Wednesday, March 18, 2015



Complete DHS Report for  March18, 2015

Daily Report

Top Stories

 · Three suspects were charged March 16 in Connecticut for their roles in a multimillion dollar international fraud scheme in which they allegedly used altered documents and a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to secure loans and transfer funds to banks overseas. – U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut See item 6 below in the Financial Services Sector

 · A water advisory was issued for Port Angeles Harbor in Washington March 16 – March 23 following heavy rainfall that caused 7 million gallons of diluted sewage to spill into the water. – Peninsula Daily News

15. March 16, Peninsula Daily News – (Washington) Rainfall pushes 7 million gallons of diluted sewage into Port Angeles Harbor; health officials urge that people stay out of water. Clallam County public health officials issued a water advisory March 16 for Port Angeles Harbor in Washington following heavy rainfall March 15 that caused 7 million gallons of diluted sewage to spill into the water. The advisory was expected to remain in effect until March 23. Source: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20150316/NEWS/150319978

 · Nearly $5 million was seized from accounts affiliated with North Carolina-based Gate City Transportation after the company allegedly billed Medicaid over $19 million for fraudulent ambulance services. – Greensboro News & Record

16. March 17, Greensboro News & Record – (North Carolina) Government seizes close to $5 million from Gate City Transportation and owner. Documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Greensboro stated that the federal government seized nearly $5 million from accounts affiliated with Gate City Transportation and its owner after the non-emergency medical transportation company allegedly billed Medicaid over $19 million for ambulance services from January 2011 to September 2014 while only providing transportation services. The company filed fraudulent paperwork stating that they provided basic life support services to patients during transport, even though they did not own any ambulances after the fall of 2010. Source: http://www.news-record.com/news/local_news/government-seizes-close-to-million-from-gate-city-transportation-and/article_6da7946e-cc5d-11e4-a3e0-1b5cedce9769.html

 · Oregon-based Advantage Dental reported March 16 that information for over 151,000 patients was accessed after its internal membership database was breached in February when an employee’s computer was infected with malware. – Bend Bulletin

17. March 16, Bend Bulletin – (Oregon) Advantage Dental reports data breach. Redmond-based Advantage Dental reported March 16 that personal information, including Social Security numbers, of over 151,000 patients was accessed after its internal membership database was breached in February when an employee’s computer was infected with malware. The company has taken additional security steps to prevent any future attacks and continues to investigate. Source: http://www.bendbulletin.com/health/2984021-151/advantage-dental-reports-more-than-151000-patient-records#

Financial Services Sector

5. March 16, KERO 23 Bakersfield – (California) Three defendants plead guilty in Bakersfield mortgage fraud scheme. Three Bakersfield residents pleaded guilty March 16 to charges related to a $5.6 million mortgage fraud scheme in which the defendants allegedly conspired with others to use straw buyers and fraudulent loan applications to purchase properties developed by Jara Brother Investments and Pershing Partners LLC from 2007-2010. Four co-conspirators previously pleaded guilty in connection to the scheme and two others were indicted in the case. Source: http://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/three-defendants-plead-guilty-in-bakersfield-mortgage-fraud-scheme

6. March 16, U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut – (International) Three individuals charged with defrauding banks and USDA export financing program. The U.S. District Attorney for Connecticut announced March 16 that three suspects were charged for their roles in a multimillion dollar fraud scheme in which they allegedly used altered documents and a U.S. Department of Agriculture export financing program to secure loans from U.S. financial institutions, and then transferred the funds to foreign banks in Russia for a commission. The foreign banks defaulted on over $10 million worth of loans from 2007-2012. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/newhaven/press-releases/2015/three-individuals-charged-with-defrauding-banks-and-usda-export-financing-program

Information Technology Sector

22. March 17, Softpedia – (International) D-Link patches against critical remote command and code execution flaws. D-Link released firmware updates patching two critical vulnerabilities that allowed attackers to intercept network traffic and execute commands on vulnerable devices and exploit cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks to create, modify, or delete data and execute code. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/D-Link-Patches-Against-Critical-Remote-Command-and-Code-Execution-Flaws-475976.shtml

23. March 16, IDG News Service – (International) OpenSSL mystery patches due for release Thursday. The OpenSSL Project Team released an advisory stating that several undisclosed security vulnerabilities in the open-source encryption software which utilizes the Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TSL) protocol will be patched March 19 in versions 1.0.2a, 1.0.1m, 1.0.0r, and 0.9.8zf. Source: http://www.networkworld.com/article/2897793/openssl-mystery-patches-due-for-release-thursday.html

24. March 14, ZDNet – (International) BlackBerry begins slow rollout for FREAK security flaw, most devices still at risk. BlackBerry confirmed that all versions of newer BlackBerry 10 and older 7.1 devices along with Blackberry Enterprise Service 12 and earlier, as well as the BlackBerry messenger app on Android, iPhones, Windows phones, and iPads are all vulnerable to Factoring RSA-EXPORT Key (FREAK) attacks that intercept encrypted traffic and force weaker encryption. Blackberry is working to mitigate the vulnerability. Source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/blackberry-slow-to-respond-to-freak-flaw-says-it-has-no-fix/

Communications Sector

Nothing to report