Complete DHS Daily Report for November 18, 2013
Daily Report
Top Stories
• A punctured Chevron gas pipeline triggered
an explosion that led to the evacuation of a nearby Texas town. – Reuters
5.
November 14, Reuters – (Texas) Texas
town evacuated after gas pipeline explosion. A Chevron liquefied petroleum
gas pipeline was punctured by a drilling crew in Milford November 14 and
triggered an explosion that led to an evacuation of a nearby town of 700
residents within a 1.5 mile zone. Officials allowed the flare to burn itself out
to allow for repairs and expected the evacuation to last through November 15.
Source: http://news.msn.com/us/texas-town-evacuated-after-gas-pipeline-explosion
• Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is
investigating the cause of a blackout that left nearly 98,000 homes and
businesses in Stockton, California, and surrounding areas without power for
about 2 hours. – Stockton Record
6.
November 13, Stockton Record –
(California) Blackout leaves thousands without power. Nearly 98,000
homes and businesses lost power for about 2 hours November 12 from Stockton to
Mother Lode. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews are investigating the cause of
the blackout. Source: http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131113/A_NEWS/311130315/-1/NEWSMAP
• A man was found guilty in a charity fraud
case where he stole $100 million from the United States Navy Veterans
Association. – Associated Press See item 11
below in the Financial Services Sector
• Estonia agreed to extradite three suspected
DNSChanger cybercriminals to the U.S. who were allegedly involved in infecting
4 million computers and fraudulently obtaining over $14 million. – Softpedia
See
item 30 below in the Information Technology Sector
Details
Financial Services Sector
11. November 14, Associated Press – (National) Jury
convicts ex-fugitive in $100M vets charity fraud case. A man arrested in
Portland, Oregon, was found guilty November 14 before a court in Cleveland,
Ohio, for stealing $100 million from the United States Navy Veterans
Association, a charity he ran in Tampa, Florida. Source: http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20131114/NEWS06/311140010
12. November 14, Columbia The State – (South
Carolina) RCSD: Nine arrested, 42 sought in massive bank fraud scheme. The
Richland County Sheriff’s Department announced November 14 that four alleged
ringleaders of a bank fraud scheme were arrested for allegedly recruiting up to
90 others to open bank accounts at Wells Fargo, TD Bank, and Woodforest Bank
that were turned over to the ringleaders and used to fraudulently obtain more
than $100,000 in bad checks and ATM withdrawals. Source: http://www.thestate.com/2013/11/14/3098066/nine-arrested-42-sought-in-massive.html
13. November 14, Charleston Post and Courier –
(South Carolina) Car damages BB&T bank building in Summerville. A
BB&T bank branch in Summerville was severely damaged when a car crashed
into the building November 14. Source: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20131114/PC16/131119695/1005/
14. November 13, Phoenix Business Journal –
(Arizona) Credit card processing business owners indicted on fraud, money
laundering charges. Four executives and one employees of three Phoenix area
credit card payment processing companies were indicted for allegedly misleading
customers into signing leases for their services, forging up to 200 business
owners’ and managers’ signatures, changing contract terms after clients signed
agreements, and then transferring $2.9 million of fraudulently obtained money
into personal bank accounts. Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2013/11/13/credit-card-processing-business-owners.html?page=all
Information Technology Sector
26. November
15, Softpedia – (International) Linux machines exposed due to VMware
Workstation host privilege escalation flaw. VMware released updates for its
VMware Workstation and VMware Player software, fixing a vulnerability in how
shared libraries are handled that could allow an attacker to escalate their
privileges to root. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Linux-Machines-Exposed-Due-to-VMware-Workstation-Host-Privilege-Escalation-Flaw-400690.shtml
27. November
15, Softpedia – (International) Arbor Networks analyzes Athena DDoS malware. Arbor
Networks published an analysis of the Athena malware, capable of launching distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attacks, stealing information, and downloading other
malware. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Arbor-Networks-Analyzes-Athena-DDOS-Malware-400363.shtml
28. November
15, Softpedia – (International) Google fixes critical Chrome flaw found by
expert at Mobile Pwn2Own 2013. Google released an update to its Chrome
browser that closes two critical vulnerabilities identified at the Mobile
Pwn2Own 2013 competition. An exploit developed by a competitor in the contest
leveraged an integer overflow and a bug to achieve full sandbox escape. Source:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Fixes-Critical-Chrome-Flaw-Found-by-Expert-at-Mobile-Pwn2Own-2013-400471.shtml
29. November
15, Threatpost – (International) Apple iOS 7.04 fixes App Store purchase flaw.
Apple released an update for iOS 7, which closes a vulnerability that could
allow a user to make app or in-app purchases without entering their password.
Source: http://threatpost.com/apple-ios-7-04-fixes-app-store-purchase-flaw
30. November
15, Softpedia – (International) Estonia agrees to extradite alleged
DNSChanger cybercriminals to the U.S. Estonia agreed to extradite three
suspects to the U.S. where they are charged with allegedly being involved in
the DNSChanger malware campaign that infected 4 million computers and
fraudulently obtain over $14 million. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Estonia-Agrees-to-Extradite-3-Alleged-DNSChanger-Cybercriminals-to-the-US-AP-400627.shtml
31. November
14, IDG News Service – (International) Cybercriminals target Silverlight users with
new exploit kit. Researchers found that the creators of the Angler Exploit
Kit added an exploit for a known Microsoft Silverlight plugin vulnerability to
the exploit kit’s capabilities. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/111413-cybercriminals-target-silverlight-users-with-275993.html
32. November
14, WNIJ 89.5 FM DeKalb – (Illinois) Board finds safety “fell
through the cracks” in ’09 explosion. A report by the U.S. Chemical Safety
and Hazardous Investigation Board report on a 2009 explosion at a NDK Crystal
plant in Belvidere, which manufactured artificial quartz for wireless devices
and phones, found that the company ignored a safety auditor’s warning and did
not meet federal and State regulations at the facility prior to the explosion.
The facility has not resumed operations since 2009. Source: http://northernpublicradio.org/post/board-finds-safety-fell-through-cracks-09-explosion
Communications Sector
Nothing to
report