link to it. The tool also tags programs that reached their end of life and are no longer supported by their developers, as a security risk. According to Secunia, there is an estimated number of 227 million Internet users in the United States, out of which about 400,000 have scanned their computers with PSI. The company notes that PSI users currently have an average of four unpatched programs installed, while the average U.S. Internet users have 12 such applications on their computers. “The fact that US based PC users have more than 2.7 billion vulnerable programs installed are shocking! And quite frankly I am very surprised, we had an idea it would be bad, but couldn’t imagine the enormous scope of this problem. And to make things even worse, the picture formed in the US is the same all over the world,” the manager of Secunia’s PSI Partner Program noted. Secunia’s statistics seem to be consistent with the malware distribution trends observed in recent times. Cyber-criminals have come to rely more and more on vulnerabilities in order to infect computers — and not just the ones affecting the Windows operating system itself, but other popular programs as well, such as Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, PowerPoint, Word, and so on. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Over-2-7-Billion-Vulnerable-Programs-Installed-on-US-Computers-115129.shtml

For another story, see item 28, below

Communications Sector

28. June 26, BBC News – (International) Web slows after Jackson’s death. The internet suffered a number of slowdowns as people the world over rushed to verify accounts of an extremely popular entertainer’s death. Search giant Google confirmed to the BBC that when the news first broke it feared it was under attack. Millions of people who Googled the star’s name were greeted with an error page rather than a list of results. It warned users “your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application.” “It’s true that between approximately 2:40 p.m. Pacific and 3:15 p.m. Pacific, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to the entertainer and saw the error page,” said a Google spokesman. Google’s trends page showed that searches for the entertainer had reached such a volume that in its so called “hotness” gauge the topic was rated “volcanic.” Google was not the only company overwhelmed by the public’s clamor for information. The microblogging service Twitter crashed with the sheer volume of people using the service. According to initial data from Trendrr, a Web service that tracks activity on social media sites, the number of Twitter posts on June 25 containing the entertainer’s name totaled more than 100,000 per hour. Keynote Systems reported that its monitoring showed performance problems for the web sites of AOL, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and Yahoo. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8120324.stm


29. June 25, AccessNorthGa.com – (Georgia) Phone, computer lines down at several Gainesville City buildings. Employees encountered a little bit of technology trouble at several Gainesville City buildings following a traffic accident in the area of College Avenue on June 25. “Apparently during the accident one of the vehicles actually hit a pole and pulled the fiber that connects computers and phones in the city down,” said a spokesman for the City of Gainesville. The spokesman said the incident happened around 3 p.m. She said the Public Utilities building, the Georgia Mountains Center, Frances Meadows Aquatic and Community Center and the Community Service Center are all without phone and computer services until further notice. Source: http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=221389

Department of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report

Friday, June 26, 2009

Complete DHS Daily Report for June 26, 2009

Daily Report

Top Stories

 The Associated Press reports that poison control centers in California could go dark this summer under the Governor’s plan for closing the State’s $24.3 billion deficit, making California the only State without poison control assistance. Officials say the demise of the California program could have a domino effect throughout the country. (See item 20)


20. June 25, Associated Press – (California; National) Poison control at risk in California, other States. Poison control centers that have been a lifeline for millions of residents could go dark this summer under the California Governor’s plan for closing the State’s $24.3 billion deficit. That would make the nation’s most populous State the only one without poison control assistance. The demise of the California program could have a domino effect throughout the country, officials say. Washington and Michigan centers already have been forced to downsize, and officials in Tennessee and Oregon also have proposed significant cutbacks. But in California, the entire program sits on the chopping block, with some lawmakers hoping to reach a compromise to keep some of the money available. Many States strapped for cash would like to see how California, which handles 10 percent of the nation’s poison calls, fares without a State-funded system, said the executive director of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. With cuts, the growing alternatives would be hospitals and emergency rooms. In California, the deficit situation is so dire that the Governor’s office says they have to make tough choices, even if it means targeting important programs like poison control. Poison control programs also provide data for health research. The poison control database allows officials and researchers to better understand trends and the magnitude of an event, said a Center for Disease Control epidemiologist in Atlanta. Closing California’s call centers — in Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno and San Diego — would save about $5.9 million annually, but program officials say the State could end up paying much more than that in emergency room and other doctor visits. In the worst cases, they say, not having access to a poison control hot line could lead to deaths. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/25/AR2009062500797.html


 According to the Detroit Free Press, six children are recovering after a chlorine accident at a high school pool in Clarkston, Michigan led to the evacuation of about 1,500 people on Wednesday. (See item 22)


22. June 25, Detroit Free Press – (Michigan) 6 kids recovering after Clarkston chlorine accident. Six children are recovering Thursday after a chlorine accident at the Clarkston High School pool in Clarkston, Michigan led to the evacuation of about 1,500 people Wednesday. The school district spokeswoman said Thursday morning that all six children, who were part of the Sea Wolves swim club, have been released from the hospital. All were treated for respiratory issues, she said. The pool is scheduled to reopen July 6, she said, in order for the district to do some training of staff and view the report on the incident from firefighters. The pool was also scheduled to be closed next week — except for Sea Wolves practice. Investigators say they believe electrical blackouts may have caused the automatic chemical treatment system for the pool to malfunction at 6:42 p.m., dumping an excessive amount of chlorine and muriatic acid into the pool, the Independence Township fire chief said Thursday. The fire chief said rescuers evacuated 1,500 people attending a dance recital in an auditorium near the pool as a precaution. Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20090625/NEWS03/90625026/6+kids+recovering+after+Clarkston+chlorine+accident


Details

Banking and Finance Sector

11. June 23, Orange County Register – (California) Man threatens to blow up bank, then tosses in his backpack. A man clutching a backpack threatened to blow up a bank, then tossed the bag inside a Bank of America, authorities said. Bank employees and customers evacuated the building, but a subsequent search of the bag revealed there were not any explosive materials inside, said a Newport Beach police sergeant. The incident, however, caused authorities to clear the area for two hours while the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s bomb squad inspected the bag, the sergeant said. Police were called to the bank, near the intersection of Westcliff Drive and Irvine Avenue, at 12:09 p.m. on June 22. Witnesses reported that the suspect walked into the bank holding the backpack. The suspect tossed the bag and walked out of the bank, but a bank employee followed him out, the sergeant said. At 12:13 p.m., officers stopped the suspect and took him into custody. Inside the bag, authorities found several personal items, but none that posed danger to the public, the sergeant said. Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bank-sailor-bag-2472359-spain-authorities


Information Technology


26. June 25, PC World – (International) Hacked high-profile Twitter accounts still spreading malicious links. Phishing scams involving hijacked accounts continue to sweep through the popular microblogging site Twitter. In January, hackers commandeered the accounts of several high-profile members and distributed malicious links and spam messages. On June 23, scammers used the profile of a former Apple Fellow, with over 100,000 followers, to post a link to a site that claimed to offer a non-existent sex tape. According to PC World, a University of Alabama at Birmingham computer forensic scientist believes that over 1,600 people have already followed the link to a fake porn site that links to a Trojan horse program. This software affects both Macs and PCs, and, if downloaded, essentially turns a users computer into a zombie that can be controlled from afar, enabling a hacker to extract valuable personal information. The scheme also leeched off the compromised accounts of a political blogger, a rising musician, and a gay news site, some of which still have the malicious link available on their Twitter pages. Source: http://www.switched.com/2009/06/25/hacked-high-profile-twitter-accounts-still-spreading-malicious-l/


27. June 24, VNUNet.com – (International) Google clamps down on ‘malvertising.’ Google has made several enhancements to its anti-malvertising site to help its ad network customers prevent attempts to distribute malware through advertising. The web giant launched an initial custom search engine at the beginning of the year, which is designed to allow ad networks to perform quick background checks on prospective advertisers to minimize the risk of malware. “It checks a variety of independent, third party sites that track possible attempts to distribute malware through advertising,” said a statement on the site. “Its search results should not be considered the last word on a prospective customer but one potential source of helpful information. If a party you’re researching comes up in a search result here, we recommend you take a closer look at the party in question before rendering judgment.” Now the Anti-Malvertising.com site has been enhanced with additional educational materials relevant to “all web publishers, ad operations teams and Internet users”, according to Google. Among the recommendations for publishers is that they always perform comprehensive QA on creatives and that they avoid ad networks without strong anti-malware measures in place. Also on the site are incident response tactics for small to medium sized publishers, including sample scripts for customer service and notifying ad networks and other third parties in the event of malware being discovered. Source: http://www.enterprise-security-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67304


28. June 23, Red Condor – (International) Red Condor’s Spam Trip Wire detects new virus. Red Condor’s Spam Trip Wire feature instantly detected and blocked a new email virus campaign designed to scare email users with bogus legal action for activities including illegal music downloads. The virus campaign detected on June 22 calls attention to users’ supposed recent activity at sites commonly used to share and download copyrighted movies, music and software. The email content threatens recipients with legal action and includes a link to a “log report” that is actually a virus executable. Red Condor created a filtering rule and distributed the added security to its security appliance and hosted service customers around the world. Source: http://www.enterprise-security-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67361

Communications Sector

29. June 24, Dothan Eagle – (Alabama) Phone service restored in Houston County after earlier disruption of service. Phone service has been restored in Houston County following an interruption of service that lasted several hours on June 24. Due to a damaged transmission line, the Dothan/Houston County area had been experiencing significant telephone disruptions. The disruption affected all phone lines in the Houston County Court System, Administrative Building and Sheriff’s Offices. Residents throughout the county also experienced difficulty in reaching 911 services from land line telephones. Source: http://www.dothaneagle.com/dea/news/local/article/phone_lines_out_at_houston_county_courthouse_admin_building/79410/


30. June 23, IDG News Service – (International) Satellite launch will lead to wider AT&T coverage. AT&T Mobility should achieve true nationwide coverage by the end of this year after it introduces a planned service that utilizes both satellite and cellular service. The carrier will resell satellite service and phones from TerreStar Networks, a startup that is set to have its first satellite launched on July 1. TerreStar is developing hybrid satellite/cellular handsets designed to be about the same size as a conventional smartphone. TerreStar’s satellite will sit 22,000 miles above North America and provide service across the United States and Canada, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Using licensed 2GHz radio spectrum, it will provide voice service as well as data at approximately 64K bits per second, said the TerreStar chief technology officer. AT&T will resell that service in a hybrid offering, aimed initially at local, state and federal governments, he said. The carrier will also resell the handsets, though not initially in its retail stores. The handsets will switch between satellite and 3G coverage as users roam in and out of cellular coverage areas. TerreStar is still working on a resale deal with a Canadian carrier. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/167244/satellite_launch_will_lead_to_wider_atandt_coverage.html?tk=rss_news