Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Complete DHS Daily Report for September 6, 2011
Daily Report
Top Stories
• Tropical Storm Lee threatened the Louisiana coast with torrential rains and flooding September 2, as offshore energy platforms and refineries braced for high winds and rising waters. – Reuters (See item 1)
1. September 2, Reuters – (National) Oil companies brace for Tropical Storm Lee. Tropical Storm Lee threatened the Louisiana coast with torrential rains and flooding September 2, as offshore energy platforms and refineries along the coast braced for high winds and rising waters. The slow-moving storm is expected to reach the Louisiana coast early September 4 and bring 10 to 15 inches of rain to southeast Louisiana over the weekend, including the low-lying city of New Orleans, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Lee was about 200 miles southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, with maximum winds of 40 miles-per-hour, the hurricane center said. It issued tropical storm warnings stretching from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Sabine Pass, Texas. Louisiana’s governor warned that heavy rains, substantial winds and tidal surges from the Gulf of Mexico could produce flash flooding in parts of New Orleans throughout the Labor Day holiday weekend. Offshore oil and natural gas producers began shutting down platforms and evacuating staff earlier this week. About half the region’s oil production and a third of its gas production was shut September 2, according to the U.S. government. Most of that output should quickly return once the storm passes. Lee is expected to have a minimal long-term impact on the Gulf of Mexico oil patch, which provides about a third of the nation’s oil production, and about 12 percent of its natural gas. The Gulf Coast is home to 40 percent of U.S. refining capacity, and 30 percent of natural gas processing plant capacity. Much of that infrastructure is in southeast Texas, and near the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/02/storm-usa-gulf-idUSN1E7810KA20110902
• The Poesten Kill Dam in Troy, New York, shifted forward on the northern corner, compromising the spillway and threatening to inundate the city of 50,000. – Albany Times-Union (See item 58)
58. September 2, Albany Times-Union – (New York) Fears over dam shift. The Poesten Kill Dam in Troy, New York, shifted forward on the northern corner, compromising the spillway, the Albany Times-Union reported September 2. Water was coming over the top of the spillway as it should, but the damage from the heavy flow of water and blows from debris after Tropical Storm Irene caused the spillway to leak from underneath. A strong impact, such as from a runway tree, boulder, or other storm debris could cause the dam to burst, potentially endanger homes and property in Troy, which has a population of about 50,000. A city engineer said the city built a temporary structure along the dam to divert the water from the damaged section. Part of the planned repair efforts were aimed at protecting the concrete abutment at the dam’s north end, and the building that is immediately west of the dam. The dam is located to the east of a populated part of the city. No evacuations or street closures were ordered. Source: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Fears-over-dam-shift-2151438.ph
Details
Banking and Finance Sector
15. September 1, Cliffview Pilot – (New Jersey) Arrest in $5 million Paragon mortgage scam. Detectives from the Bergen County, New Jersey, prosecutor’s office have cracked a $5 million swindle with the arrest of a Bloomfield man who they said schemed with a loan officer and mortgage brokers to defraud Paragon Federal Credit Union in Montvale. The man is accused of submitting bogus information to qualify for 13 real estate loans for 11 multi-family houses in Bergen and Essex counties, with the help of a loan coordinator at Paragon, two Union City mortgage brokers, and the owner of a Jersey shore appraisal company. “These fraudulent leases combined with inflated property appraisals and a fraudulent Paragon Federal Credit Union membership application were all used to aid [the man] in meeting the loan criteria and ultimately being approved for a real estate loan,” a Bergen County prosecutor said. Two years ago, the defendant registered CNS Enterprises LLC. His sole purpose, the prosecutor said, was for “supplying fictitious invoices to be added to the seller side of the settlement statements,” showing a debt to the company –- even though he was the buyer. He then collected at closing. The suspect used the ill-gotten gains “for down payments on the next purchase,” the prosecutor said. The properties all eventually defaulted, and Paragon investigators began a review. Charges will be brought separately against the man’s alleged accomplices: a Paragon loan officer; two men who work for AOR Consultants in Union City; and the owner of Lighthouse Appraisers in Toms River. Source: http://www.cliffviewpilot.com/bergen/2747-arrest-in-5-million-paragon-mortgage-loan-scam
16. September 1, Bloomberg – (National) Unauthorized workers in U.S. claimed $4.2 billion in tax credits last year. Tax filers who were not authorized to work in the United States collected $4.2 billion in tax credits in 2010, a Treasury Department watchdog reported September 1. Although federal law prohibits people residing illegally in the United States from receiving most public benefits, an increasing number filed tax returns claiming the additional child tax credit intended for working families, according to the September 1 report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. “The payment of federal funds through this tax benefit appears to provide an additional incentive for aliens to enter, reside, and work in the United States without authorization, which contradicts federal law and policy to remove such incentives,” the report said. The recipients did not qualify for Social Security numbers, and filed tax returns using individual taxpayer identification numbers supplied by the Internal Revenue Service. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-01/tax-credits-of-4-2-billion-claimed-by-unauthorized-u-s-workers.html
17. August 31, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (National) SEC charges hedge fund manager and company insiders in $3.9 million insider trading scheme. On August 31, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a man and his New Jersey-based hedge fund firm Clay Capital Management, LLC with engaging in an insider trading scheme that involved the securities of three companies –- Moldflow Corporation, Autodesk, Inc., and Salesforce.com, Inc. The SEC also charged the man’s brother-in-law, his friend, and the brother-in-law’s neighbor for their roles in the scheme. In total, the scheme generated illicit gains of nearly $3.9 million. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, the SEC’s complaint alleges the brother-in-law was a director of business development for Autodesk and tipped two of the men with inside information about Autodesk’s planned tender offer for Moldflow in advance of Autodesk’s public merger announcement May 1, 2008. In total, the traders made illicit gains of $2.3 million from trading in Moldflow stock. According to the complaint, the brother-in-law also gave inside data about Autodesk’s fourth quarter 2008 earnings in advance of Autodesk’s public earnings announcement February 26, 2008. In total, the traders made illicit gains of $1.1 million. The complaint further alleges a recruiting technology manager for Salesforce tipped one of the men with confidential data about Salesforce’s performance in advance of the company’s public earnings announcement February 27, 2008. In total, the traders made illicit gains of nearly $500,000 from trading in Salesforce securities. Source: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2011/lr22080.htm
Information Technology Sector
43. September 2, Help Net Security – (International) Morto worm surprises again. The recently discovered Morto worm that has been spreading in the wild has more than one never-before-seen characteristic. Not only does it spread by using the Remote Desktop Protocol, but it also uses a novel way to contact its command and control in search for instructions: via DNS (Domain Name System) TXT records. “While examining W32.Morto, we noticed that it would attempt to request a DNS record for a number of URLs that were hard-coded into the binary,” according to a Symantec security response engineer. “This is by no means unusual or unique, but when we examined the URLs, we noticed that there were no associated DNS A records returned from our own DNS requests. On further investigation, we determined the malware was actually querying for a DNS TXT record only –- not for a domain to IP lookup –- and the values that were returned were quite unexpected.” The information provided was a binary signature and an IP address from which the worm can download further malware — the same information that most threats receive using more established communication channels. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=1827
44. September 1, Associated Press – (International) US cybersecurity officials warn of malicious email scams links to 9/11 or Hurricane Irene. DHS officials are warning the public to beware of e-mail scams and possible cyberattacks related to Hurricane Irene and the upcoming 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Associated Press reported September 1. New bulletins issued in recent days by the DHS’s cybersecurity center said computer users should be wary of e-mails with subject lines referring to the recent hurricane or the September 11th attacks, even if they appear to come from reputable sources. The e-mails could be phishing scams that masquerade as legitimate requests for personal information or fund-raising pleas and may include innocent-looking links to video or photos. Clicking on the links could download harmful viruses or take users to malicious Web sites. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts-law/us-cybersecurity-officials-warn-of-malicious-e-mail-scams-links-to-911-or-hurricane-irene/2011/09/01/gIQAu5J2uJ_story.html
45. September 1, Softpedia – (International) Thunderbird 6.0.1 and Thunderbird 3.1.13 fix compromised root CA issue. Mozilla updated its two supported Thunderbird versions to remove the root certificate of DigiNotar from the list of authorized Certificate Authorities (CA). The CA was the victim of a successful attack and several rogue certificates were issued, signed by it. Mozilla provided updates for Thunderbird 6, the latest stable version of the popular e-mail suite, and for the older Thunderbird 3.1, which is still being supported with security patches. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Thunderbird-6-0-1-and-Thunderbird-3-1-13-Fix-Compromised-Root-CA-Issue-219790.shtml
46. September 1, Associated Press – (International) UK arrests 2 suspected computer hackers. British police September 1 arrested two men as part of a trans-Atlantic investigation into attacks carried out by the hacking groups Anonymous and Lulz Security. Scotland Yard said a 24-year-old and a 20-year-old were arrested at two separate U.K. addresses as part of a continuing investigation in collaboration with the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies. “The arrests relate to our inquiries into a series of serious computer intrusions and online denial-of-service attacks recently suffered by a number of multi-national companies, public institutions and government and law enforcement agencies in Great Britain and the United States,” said a detective inspector from the Metropolitan Police’s Central e-Crime Unit. Police said the two men arrested remain in custody, and a computer seized in the investigation is being examined. Source: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=140129430
For more stories, see items 47, 48, and 49 below in the Communications Sector
Communications Sector
47. September 2, Northescambia.com – (Florida) Frontier Internet fails again; company plans big fix. Officials with Frontier Communications said September 1 they were taking steps to prevent hundreds of North Escambia, Florida area residents from losing their Internet service for hours at a time. During the summer, Frontier high speed DSL and dialup Internet customers in Walnut Hill, Bratt, Molino, and Atmore lost their Internet connection for as long as 12 hours at a time. The company has experienced at least 6 major outages since June, including an 8-hour period September 1. Frontier said most of the outages were not their fault, blaming the downtime on AT&T, which provides the Internet connections. A Frontier spokeswoman said the September 1 outage was the result of an AT&T fiber line cut near Bay Minette, interrupting the connection between Atmore and Atlanta. All of the Walnut Hill, Bratt, Molino and Atmore DSL and dial-up services provided by Frontier are connected to the rest of the Internet by a single fiber optic line between Atmore and Atlanta. The spokeswoman said Frontier is working to install a second independent route to the Internet from Atmore, preventing a single fiber cut from cutting the North Escambia area off from the Internet. Source: http://www.northescambia.com/?p=66262
48. September 2, Providence Journal – (Rhode Island) TV, phone, Internet steadily returning in R.I. Rhode Island’s cable television, phone, and Internet providers, said September 1 they were making progress restoring service interrupted by Tropical Storm Irene, but that customers are still cut off across the state. Full Channel, which provides TV, Internet, and phone service in Barrington, Warren, and Bristol, appears to have been hit hardest. The company’s chief executive said more than 90 percent of the company’s customers in Barrington lost service, more than 80 percent in Bristol and somewhat less in Warren. The main issue as of September 1 was Full Channel’s service area was waiting for National Grid to restore the electricity that powers distribution equipment. Downed wires also presented a problem initially, the chief executive said, but most of that has been resolved. A spokeswoman for Cox Communications, which provides TV, Internet, and phone service statewide, said 25 percent of the company’s customers lost connection to Cox’s network, though many more were unable to use those services because power was out in their area. As of September 1, about 94 percent of those who had lost services had been restored. She said Cox’s network has been repaired, but the lack of electricity in some areas and downed wires leading to customers’ homes were lingering issues. Source: http://www.projo.com/news/content/IRENE_TELECOM_09-02-11_9DQ3QU1_v31.76ace.html
49. September 1, Greenwich Time – (Connecticut) Major disconnect: growing discontent over extended cable outage in Greenwich. From homebound residents with special needs to people who telecommute for a living, frustration was mounting September 1 among those reliant on Cablevision for phone, Internet, and TV service because of extended storm-related outages in Greenwich, Connecticut. A Cablevision spokesman released a statement September 1 attributing the disruption to widespread power outages caused by Tropical Storm Irene, at the height of which one out of every two Connecticut Light & Power Co. customers in town lost electricity. The New York-based cable giant would not reveal how many of its local customers lost service or the number of Cablevision crews it deployed to Greenwich. To add insult to injury for Cablevision, a police report was filed at 1 a.m. August 31, stating one of the company’s emergency generators was stolen from Marshall Street, which runs parallel to Havemeyer Lane near the Stamford border. Cablevision had no information about the incident. Source: http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Major-disconnect-Growing-discontent-over-2151781.php
50. September 1, The Hill – (National) FCC fines calling card companies for deceptive marketing. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced September 1 $20 million in fines against 4 prepaid calling card companies for allegedly using deceptive marketing practices. According to the FCC, STi Telecom, Lyca Tel, Touch-Tel USA, and Locus Telecommunications scammed consumers by claiming they could make hundreds of minutes of calls to foreign countries for only a few dollars. In fact, because of hidden fees and surcharges, consumers could only use a fraction of those minutes, the FCC said. The FCC fined the companies $5 million each. In one case the FCC investigated, consumers would have to make a single 13-hour phone call to receive the advertised number of minutes. If the consumers made more than one call, they would receive a smaller fraction of the card value. In another case, a card that promised 1,000 minutes was exhausted after a single 60-minute phone call. According to investigators, the companies targeted low-income and minority communities. The FCC also released an enforcement advisory September 1 to raise awareness about deceptive prepaid calling cards. Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/179301-fcc-fines-calling-card-companies-for-deceptive-marketing
51. September 1, Washington Post – (International) Report says space debris past ‘tipping point,’ NASA needs to step up action. Space debris has passed the “tipping point,” according to a report released September 1 by the National Research Council, which called on NASA to find ways to better monitor and clean up the orbiting junk threatening active satellites, and manned spacecraft. “We’re going to have a lot more [debris] collisions, and at an increasingly frequent rate,” said a former NASA scientist who chaired the committee that prepared the report. The orbiting objects include ejected rockets and broken satellites. Recent data underscore the growing problem. Two collisions since January 2007 helped at least double the number of trackable debris fragments that are in Earth’s orbit, according to the report. U.S. Strategic Command said there are more than 22,000 such pieces in orbit. NASA estimates there could be hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of smaller, non-trackable pieces of debris also in space. Active satellites are at risk of damage and “as the amount of debris increases, there will be increases in the cost of operating” satellites, said a technical adviser with the Secure World Foundation. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/reports-says-space-debris-past-tipping-point-nasa-needs-to-step-up-action/2011/08/31/gIQAo6WTuJ_story.html
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