Wednesday, May 20, 2015




Complete DHS Report for May 20, 2015

Daily Report

Top Stories

 · Rembrandt Enterprises confirmed May 16 that 2 million chickens at its Renville, Minnesota farm will be destroyed over the course of 4 weeks after tests produced a presumptive positive result for the bird flu.– Minneapolis Star Tribune

13. May 16, Minneapolis Star Tribune – (Minnesota) Renville chicken farm suffers Minnesota's worst bird-flu toll. Rembrandt Enterprises confirmed May 16 that 2 million chickens at its Renville, Minnesota farm will be destroyed over the course of 4 weeks after tests produced a presumptive positive result for the bird flu. Officials reported that only one barn holding around 250,000 hens was contaminated, and that the operation’s entire flock will be culled as precaution. Source: http://www.startribune.com/renville-chicken-farm-suffers-minnesota-s-worst-bird-flu-toll/304011571/

 · More than 100,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled at into the Monterey Bay at Lovers Point in California May 18 prompting the closure of all beaches 1 mile north and south Lovers Point Beach. – KSBW 8 Salinas

15. May 18, KSBW 8 Salinas – (California) Lovers Pint sewage leak fixed after 6-hour spill. More than 100,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled at into the Monterey Bay at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove May 18 after a plug valve failed while Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency workers performed maintenance at a nearby pump station, prompting the closure of all beaches 1 mile north and south Lovers Point Beach. Crews fixed the valve and reverse emergency calls were made to residents warning of water usage. Source: http://www.ksbw.com/news/100000-gallons-of-raw-sewage-spills-into-ocean-at-lovers-point/33088136

 · An Arkansas doctor was charged May 18 after discovering 187 fake prescriptions at his office amounting to nearly 17,000 oxycodone pills that were filled and distributed throughout Lonoke County since July 2014.– KTHV 11 Little Rock

16. May 18. KTHV 11 Little Rock – (Arkansas) Doctor charged with 187 counts held in lieu of $50K bond. Authorities arrested and charged a Little Rock doctor May 18 after discovering 187 fake prescriptions at his office amounting to nearly 17,000 oxycodone pills with a street value of $505,000 that were filled and distributed throughout Lonoke County since July 2014. Detectives took the doctor into custody after learning that a drug overdose was connected to a fraudulent prescription written by the doctor. Source: http://www.thv11.com/story/news/crime/2015/05/18/little-rock-doctor-charged-with-187-counts-of-fraudulent-practices/27535763/

 · Federal officials arrested a Chinese professor May 16 for allegedly taking part in an economic espionage scheme involving another Chinese professor and 4 other Chinese nationals in the purported theft of sensitive radio frequency technology developed by 2 U.S. companies.– USA Today

18. May 19, USA Today – (International) Chinese professors among 6 charged with economic espionage. Federal officials arrested a Chinese professor May 16 for allegedly taking part in an economic espionage scheme involving another Chinese professor and 4 other Chinese nationals in the purported theft of sensitive radio frequency technology developed by 2 U.S. companies. The professors created a plan to obtain trade secret information on film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) technology, which is used to filter incoming and outgoing wireless signals in mobile phones, and solicit the information to Chinese universities and other interests in an effort to begin manufacturing the technology in China. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/19/china-espionage-technology/27570735/

Financial Services Sector

3. May 18, WMAQ 5 Chicago – (Illinois) Thieves use skimmer to get away with $50,000 from Lincolnwood ATM. Lincolnwood police are searching for 2 suspects who allegedly placed skimming devices on an ATM at a BMO Harris Bank in Chicago and stole at least $50,000 from bank customers since April 26. A similar incident in January cost bank customers $70,000, and bank officials reported that all affected accounts will be fully reimbursed. Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/lincolnwood-atm-skim-304162201.html

4. May 18, WBIR 10 Knoxville – (Tennessee) Accused ‘ghost employee’ pleads guilty to bank fraud. A man described by authorities as a former “ghost employee” of the Knox County Trustee’s Office pleaded guilty May 18 for allegedly conspiring with 2 others to file false loan applications to defraud Bank of America, SmartBank, and Pinnacle National Bank of over $6.7 million, which they used for personal expenses. The man also faces separate charges for receiving pay for work for a former trustee that he did not do. Source: http://www.wbir.com/story/news/2015/05/18/ray-mubarak-plea/27542305/

5. May 18, Krebs on Security – (National) St. Louis Federal Reserve suffers DNS breach. The St. Louis Federal Reserve reported that hackers hijacked its domain name servers (DNS’) April 24 and redirected a portion of the bank’s online traffic to rogue sites resembling portions of its research.stlouisfed.org Web site. The bank recommended that potentially affected users change login information that could have been compromised in the attack. Source: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/05/st-louis-federal-reserve-suffers-dns-breach/

Information Technology Sector

21. May 19, Securityweek – (International) Attackers use trojanized version of PuTTY to steal SSH credentials. Security researchers at Symantec discovered that actors are using a malicious version of the PuTTY open-source secure shell (SSH) software to access systems remotely and steal data by copying secure server connection info and login details to be sent to an attacker-controlled server. The software bypasses common firewalls and security products due to its whitelisted status and used by system and database administrators and web developers. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/attackers-use-trojanized-version-putty-steal-ssh-credentials

22. May 19, Securityweek – (International) Address bar spoofing bugs found in Safari, Chrome for Android. Security researchers identified address bar vulnerabilities in the Safari and Chrome for Android Web browsers in which attackers could leverage Web page reloads via the setInterval() function in Safari and a problem in how Chrome handles 204 ‘No Content’ responses to render spoofed Web pages. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/address-bar-spoofing-bugs-found-safari-chrome-android

For another story, see item 5 above in the Financial Services Sector

Communications Sector

See item 18 above in Top Stories