Monday, August 19, 2013   

Complete DHS Daily Report for August 19, 2013

Daily Report

Top Stories

 • A man was arrested August 15 on charges that he allegedly ran a credit card and check fraud scheme between 2004 and May 2013 that defrauded banks of more than $1 million by setting up fraudulent accounts in New York and sending over $135 million in counterfeit overpayments. – Pocono Record See item 4 below in the Banking and Finance Sector

 • According to recent data, at least 591 people in 19 States have fallen ill with Cyclospora infections since June. – Food Safety News

15. August 15, Food Safety News – (National) Cyclospora infections top 591. According to data collected from the U.S. Centers from Disease Control and calls made to individual State health departments, at least 591 people in 19 States have fallen ill with Cyclospora infections since June. Source: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/08/cyclospora-infections-top-589/

 • The Essex Junction Wastewater Treatment Plant reported plans to better protect controls after they indicated a worker accidentally bumped into machine controls which caused a 500,000 gallon partially treated sewage spill in the Winooski River August 2 and 3. – Associated Press

19. August 15, Associated Press – (Vermont) Wastewater plant spills 500K gallon into river. The Essex Junction Wastewater Treatment Plant reported plans to better protect controls August 15 after they reported that a worker accidentally bumped into machine controls which caused a 500,000 gallon partially treated sewage spill in Vermont’s Winooski River August 2 and 3. Source: http://www.stowetoday.com/stowe_reporter/news/article_a6503352-05cb-11e3-9924-001a4bcf887a.html

 • Ferris State University reported that an unauthorized person evaded network security and gained access to a computer that stored about 39,000 individuals’ names and Social Security numbers. – Associated Press

23. August 16, Associated Press – (Michigan) Ferris State U. reports data security breach. Ferris State University in Big Rapids reported that it learned July 23 that an unauthorized person evaded network security and gained access to a computer that stored about 39,000 individuals’ names and Social Security numbers. Source: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/aug/16/ferris-state-u-reports-data-security-breach/

Details

Banking and Finance Sector

4. August 16, Pocono Record – (New York; Pennsylvania) Matamoras man charged with 9-year-long $1 million credit card scam. A Matamoras, Pennsylvania man was arrested August 15 on charges that he allegedly ran credit card and check fraud scheme between 2004 and May 2013 that defrauded banks of more than $1 million by setting up fraudulent accounts in New York and sending over $135 million in counterfeit overpayments. Source: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130816/NEWS/308160328

5. August 15, WPEC 12 West Palm Beach – (Florida) Thieves use new method in ATM skimming. Police in the Port St. Lucie area reported that two thieves were seen on video attaching skimming devices to ATMs at Publix grocery stores. The thieves target machines with external card slots, drill holes in the bottom of the reader to avoid detection, and then place skimmers into the drilled hole before sealing it. Source: http://cbs12.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_9496.shtml

Information Technology Sector

28. August 16, Softpedia – (International) Outbrain hacked by Syrian Electronic Army, CNN, Time, and Washington Post impacted. Members of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) hacktivist group used phishing emails to compromise the systems of content recommendation service Outbrain, which enabled the group to redirect some visitors of the Washington Post, Time, and CNN to the official SEA Web site August 15. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Outbrain-Hacked-by-Syrian-Electronic-Army-CNN-Time-and-Washington-Post-Impacted-375936.shtml

29. August 16, IDG News Service – (International) Facebook disables some legitimate apps while targeting malicious ones. Facebook stated August 15 that the tools it uses to disable malicious apps inadvertently disabled some legitimate apps’ developer accounts for a time starting August 13. Source: https://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/081613-facebook-disables-some-legitimate-apps-272917.html

30. August 15, The Register – (International) GitHub code repository rocked by ‘very large DDoS’ attack. GitHub was targeted by a large distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack August 15 and suffered outages as a result. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/15/github_ddos/

Communications Sector

Nothing to report