Daily Report
Top Stories
· Bank
of America was ordered to pay a $1.27 billion penalty after the bank was found
liable for defective loans sold by the former Countrywide Financial Corp., to
government-controlled mortgage companies. – Reuters See item 7 below in the Financial Services Sector
· Approximately
15,000 residents in Nashville, Tennessee, were with little or no water after a
30-inch water main broke July 30, affecting several pump stations in the area
and prompting crews to build a temporary bypass around the Thompson Lane
pumping station until permanent repairs are made. – WKRN 2 Nashville
15.
July 31, WKRN 2 Nashville –
(Tennessee) Service restored to most after massive water main break. Approximately
15,000 residents in Nashville, Tennessee, were with little or no water after a
30-inch water main broke July 30 in a space difficult to access, affecting
several pump stations in the area. Crews worked to build a temporary bypass
around the Thompson Lane pumping station in order to provide water and until
permanent repairs are made. Source: http://www.wkrn.com/story/26152692/water-main-break-causes-outages-in-nashville
· Five
suspects, including one security guard, were arrested over a number of days in
connection with the July 21 armed robbery of $181,000 from the Caesars Atlantic
City casino in New Jersey. – Reuters
28.
July 30, Reuters – (New Jersey) Five
arrested for Atlantic City casino heist. New Jersey State Police reported
July 30 that five suspects, including one security guard, were arrested over a
number of days in connection with the July 21 armed robbery of $181,000 from
the Caesars Atlantic City casino. Authorities stated that much of the stolen
cash was recovered, along with articles of clothing used during the robbery.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/30/us-usa-new-jersey-heist-idUSKBN0FZ2M720140730
· Federal
authorities arrested a Texas man July 28 suspected of sending more than 500
hoax letters filled with white powder to locations worldwide, prompting
lockdowns and emergency responses since 2008. –South Begenite (See item 29)
29.
July 29, South Bergenite –
(International) Feds: Pre-Super Bowl white powder letter hoaxer in custody. Federal
authorities arrested July 28 a Texas man suspected of sending more than 500
hoax letters filled with white powder to locations worldwide, including U.S.
government offices, aerospace companies, schools, daycares, and hotels, and
prompting lockdowns and emergency responses since 2008. Officials believe the
suspect is connected to letters sent to at least 5 hotels and 2 post offices in
towns surrounding MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in January, prior to the 2014
Super Bowl. Source: http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime-and-courts/feds-pre-super-bowl-white-powder-letter-hoaxer-in-custody-1.1059038
Financial Services Sector
7. July 30, Reuters – (National) Bank of America ordered to pay $1.27 bln
for Countrywide fraud. A federal judge ordered Bank of America to pay a
$1.27 billion penalty after the bank was found liable for defective loans sold
by the former Countrywide Financial Corp., to government-controlled mortgage
companies. A former Countrywide executive was also found liable for her role in
the fraud and ordered to pay $1 million in penalties. Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2014/07/30/bank-america-ordered-to-pay-127-bln-for-countrywide-fraud/
8. July 30, Odessa American – (Texas) One pleads guilty in mortgage fraud conspiracy
case. A woman pleaded guilty July 29 to her role in a same-day property
flip fraud scheme in which she worked with three other defendants in Odessa and
Midland to create fraudulent property sales that inflated resale prices on
around 800 properties and involved $45 million in loans. The three other
accused include a realtor and two real estate company owners who were allegedly
also part of the scheme. Source: http://www.oaoa.com/news/article_e7e76c18-183a-11e4-bfa8-001a4bcf6878.html
For another story, see item 27 below from the Commercial Facilities
Sector
27. July
30, Associated Press – (Nevada) Bellagio robbery suspect is
convict from Kansas. Clark County authorities arrested a suspect July 26
believed to be connected to the July 25 armed robbery of $43,500 from the
Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. Officials reported that the suspect may also be
responsible for the July 22 robbery of a south Las Vegas City National Bank.
Source: http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/bellagio-robbery-suspect-is-convict-from-kansas
Information Technology Sector
23. July
31, Securityweek – (International) Innominate patches
vulnerability in mGuard industrial security routers. Innominate Security
Technologies fixed a vulnerability in its mGuard series of industrial security
routers that could have allowed an unauthenticated attacker to obtain
configuration information. The routers are frequently used in the
manufacturing, healthcare, and communications industries, and users were
advised to update their firmware to close the vulnerability. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/innominate-patches-vulnerability-mguard-industrial-security-routers
24. July
31, The Register – (International) POW! Apple smites Macbook Air
EFI firmware update borkage. Apple released a firmware update for 2011 and
later MacBook Air systems that addresses an issue encountered by users in an
EFI firmware update released the week of July 21 that caused MacBooks to become
unresponsive. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/31/apple_macbook_air_sleep_patch_repatched/
25. July
30, Softpedia – (International) Pushdo botnet continues to stay
strong. Researchers with Bitdefender reported that they have recorded a
steady increase in the number of infected systems attempting to contact the
command and control servers for the Pushdo malware botnet, with around 200,000
unique IP addresses observed. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Pushdo-Botnet-Continues-to-Stay-Strong-452835.shtml
Communications Sector
See
item 23 above in the Information Technology Sector