Complete DHS Report for November 4, 2014
Daily Report
Top Stories
· The
governor of Maine declared a state of emergency after a November 2 storm which
produced blizzard-like conditions knocked out power to more than 137,000 homes
and dumped several inches of snow. – Portland Press Herald
1. November 2, Portland
Press Herald – (Maine) Strong, early storm cuts power to 137,000
homes. The governor of Maine declared a state of emergency after a November
2 storm which produced blizzard-like conditions knocked out power to more than
137,000 homes and dumped several inches of snow, causing dangerous travel
conditions. Source: http://www.pressherald.com/2014/11/02/snowstorm-leads-to-accidents-power-outages-throughout-maine/
· The North Dakota Department of Health announced
October 31 that 168,000 gallons of oil production water leaked from a pipeline
at a Denbury Onshore-well in Bowman County October 29 into a drainage. – Associated
Press
4. October 31,
Associated Press – (North Dakota) North Dakota Department of
Health responds to 168,000-gallon water spill in Bowman County. The North
Dakota Department of Health announced October 31 that 168,000 gallons of water
leaked from a pipeline at a Denbury Onshore-well in Bowman County October 29
into a drainage. The water is used to enhance oil recovery and is high in
dissolved solids and minerals. Source: http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/0119acf2025d4604a2657818036c4b72/ND--Water-Spill
· Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire that
broke out November 1 at a Commodity Resource Corp., grain and fertilizer
processing plant in Caledonia, New York, and caused heavy damage to several
structures. – Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
14. November 2,
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle – (New York) Land O'Lakes plant
gutted in Caledonia fire. Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire
that broke out November 1 at the Land O’Lakes-owned Commodity Resource Corp.,
grain and fertilizer processing plant in Caledonia, causing heavy damage to
several structures, a silo, steel loading facility, and a locomotive. Crews
worked through at least November 2 to extinguish hot spots and contain run-off
which had mixed with fertilizer from flowing into a nearby creek. Source: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2014/11/02/land-o-lakes-plant-gutted-caledonia-fire/18373267/
· Fumes from a leaking chlorine pump that mixed with
muriatic acid in the basement of Olson Middle School in Mauston, Wisconsin,
caused about 40 students to be transported to an area hospital after they began
experiencing nausea and headaches October 31. – WKOW 27 Madison
21. November
2, WKOW 27 Madison – (Wisconsin) About 40 students taken to hospital after
chemical leak in Mauston. Fumes from a leaking chlorine pump that mixed
with muriatic acid in the basement of Olson Middle School in Mauston caused
about 40 students to be transported to an area hospital after they began
experiencing nausea and headaches October 31. Officials aired out the building
over the weekend of November 1 and classes were set to resume November 3. Source:
http://www.wkow.com/story/27176158/2014/10/31/pool-chemicals-cause-mauston-middle-school-to-evacuate
Financial Services Sector
6. October
31, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (International) SEC
charges former pharmaceutical company executive and friend with insider
trading. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged a Brisbane,
California man who formerly served as an executive for InterMune Inc., for
allegedly passing on nonpublic information on the company to a man in the U.K.
in an insider trading scheme that generated over $1 million in illicit profits.
Source: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2014/lr23125.htm
7. October
31, Softpedia – (International) Upatre malware dropper sent to Bitstamp
exchange users. Researchers with ThreatTrack identified an email campaign
targeting users of the Bitstamp digital currency exchange that uses
sophisticated social engineering to attempt to trick users into opening an
attachment containing the Upatre malware dropper. The dropper then adds the
Dyre (also known as Dyreza) banking malware to compromised systems. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Upatre-Malware-Dropper-Sent-to-Bitstamp-Exchange-Users-463703.shtml
8. October
30, Lynchburg News & Advance – (Virginia) Moneta woman
pleads guilty in $11 million bank fraud case. A Moneta woman who acted as
majority owner of Genesis Mansions between 2006 and 2007 pleaded guilty October
30 to conspiring with others to recruit and use straw buyers to run a mortgage
fraud and Ponzi scheme that defrauded banks of nearly $11 million. Two mortgage
brokers previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme. Source: http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/moneta-woman-pleads-guilty-in-million-bank-fraud-case/article_d23f8e8e-6085-11e4-916d-0017a43b2370.html
Information Technology Sector
25. November
3, The Register – (International) VMware: Yep, ESXi bug plays ‘finders keepers’
with data backups. VMware confirmed an issue reported by users of its ESXi
4.x and ESXi 5 hypervisor where virtual machines with Changed Block Tracking
(CBT) enabled and that have been increased in size by more than 128GB show an
inaccurate list of allocated virtual machine disk sectors, which could cause
backed-up data to be unrecoverable. VMware recommended that users disable and
then re-enable CBT and stated that the company is working on a permanent
solution. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/03/vmware_data_gobbling_bug/
26. November
3, SC Magazine – (International) Researchers notice uptick in ‘Poweliks’
trojan infections. Symantec researchers observed an increase in reported
Poweliks trojan infections, with the malware delivered by spam emails, exploit
kits, and a spam campaign that impersonates the U.S. Postal Service and
Canadian Post. Source: http://www.scmagazine.com/researchers-notice-uptick-in-poweliks-trojan-infections/article/380746/
27. October
31, Securityweek – (International) New RAT hijacks COM objects for persistence,
stealthiness. Researchers at G DATA Software’s SecurityLabs identified a
new remote access trojan (RAT) dubbed COMpfun that hijacks legitimate Component
Object Model (COM) objects to evade detection by security software. The RAT is
capable of executing code, logging keystrokes, downloading or uploading files,
and other tasks. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/new-rat-hijacks-com-objects-persistence-stealthiness
Communications Sector
28. November 1, Jamestown Sun – (North Dakota) Disruption
to phone service; cut to fiber-optic cable disrupts area landline service. Phone
service was restored to landline phone users in Stutsman and Barnes counties
October 31 after being disrupted for over 6 hours when a CenturyLink
fiber-optic line west of Valley City was inadvertently cut. Source: http://www.jamestownsun.com/content/disruption-phone-service-cut-fiber-optic-cable-disrupts-area-landline-service