Friday, March 13, 2015



Complete DHS Report for  March 13, 2015

Daily Report

Top Stories

 · Michigan officials announced March 11 that an accident and explosion involving 2 cars and a semi-truck on Interstate 94 prompted the total closure of the highway March 16. – MLive.com

6. March 12, MLive.com – (Michigan) MDOT: I-94 east at Southfield Freeway closed through weekend following Dearborn tanker explosion. The Michigan Department of Transportation announced March 11 that an accident and explosion involving 2 cars and a semi-truck hauling 13,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel near eastbound Interstate 94 prompted the total closure of the highway from the Southfield Freeway, M-39, in Dearborn to Interstate 96 in Detroit through March 16. The accident caused an explosion and authorities worked to clear the debris and ensure the gasoline and fuel did not cause any further fires. Source: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/03/mdot_i-94_east_at_southfield_f.html

 · Federal authorities confirmed March 11 that 40,020 turkeys in Boone County, Arkansas, were infected with the highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza strain, prompting foreign importers to halt turkey imports. – Reuters

10. March 12, Reuters – (International) Highly pathogenic bird flu confirmed in Arkansas turkeys: USDA. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed March 11 that 40,020 turkeys in Boone County, Arkansas, at a commercial farm flock that supplies Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp, and Sanderson Farms Inc., were infected with the same highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza strain that was recently identified in Minnesota and Missouri. The affected premises were quarantined and the infected birds will be culled, while foreign importers have halted turkey imports from Arkansas as a result. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-birdflu-arkansas-turkeys-idUSKBN0M720S20150312

 · Officials announced March 10 that 11 individuals from Michigan, Texas, and Ohio were charged with identify theft and credit card fraud after a Blue Cross Blue Shield employee allegedly shared the information of over 5,000 subscribers. – Detroit News; Associated Press

14. March 11, Detroit News; Associated Press – (Michigan; Texas; Ohio) 11 charged in Blue Cross ID theft, fraud. Officials announced March 10 that 11 individuals from Michigan, Texas, and Ohio were charged with identify theft and credit card fraud after a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan employee allegedly shared screenshots of 5,514 subscriber profiles with the group, who used the personal information to apply for credit cards, gift cards, and to purchase merchandise at retailers. Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2015/03/10/charged-theft-blue-cross-subscriber-info/24711063/

 · Water service to the State Correctional Institution at Albion in Pennsylvania was cut off after a leak in a valve on the prison’s water tower discharged over 3 million gallons March 8. – Associated Press

18. March 12, Associated Press – (Pennsylvania) Leak forces inmates to use portable toilets, trucked water. Water service to the State Correctional Institution at Albion in Pennsylvania was cut off after a leak in a valve on the prison’s water tower discharged over 3 million gallons March 8. Repairs began March 11 while prison officials suspended inmate visits and transfers after providing bottled drinking water and 120 portable toilets and several water trucks for bathing. Source: http://www.wfmj.com/story/28403341/leak-forces-inmates-to-use-portable-toilets-trucked-water

Financial Services Sector

5. March 11, U.S. Department of Justice – (Connecticut) RBS trader admits defrauding customers in multimillion dollar securities fraud scheme. A former trader at Royal Bank of Scotland Securities Inc., (RBS) pleaded guilty March 11 to his role in a securities fraud scheme in which he and co-conspirators defrauded at least 20 victim firms out of millions of dollars by misrepresenting collaterized loan obligation bond prices to buyers and sellers to increase RBS’ profits, often creating fictitious third party sellers that enabled RBS to collect extra commissions on sales. Some of the victimized firms were affiliated with recipients of federal bailout funds through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Source: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rbs-trader-admits-defrauding-customers-multimillion-dollar-securities-fraud-scheme

For additional stories, see item 14 above in Top Stories and item 19 below in the Information Technology Sector

Information Technology Sector

19. March 12, Help Net Security – (International) 2,400 unsafe mobile apps found in average large enterprise. Veracode researchers found that hundreds of thousands of mobile applications installed in corporate environments across multiple industries revealed the average global enterprise contains approximately 2,400 unsafe applications in its mobile environment, including apps that expose sensitive data, perform suspicious security actions, or retrieve or share personal information about users. Source: http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=18075

20. March 12, Help Net Security – (International) Cyber crooks take advantage of ad bidding networks to deliver ransomware. Security researchers at FireEye discovered that malware distributors are leveraging Real Time Bidding networks that are either compromised or controlled entirely by attackers to deliver Cryptowall and other ransomware variants and gain information about victims’ geographic locations, operating systems (OS), and browsers. The malvertising campaign has been active since February 4. Source: http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=2987

21. March 11, SC Magazine – (International) Self-deleting malware targets home routers to gather information. Trend Micro researchers identified malware called VICEPASS that infects users’ systems via a fake Adobe Flash update, connects to their home routers using a predefined list of usernames and passwords, and attempts to spread to every device on their networks before sending information to a command-and-control (C&C) server and deleting itself. The researchers believe that the malware could be a reconnaissance tool for larger campaigns. Source: http://www.scmagazine.com/malware-that-connects-to-home-routers-deletes-itself-without-a-trace/article/403050/

22. March 11, USA Today – (International) Apple’s iTunes, App Store reopen after long outage. Apple restored service to its iTunes, App Store, Mac App Store, and iBooks store March 11 after an internal domain name system (DNS) error brought the services down globally for approximately 12 hours. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/03/11/apple-itunes-down/70143594/

23. March 11, Securityweek – (International) Dropbox Android SDK flaw exposes mobile users to attack: IBM. Researchers at IBM Security discovered a flaw, dubbed DroppedIn, in the Dropbox app’s Android software development kit (SDK) that could have enabled attackers to connect to mobile apps using the kit to a Dropbox account they control, and transfer sensitive information or inject malicious data into apps. Dropbox released a fix for the vulnerability that was distributed to other apps that use the same SDK. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/dropbox-android-sdk-flaw-exposes-mobile-users-attack-ibm

24. March 11, Securityweek – (International) Intel Security launches new critical infrastructure security platform. Intel Security announced the Intel Security Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) platform, developed in a joint project with Wind River, designed to protect new and legacy infrastructure within electric power grids by separating security management functions of the platform from operational applications, enhancing device identity, malware, data protection, and resiliency. The company stated that CIP can be leveraged across multiple industries and uses. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/intel-security-launches-new-critical-infrastructure-security-platform

Communications Sector

See item 19 above in the Information Technology Sector