Complete DHS Report for April 4, 2014
Daily Report
Details
• Two New York men pleaded guilty April 1 to
their roles in an international cybercrime and bank fraud ring that hacked into
several financial services institutions and attempted to steal around $15
million. – Reuters
See item 7
below in the Financial Services Sector
• Eleven people were admitted to a hospital
April 3 after a chemical was accidentally offloaded into the wrong tank at the
Roanoke River Service Authority Water Treatment Works in Mecklenburg, Virginia.
– WTVR 6 Richmond
12. April
3, WTVR 6 Richmond – (Virginia) 11 people taken to hospital after hazmat
scare. Eleven people, including seven firefighters, were admitted to a
hospital April 3 after Roanoke River Service Authority Water Treatment Works
had a chemical accidentally offloaded into the wrong tank. Hazmat crews were
called to remove the chemicals from the tank and residents near the plant were
informed of the mishap. Source: http://wtvr.com/2014/04/02/mecklenburg-county-hazmat/
• The operators of the Bullitt County sewage
facility in Kentucky worked to install a temporary filtration system after a
weld broke around a steel pipe, causing a wall to collapse and 400,000 gallons
of raw sewage to spill per day since March 29. – Associated Press
14. April
1, Associated Press – (Kentucky) Damaged sewage plant discharging into
Bullitt County Stream. The operators of the Bullitt County sewage facility
worked to install a temporary filtration system after a weld broke around a
steel pipe, causing a wall to collapse and 400,000 gallons of raw sewage to
spill per day since March 29. Source: http://www.lex18.com/news/damaged-sewage-plant-discharging-into-bullitt-county-stream
• Three U.S. Army service members were killed
and 16 others were injured April 2 when a war veteran opened fire at the Fort
Hood military base in Texas before the shooter shot himself when confronted. – Associated
Press
16. April
3, Associated Press – (Texas) Gunman kills 3, wounds 16 at Fort Hood
Army base. Three U.S. Army service members were killed and 16 others were
injured April 2 when a war veteran opened fire at the Fort Hood military base
in Texas when he apparently walked into a building, began firing his
semi-automatic pistol, and continued firing after driving to and entering
another building. The shooter was confronted by military police in a parking
lot before shooting and killing himself. Source: http://news.msn.com/us/gunman-kills-3-wounds-16-at-fort-hood-army-base
Financial Services Sector
7. April 1, Reuters – (International) Two U.S.
hackers admit to international cyber crime in N.J. court. Two New York men
pleaded guilty April 1 in federal court in New Jersey to their roles in an
international cybercrime and bank fraud ring that hacked into several financial
services businesses and institutions and attempted to steal around $15 million
by diverting funds to accounts and payment cards that they controlled. The
alleged leaders of the ring are Ukrainian citizens and remain at large. Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/usa-crime-cybercrime-idUSL1N0MT23O20140401
Information Technology Sector
22. April 3, Threatpost – (International) Yahoo
encrypts data center links, boosts other services. Yahoo announced April 2
that it has begun encrypting all traffic moving between its data centers,
turned encryption on between its email servers and others who support the
SMTPLS standard, and turned on encryption on its home page, searches, and other
properties to enhance user privacy and security. Source: http://threatpost.com/yahoo-encrypts-data-center-links-boosts-other-services/105228
23. April 3, Softpedia – (International) Cybercriminals
add new component to Sality to hijack the DNS addresses of routers. Researchers
at ESET analyzed a new component of the Sality malware that was recently added
and allows the malware to hijack the primary DNS address of routers. The
analysis showed that the malware targets specific router models and attempts to
use a brute force attack to gain administrator access, and then changes the
router’s DNS server address in order to direct users to fake installation
sites. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Cybercriminals-Add-New-Component-to-Sality-to-Hijack-the-DNS-Addresses-of-Routers-435654.shtml
24. April 3, Softpedia – (International) ISPs
exposed to DNS DDoS attacks due to millions of vulnerable home routers. Researchers
at Nominum reported finding over 5.3 million routers have open DNS proxies,
which can put Internet service providers at risk of DNS amplification
distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/ISPs-Exposed-to-DNS-DDOS-Attacks-Due-to-Millions-of-Vulnerable-Home-Routers-435608.shtml
For another story, see item 25 below in the Commnications Sector
Communications Sector
25. April
2, IDG News Service – (International) Russia’s Glonass system suffers
major disruption. Some smartphones and GPS receivers that rely on the
Russian Glonass satellite positioning system may have experienced problems for
around 11 hours April 1 after the system was hit with a major but unknown
disruption. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2014/040214-russia39s-glonass-gps-system-suffers-280355.html