Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Complete DHS Daily Report for March 8, 2011
Daily Report
Top Stories
• Associated Press reports two natural gas companies suspended the use of injection wells in central Arkansas after an industry commission found a link between the wells and hundreds of recent earthquakes in the area. (See item 5)
5. March 4, Associated Press – (Arkansas) ‘Fracking’ disposal sites suspended, likely linked to Arkansas earthquakes. Two natural gas companies have agreed to temporarily suspend use of injection wells in central Arkansas where earthquakes keep occurring. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy and Clarita Operating of Little Rock, Arkansas told the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission March 4 they have stopped operation of the wells near Greenbrier and Guy pending the panel’s next regular meeting March 29. The commission said there is likely a link between the wells and the earthquakes. There have been more than 800 earthquakes in the area in the past 6 months and a magnitude 4.7 quake –- the strongest in Arkansas in 35 years –- hit there March 6. The high-pressure wells are used to dispose of waste water from natural gas drilling. Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/06/fracking-arkansas-earthquakes_n_831633.html
• According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a technician’s use of a walkie-talkie rendered the Davis-Besse nuclear plant’s entire emergency shutdown system inoperable for a time, March 3. (See item 9)
9. March 5, Cleveland Plain Dealer – (Ohio) Walkie talkie disrupts safety system at Davis-Besse nuclear plant. The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio went “radio-inactive” March 3 — losing its emergency water cooling system for 2 minutes — due to a technician’s walkie talkie. The technician used his walkie talkie in a room containing a back-up or auxiliary control panel for a system designed to automatically pump water into the reactor in the event of a catastrophic accident. The radio wave disrupted the signal from the control panel to special pumps and emergency valves that even on stand-by are electrically alive for an instantaneous reaction. In two bursts of conversation lasting 8 seconds and 19 seconds during a 2-minute period, the technician rendered the plant’s entire emergency shutdown system inoperable, the company told federal regulators March 3. The company posted a sign on the door to the room warning all employees not to key radios near the sensitive control panel, a company spokesman said. The incident should have never happened, said a nuclear safety engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He said such incidents occurred many times in the early 1980s, so much that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a warning bulletin in December 1983. “This hasn’t happened in decades,” he said. “We will definitely be looking into this,” said a spokeswoman for the NRC’s regional office in Chicago. Source: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/03/davis-besse_nuclear_power_plan_1.html
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
15. March 6, WGN Radio 720 Chicago – (Illinois) Bank blaze inside Loop highrise spurs evacuation. An extra-alarm fire inside a Loop bank branch in Chicago, Illinois, injured two people March 6 and led firefighters to evacuate the building. Fire crews responded to the call of the fire at 33 N. Dearborn Street about 1:35 p.m., fire officials said. The fire appeared to have been contained to a Bank of America branch on the main floor. A bicycle unit police officer was riding past the building with her partner when she saw a “wall of fire” through the bank’s windows. Firefighters elevated the fire to a 2-11 alarm and did a floor-by-floor search, evacuating between 10 and 15 people from upper floors, the assistant deputy fire commissioner said. He said fire officials were investigating claims the building’s fire alarm never sounded. Source: http://www.wgnradio.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-firefighters-battle-loop-highrise-fire-20110306,0,2125233.story?track=rss
16. March 5, Boston Herald – (Massachusetts) Cops eye link in hoax bomb bank robberies. Winthrop, Massachusetts, police believe the same man who left a phony bomb at an Everett bank March 3, robbed a bank in Winthrop March 6. A man robbed the Bank of America on Bartlett Road in Winthrop at 9:20 a.m. March 6, handing the teller a note written on an envelope threatening he had a bomb. “He showed the teller a device that was consistent with a pipe bomb,” the Winthrop police chief said. He said the man did not leave the bogus bomb at the bank. The area was searched, in case the device had been left elsewhere, and deemed safe. He said the robbery may have been committed by the same man who robbed a bank in Everett March 3. In the Everett incident, a man robbed an East Boston Savings Bank and caused a bomb scare when he left a suspicious package behind. The device turned out to be a hoax. The suspect is described as a white male between the ages of 40 and 45, wearing a white hat with an emblem, a leather jacket, and a black scarf. Source: http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0305cops_eye_link_in_hoax_bomb_bank_robberies/
17. March 4, Sparta Expositor – (Tennessee) Walling man arrested on explosives charge. A Walling, Tennessee man was arrested March 4 in connection with a pipe bomb found February 14 at US Bank on Highway 111, in Sparta. The man faces a Class B felony prohibited weapons charge for allegedly making and transporting the pipe bomb, according to a detective with White County Sheriff Department (WCSD). The detective stated February 14 a female employee of a business located in the US Bank facility found a package, took it to the business, and called another detective with WCSD. Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Bomb Squad later detonated the pipe bomb. There were no injuries and no property damage. The warrant alleges the suspect “admitted to assisting in the construction of the bomb in Overton County and did transport it to White County.” Source: http://spartaexpositor.com/articles/2011/03/04/news/doc4d714e664cc39110553731.txt
18. March 3, Biloxi Sun Herald – (Mississippi; Georgia; Alabama) 81 bogus credit cards found in traffic stop. Two Georgia men have been indicted on charges alleging authorities found 81 counterfeit credit cards hidden in their vehicle and their clothes after their arrests in a traffic stop in Harrison County, Mississippi. Harrison County sheriff’s investigators arrested the two men on suspicion of fraud September 30, and Homeland Security Investigations began a probe. An indictment unsealed the week of February 28 alleged the men used one of the fake cards at a gas station in Georgiana, Alabama, before they were pulled over in Harrison County at the 33 mile-marker on Interstate 10. Public records do not show where the men were heading. Both men were charged with conspiracy and access-device fraud, a type of credit-card fraud. Their trial is set for April 4. Source: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/03/03/2913778/81-bogus-credit-cards-found-in.html
Information Technology
48. March 7, IDG News Service – (International) After attacks, Google vows to fortify Android store. Google will build new safeguards into Android Market, its application store for the Android mobile OS, following an attack the week of February 28 that infected thousands of phones and forced the company to wipe the malware remotely from phones, it said March 6. More than 50 applications in the Android Market were found to contain a program called DroidDream, which is capable of stealing information about a mobile device and downloading other malicious applications to the phone. Google addressed the issue March 5, when it confirmed it decided to use a command that remotely erases malicious applications. Android users who have downloaded a malicious application will get an e-mail within 3 days from the address android-market-support@google.com explaining the situation, wrote Android’s security lead. In addition to wiping malware, Google is also forcing an update on users called “Android Market Security Tool March 2011” which fixes the security issues DroidDream exploits. Some users may get a notification on their device that a malicious application has been removed Android’s security lead wrote. About a day after the vulnerabilities have been fixed, users will receive a second e-mail. Phones running Android versions below 2.2.2 are vulnerable. The issues are fixed in the latest 2.3 version of Android, known as “Gingerbread.” Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9213563/After_attacks_Google_vows_to_fortify_Android_store
49. March 7, H Security – (International) Further attacks on WordPress under investigation. Following a massive attack on WordPress.com March 3, WordPress was hit by a second attack in the early hours of the morning March 4. Apparently there was some speculation the attacks might be connected to the current unrest in the Middle East, but investigation now appears to show these attacks originated in China, with some traffic from Korea and Japan. The Automattic status page which displays the operating status for WordPress and other services showed the two outages. A note on the second attack states, “Unfortunately, the DDoS attack from yesterday returned in a different form this morning and affected sitewide performance,The good news is that we were able to mitigate it quickly and performance returned to normal around 11:15 UTC. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely.” WordPress’s founder commented to TechCrunch that one of the targeted sites was a Chinese-language site that was also blocked on Baidu, leading to the initial assumption that the attack was political. Later, he said closer investigation showed it more likely to have been business related, although there has been no response from the site’s owner. Source: http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Further-attacks-on-WordPress-under-investigation-1203108.html
50. March 7, H Open Source – (International) Mozilla patches Java applet problems in Firefox. Two days after it released the Firefox 3.6.14 and Thunderbird 3.1.8 security updates, the Mozilla project has issues new versions of its open source Web browser and e-mail client to address several critical issues found in the previous releases. According to the developers, Firefox 3.6.15 fixes a bug that prevented some Java applets from loading in version 3.6.14, while Thunderbird 3.1.9 corrects a problem that caused a crash after the update. Various other bugs affecting all platforms have also been closed in both Firefox and Thunderbird. Source: http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Mozilla-patches-Java-applet-problems-in-Firefox-1202991.html
Communications Sector
51. March 7, Radio Ink – (Florida) Fort Lauderdale business owner sapped with $20,000 pirate fine. A man received a $20,000 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fine for operating an unlicensed radio transmitter at his commercial property in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In response to complaints about an unlicensed station on 99.5 MHz, agents from the enforcement bureau’s Miami office used direction-finding techniques to locate the source of radio frequency transmissions on the frequency March 16 and August 24, 2010. They wound up at a commercial property owned by the man. FCC agents determined the signals from the man’s building exceeded the limits for operation and therefore required a license. A review of FCC records showed no authorization was issued to him, or to anyone for any operation of an FM broadcast station on this frequency, at or near this address. Agents again used direction-finding techniques August 31, 2010, to locate the source of radio frequency transmissions at 99.5 MHz to his commercial property in Fort Lauderdale. Again agents determined the signals exceeded the limits for operation and therefore required a license. Despite having acknowledged receipt of both notices of unlicensed operation, the man continued to operate an unlicensed radio station on 99.5 MHz from his property. Source: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2127646&spid=24698
For another story see item 48 above in the Information Technology Sector
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