Complete DHS Report for December 22, 2014
Daily Report
Top Stories
· A Slidell
man and a Kenner doctor pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans,
Louisiana, December 17 to directing a $56 million Medicare fraud scheme between
2007 and 2014. – Associated Press
14. December 18, Associated
Press – (Louisiana) Mastermind
of Medicare fraud scheme, doctor plead guilty in New Orleans. A Slidell man
and a Kenner doctor pleaded guilty in federal court in New Orleans December 17
to directing a $56 million Medicare fraud scheme between 2007 and 2014. The
scheme used multiple companies under their control and paid kickbacks to
patient recruiters who provided Medicare beneficiary numbers that were then
used to bill Medicare for unnecessary or unperformed procedures. Source: http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/b239991fa96d446194d0fa0fd68ce9c8/LA--Medicare-Fraud
· The Office of Personnel Management
alerted more than 40,000 federal employees nationwide that their personal
information may have been exposed following a breach at federal contractor
KeyPoint Government Solutions that was confirmed December 18. – CBS News;
Associated Press
16. December 18, CBS News;
Associated Press –
(National) Files of more than 40,000 federal workers breached in
cyberattack. The Office of Personnel Management alerted more than 40,000
federal employees nationwide that their personal information may have been
exposed following a breach at federal contractor KeyPoint Government Solutions
that was confirmed December 18. Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/files-of-more-than-40000-federal-workers-breached-in-cyberattack/
· A December 19 fire at an
under-construction condominium complex in Orem, Utah, caused an estimated $1
million in damage. Officials are investigating the blaze and reported that it
appears to have been intentionally set. – Associated Press
27. December 19, Associated
Press – (Utah) Orem
fire caused $1M in damage, could be arson. A December 19 fire at an
under-construction condominium complex in Orem caused an estimated $1 million
in damage. Officials are investigating the blaze and reported that it appears
to have been intentionally set. Source: http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/news/state/article_2839081b-d25f-5317-ae8e-5f4d5d47812c.html
· Authorities reported December 18 that
an investigation into a December 8 fire at an under-construction apartment
complex in downtown Los Angeles found that the blaze was the result of an act
of arson with an estimated $30 million in damages. – Reuters
29. December 18, Reuters – (California) Massive
Los Angeles construction fire was arson, authorities say. Authorities
reported December 18 that an investigation into a December 8 fire at an
under-construction apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles found that the
blaze was the result of an act of arson. The fire caused up to $30 million in
damage as it engulfed an entire city block, damaged nearby buildings, and
caused significant road closures in the area. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/19/us-usa-california-fire-idUSKBN0JX08C20141219
Financial Services Sector
3. December
19, Help Net Security – (International) New Zeus variant targets
users of 150 banks. Researchers with Kaspersky Lab identified a new variant
of the Zeus banking and information-stealing malware known as Chthonic that is
targeting customers of 150 banks and 20 payment systems in the U.S. and 14
other countries. Chthonic shares several components with other forms of malware
and is delivered by spam emails or though downloader malware already present on
victims’ computers. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2934
4. December
18, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (International) SEC
charges additional participant in penny stock manipulation ring. The U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled charges December 18
against a man in Nevada for setting up fake Panamanian companies and opening
brokerage accounts that were used in an $11 million penny stock manipulation
scheme involving the stock of now-defunct Rudy Nutrition. Thirteen other
individuals were previously charged in the fraud scheme. Source: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2014/lr23162.htm
5. December
18, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (National) SEC
charges Staten Island-based firm with operating boiler room scheme targeting
seniors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges December
18 against New York-based Premier Links Inc., its former president, and two
sales representatives for allegedly operating the firm as a boiler room scheme
that defrauded over 300 investors from across the country of at least $9
million. The company and its members allegedly cold-called individuals and used
pressure tactics and fraudulent claims and then redirected most investments to
entities the defendants controlled. Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2014-287.html
6. December
18, Easton Express-Times – (Pennsylvania) Bethlehem Township
restaurant used in $160,000 credit card fraud, court records say. One
person was arrested and arrest warrants were issued December 18 for three
others, including the former owner of the Valley Family Restaurant, for
allegedly using the business to run fraudulent transactions totaling $160,005.
One of the defendants also allegedly provided a skimming device to be set up at
the restaurant, though it had not yet been used. Source: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2014/12/bethlehem_township_restaurant.html
7. December
18, Whittier Daily News – (California) Whittier raid nets guns,
drugs hundreds of fraudulent credit cards. Police in Whittier, California,
arrested four individuals in a raid December 18 that uncovered hundreds of
fraudulent payment cards, card manufacturing equipment, and stolen checks and
IDs. Source: http://www.whittierdailynews.com/general-news/20141218/whittier-raid-nets-guns-drugs-hundreds-of-fraudulent-credit-cards
For another story, see item 25 below in the Information Technology Sector
Information Technology Sector
19. December
19, Help Net Security – (International) Critical flaw on over 12M
routers allows device hijacking, network compromise. Check Point
researchers identified a vulnerability in over 12 million routers dubbed
“Fortune Cookie” caused by an error within the HTTP cookie management component
that could be remotely exploited to cause the current session to be given
administrative privileges by sending a packet to a user’s public IP address.
The vulnerability was found in routers manufactured by TP-Link, Huawei, Zyxel,
Netcomm, SmartAX, Edimax, and others. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=17776
20. December
19, Securityweek – (International) Privilege escalation vulnerability found in
Linux kernel. A researcher at AMA Capital Management identified a
vulnerability in the Linux kernel that could be used to perform a denial of
service (DoS) attack. The vulnerability is related to another recent Linux
vulnerability (CVE-2014-9090) and is closed by the patch for the previous
vulnerability. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/privilege-escalation-vulnerability-found-linux-kernel
21. December
19, Help Net Security – (International) Critical Git flaw allows
attackers to compromise developers’ machines. GitHub released a patch for a
vulnerability found in the Windows and OS X versions of its official Git client
that could have allowed attackers to perform arbitrary command execution. Users
were advised to apply the patch as soon as possible. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=17774
22. December
18, Softpedia – (International) Exploits for Silverlight, Flash Player and
Internet Explorer most used in 2014. Trend Micro released a report which
found that most exploit kits analyzed in 2014 targeted four vulnerabilities for
Internet Explorer, Flash Player, and Silverlight. The researchers found that
most of the exploits were not the most recent but relied on victims not
updating their software, among other findings. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Exploits-for-Silverlight-Flash-and-IE-Most-Used-in-2014-467883.shtml
23. December
18, Securityweek – (International) SAP patches bugs in business apps. SAP
released patches for two vulnerabilities in its BASIS and SAP BusinessObjects
enterprise software discovered by researchers with Onapsis. The most serious
vulnerability affected SAP BusinessObjects and could have been used to access
and modify information stored on the software’s server. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/sap-patches-bugs-business-apps
For additional stories, see
items 3 above in the Financial Services Sector and 25 below from the Commercial Facilities Sector
25. December 19, Softpedia – (International) AutoIt
script loads new “Spark” point of sale malware into RAM. Trustwave
researchers found that a recently-discovered point of sale (PoS) RAM scraper
malware dubbed Spark has been distributed using AutoIt-compiled script as a loader
to deliver the malware victims’ systems. Researchers found that Spark appears
very similar to the Alina malware. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/AutoIt-Script-Loads-New-Spark-Point-of-Sale-Malware-Into-RAM-467972.shtml
Communications Sector
See item 18 below from the Emergency Services
Sector
18. December 18, WSAU –
(Wisconsin) 9-1-1 service interrupted by cut fiber optic line. Emergency
9-1-1 service and high speed internet service was disrupted in parts of
Columbia, Juneau, Adams, and Marquette counties December 18 after a Frontier
Communications fiber optic line was inadvertently cut by a third party
contractor. Crews repaired the severed line and service was restored about 7
hours later. Source: http://wsau.com/news/articles/2014/dec/19/9-1-1-service-interrupted-by-cut-fiber-optic-line/
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