Complete DHS Report for March
9, 2015
Daily Report
Top Stories
· Five
BNSF Railway crude oil cars out of the 21 that derailed March 5 remained on
fire March 6 potentially delaying shipments along the line in Galena, Illinois,
for up to 48 hours. – Reuters
6. March
6, Reuters – (Illinois) Five cars still on fire in Illinois
following BNSF train derailment carrying ND crude. Five BNSF Railway cars
out of the 21 that derailed March 5 remained on fire March 6 potentially
delaying shipments along the line in Galena, Illinois, for up to 48 hours. No
injuries were reported in the accident after the train carrying crude oil from
North Dakota derailed on its way to Chicago. Source: http://www.inforum.com/news/accidents/3693596-five-cars-still-fire-illinois-following-bnsf-train-derailment-carrying-nd
· A severe
winter storm March 5 left more than 400 drivers stranded on Interstate 24 in Kentucky
for several hours and caused a pileup of 200 semi-trucks on Interstate 65 in
Elizabethtown. – Associated Press
10. March
5, Associated Press – (National) Snowstorm strands drivers in
Kentucky, sends plane skidding in NY; record low temps up next. A severe
winter storm covered the Northeast March 5 after moving across the South, which
left more than 400 drivers stranded on Interstate 24 in Kentucky for several
hours and caused a pileup of 200 semi-trucks on Interstate 65 in Elizabethtown,
Kentucky. Slippery conditions caused a Delta flight to skid off the runway and
crash through a fence at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, while about 4,400
flights in and out of the U.S. were canceled. Source: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/295134771.html?page=1&c=y
· Health
officials reported March 5 that the H5N2 strain of avian influenza was detected
at a Pope County, Minnesota poultry farm and that about 15,000 turkeys housed
in one barn died as a result of the virus. – St. Paul Pioneer Press
12. March
6, St. Paul Pioneer Press – (Minnesota) Deadly strain of bird flu
found in Minnesota turkey flock; public not at risk. Health officials
reported March 5 that the H5N2 strain of avian influenza was detected at a Pope
County poultry farm and that about 15,000 turkeys housed in one barn died as a
result of the virus since February 26. The remaining 100 turkeys at the farm
were culled as a precaution, and four workers were being monitored due to
occupational risk, while authorities reported that the risk of exposure to the
general public is very low. Source: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27653197/serious-strain-bird-flu-found-minnesota-turkey-flock
·
Charges against two former owners of California-based 350Green LLC were
announced March 4 in Chicago alleging the pair falsely obtained nearly $3
million in federal grants administered by Chicago and government agencies in
Pennsylvania and California. – Chicago Tribune
19. March 4, Chicago Tribune – (Illinois;
Pennsylvania; California) Two picked to build Chicago-area car-charging
stations charged with fraud. Charges against two former owners of
California-based 350Green LLC were announced March 4 in Chicago alleging the
pair falsely obtained nearly $3 million in federal grants administered by
Chicago and government agencies in Pennsylvania and California. The two former
owners allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for expenses in order to obtain
grant money, falsely claimed the company paid subcontractors and vendors, and
made up statements about the company’s financial status. Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-electric-car-fraud-met-20150304-story.html
Financial Services Sector
5. March
5, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Washington –
(Washington) Couple who fled to Eastern Europe during bank fraud
investigation enter guilty pleas. A King County couple that had fled to
Moldova pending a 2009 indictment, pleaded guilty March 5 to charges related to
a mortgage fraud scheme in which they allegedly submitted 55 fraudulent
construction loan packets worth $49 million to Westsound Bank, while diverting
some of the funds for personal use, collecting commissions on property sales,
and costing the bank over $10 million in losses. One of the suspects was
extradited back to the U.S. in December 2014, and the other returned in
February 2015 to resolve the case. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/seattle/press-releases/2015/couple-who-fled-to-eastern-europe-during-bank-fraud-investigation-enter-guilty-pleas
Information Technology Sector
20. March 6, Help Net Security – (International) Fake
“Flash Player Pro” update delivers password-stealing trojan. Security
researchers at F-Secure discovered a new malware campaign in which users with
previously compromised routers and domain name system (DNS) server settings are
being targeted with fake Adobe Flash Player Pro installation notifications that
contain the Fareit trojan, allowing attackers to steal passwords and download
other malware onto the infected system. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2982
21. March 6, Softpedia –
(International) SSL/TLS cipher suite downgrade affects all supported Windows
versions. Microsoft released a security advisory that its Secure Channel
(Schannel) used in all versions of Windows is vulnerable to Factoring RSA
Export Keys (FREAK) attacks that force secure sockets layer (SSL) and transport
layer security (TLS) cryptographic protocols to use a weak RSA key through a
man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack, allowing hackers to decrypt HTTPS traffic. Microsoft
has not yet specified a release date for patching the vulnerability. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/SSL-TLS-Cipher-Suite-Downgrade-Affects-All-Supported-Windows-Versions-475080.shtml
22. March 6, Help Net Security –
(International) Cryptowall makes a comeback via malicious help files. Security
researchers at Bitdefender Labs discovered a new spam email campaign targeting
users worldwide, in which attackers have sent hundreds of emails with Compiled
HTML (.chm) files that install the Cryptowall ransomware when opened.
Researchers believe the attack is targeting employees from different
organizations to compromise company networks. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2981
Communications Sector
23. March 6,
Bend Bulletin – (Oregon) BendBroadband outages continue. BendBroadband
reported that email and voice-mail services for about 39,000
subscribers in Bend, Oregon, were interrupted
for approximately 8 hours March 4 due to technical problems. BendBroadband’s
parent company, TDS Telecom, blamed aging equipment for the outage, which has
been the third interruption since January. Source: http://www.bendbulletin.com/business/2945587-151/bendbroadband-outages-continue