Thursday, May 8, 2014




Complete DHS Report for May 8, 2014

Daily Report

Details

 • A man was arrested May 2 in Hackensack, New Jersey, after a traffic stop led to a search of the man’s apartment where thousands of blank payment cards, forgery equipment, and other suspicious items were found. – Bergen County Record See item 4 below in the Financial Services Sector

 • Both sides of the 15 Freeway in Hesperia, California, reopened May 6 after a 34-hour closure due to a fire on the Ranchero Road overpass that was accidentally started when a contractor was using a blowtorch. – San Bernardino Sun

8. May 7, San Bernardino Sun – (California) All lanes of 15 Freeway in Hesperia reopened after bridge fire. Both sides of the 15 Freeway in Hesperia, reopened May 6 after a 34-hour closure due to a fire on the Ranchero Road overpass that was accidentally started when a contractor was using a blowtorch. Source: http://www.dailybulletin.com/general-news/20140507/all-lanes-of-15-freeway-in-hesperia-reopened-after-bridge-fire

 • Detroit Public School officials announced the closure of 10 schools in the city due to issues with the public lighting system which caused the schools to lose power. – WWJ 62 Detroit

13. May 7, WWJ 62 Detroit – (Michigan) 10 Detroit schools closed due to power outages. Detroit Public School officials announced the closure of 10 schools in the city due to issues with the public lighting system which caused the schools to lose power. Source: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/05/07/10-detroit-schools-closed-due-to-power-outages/

 • Officials believe an Illinois community college student and a member of the U.S. Navy conspired to hack into the computer systems of more than 30 public and private organizations in order to steal identities, obstruct justice, and damage a protected computer. – KSDK 5 St. Louis

14. May 6, KSDK 5 St. Louis – (International) Area college student accused in government hacking. Officials believe an Illinois community college student and a member of the U.S. Navy conspired to hack into the computer systems of more than 30 public and private organizations including the U.S. Navy, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, as well as a number of universities nationwide. Investigators reported that the pair hacked into computer systems to steal identities, obstruct justice, and damage a protected computer. Source: http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/crime/2014/05/06/daniel-krueger-government-hacking/8762447/

Financial Services Sector

4. May 7, Bergen County Record – (New Jersey) A Hackensack traffic stop leads cops to a fraud arrest. A man was arrested May 2 in Hackensack after a traffic stop led to a search of the man’s apartment where thousands of blank payment cards, forgery equipment, and other suspicious items were found. Police stated that they believed the man is connected to a multi-million dollar fraud operation. Source: http://www.northjersey.com/news/a-hackensack-traffic-stop-leads-cops-to-a-fraud-arrest-1.1010671?page=all

5. May 7, Carbondale Southern Illinoisan – (Illinois) Two indicted on bank, wire fraud charges. Two individuals from New York were indicted in federal court in Benton, Illinois, May 5 for allegedly committing bank and wire fraud that netted them $6.1 million by concealing their ownership interests to banks when obtaining financing. Source: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/two-indicted-on-bank-wire-fraud-charges/article_c46a657f-d7e8-572a-a5dd-18d0807dbbfd.html

6. May 6, Long Island Newsday – (New York) 5 LIers indicted in $30M mortgage fraud. The head of Garden City-based HTFC Corp. and 5 others were charged May 6 for allegedly inflating the value of 19 properties in Nassau and Suffolk counties, obtaining mortgages based on the fraudulent values, and then reselling the mortgages in order to obtain around $30 million. Source: http://www.newsday.com/long-island/30-million-bank-fraud-run-out-of-htfc-corp-in-garden-city-leads-to-6-indictments-court-papers-say-1.7935665

7. May 6, WXIA 11 Atlanta – (National) ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ spouse guilty in fraud case. An Atlanta man pleaded guilty May 6 to participating in a fraud scheme which used stolen checks to defraud over 50 victims of $2.3 million. The group also used fraudulent claims against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development using stolen identities in 11 States and obtained fraudulent auto loans. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/05/06/reality-show-cast-member-guilty-in-fraud-scheme/8784677/

Information Technology Sector

19. May 7, Softpedia – (International) Syrian Electronic Army hijacks WSJ Twitter accounts. Hacktivists affiliated with the Syrian Electronic Army group gained control over four Twitter accounts belonging to the Wall Street Journal May 6 for a time before the owners of the accounts regained control. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Syrian-Electronic-Army-Hijacks-WSJ-Twitter-Accounts-440924.shtml

20. May 7, Softpedia – (International) Ruby on Rails updated to prevent hackers from stealing files from application server. Updates for three versions of Ruby on Rails were released, closing a serious vulnerability that could allow an attacker to retrieve arbitrary files from the Rails application server using a specially crafted request. Users were advised to update their installations as soon as possible. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ruby-on-Rails-Updated-to-Prevent-Hackers-from-Stealing-Files-from-Application-Server-441003.shtml

21. May 7, Threatpost – (International) CryptoLocker ransomware moves to Android. A security researcher reported that an Android variant of the CryptoLocker ransomware is being sold by the group responsible for the Reveton ransomware. The ransomware is spread when users visit compromised domains that use social engineering to prompt them to install a malicious APK that contains CryptoLocker. Source: http://threatpost.com/cryptolocker-ransomware-moves-to-android/105937

22. May 6, Threatpost – (International) Dropbox patches shared links privacy vulnerability. Dropbox closed a vulnerability in its shared links feature that could potentially allow third party access to shared documents. Source: http://threatpost.com/dropbox-patches-shared-links-privacy-vulnerability/105924

23. May 6, SC Magazine – (International) CryptorBit demands $500 Bitcoin ransom. A researcher at KnowBe4, LLC identified a new ransomware known as CryptorBit that encrypts victims’ files and demands a ransom, similar to the CryptoLocker ransomware. Source: http://www.scmagazine.com/cryptorbit-demands-500-bitcoin-ransom/article/345713/

Communications Sector

24. May 7, Mt. Vernon Register-News – (Illinois) Charter suffers outage. Southern Illinois Charter Communications customers experienced a service outage for several hours May 6 after a main switch in a fire panel for equipment malfunctioned, causing technicians to replace the switch. Source: http://www.register-news.com/local/x2117376700/Charter-suffers-outage
For another story, see item 14 above in Top Stories