Friday, November 27, 2015



Complete DHS Report for November 27, 2015

Daily Report                                            

Top Stories

• A former Florida U.S. Postal Service employee was charged November 23 after he allegedly stole at least $2.1 million from residents, co-workers, and acquaintances in a fake gold and diamond investment opportunity in Africa. – WPLG 10 Miami

12. November 24, WPLG 10 Miami – (Florida) Former postal employee arrested in alleged investment scam. A former Florida U.S. Postal Service employee was arrested and charged November 23 after he allegedly stole at least $2.1 million from residents on his mail route, co-workers, and acquaintances in a fake gold and diamond investment opportunity in Africa, where he promised victims that their investments would double and guaranteed certain investors millions of dollars in returns. The suspect also persuaded victims to invest in a fraudulent infrastructure project in Africa, and instead used the money for personal expenses. Source: http://www.local10.com/news/former-postal-employee-arrested-in-alleged-investment-scam/36637100

• Five people were charged November 24 in connection to a kickback scheme that resulted in $580 million worth of fraudulent billing to the government and insurance companies for patient referrals to 2 southern California hospitals. – Associated Press

16. November 24, Associated Press – (California; Nevada) 5 charged with $580 million southern California medical kickback scheme. Officials announced November 24 that 5 people, including a former hospital executive and 2 surgeons, were charged in connection to a kickback scheme that resulted in $580 million worth of fraudulent billing to the government and insurance companies. Two defendants pleaded guilty and two others agreed to plead guilty in connection to the scam which involved paying dozens of medical professions tens of millions of dollars to refer patients to Pacific Hospital of Long Beach and Tri-City Regional Medical Center in southern California for spinal surgeries. Source: http://www.startribune.com/5-charged-in-580m-southern-california-kickback-scheme/353295921/

• Nine Florida Department of Corrections employees were among 50 individuals arrested the week of November 23 for their roles in a scheme that distributed prescription pain medication to prisons in the State. – Florida Times-Union

18. November 25, Florida Times-Union – (Florida) 50 arrested in prison painkiller sting. The Bradford County Sheriff’s Office announced that 9 Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) employees were among 50 individuals arrested the week of November 23 for their roles in a scheme that distributed the prescription pain medication, Oxycodone, to prisons in the State after FDOC workers obtained the narcotics through suppliers and individuals with legitimate prescriptions. Source: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-11-24/story/50-arrested-prison-painkiller-sting

• Four men were arrested November 24 for allegedly slashing an inflatable dam in Fremont, California, May 21, allowing the release of 50 million gallons of water into Alameda Creek. – KPIX 5 San Francisco; Associated Press

23. November 24, KPIX 5 San Francisco; Associated Press – (California) Four arrested for triggering 50-million gallon Fremont water spill. Four men were arrested November 24 for allegedly slashing an inflatable creek dam in Fremont May 21, allowing the release of 50 million gallons of water into Alameda Creek and causing an estimated $1 million in damage to the dam. Source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/11/24/four-arrested-for-triggering-50-million-gallon-fremont-water-spill/

Financial Services Sector

5. November 25, Softpedia – (International) Researcher creates gadget that bypasses credit card chip&PIN safeguards. A researcher created MagSpoof, a device that can accurately read and predict credit card numbers and bypass chip&PIN (CnP) safeguards by using information stored inside the magstripe (magnetic strip), which can be extracted. Data is removed and fed to MagSpoof allowing hackers to make financial transactions by placing the device near point-of-sale (PoS) systems. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/researcher-creates-gadget-that-bypasses-credit-card-chip-pin-safeguards-496697.shtml

6. November 24, U.S. Department of Justice – (International) Former California attorney pleads guilty in international investment fraud scheme. A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty in Federal court November 24 for his role in a nearly $5 million investment fraud scheme in which investors were told that with an up-front payment, a Swiss company called Malom Group A.G. would grant them access to international investment opportunities and cash loans. The man also illegally presented himself as an attorney to investors after losing his license to practice law. Source: https://www.fbi.gov/lasvegas/press-releases/2015/former-california-attorney-pleads-guilty-in-international-investment-fraud-scheme

7. November 24, KDKA 2 Pittsburgh – (Pennsylvania) Millionaire’s secretary pleads guilty to fraud charge. A former secretary of a businessman in Pittsburgh pleaded guilty November 24 to defrauding the U.S. Internal Revenue Service out of $4 million in taxes by claiming that about $20 million of her employer’s personal expenses were business expenses including the construction of a mansion, the purchase of numerous exotic cars, and by designating staff payroll as business expenses. Source: http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/11/24/millionaires-secretary-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-charge/

8. November 24, KCNC 4 Denver – (Colorado) 2nd violent bank robbery suspect arrested, search continues for 3rd. Police offered a $10,000 reward November 24 for information leading to the arrest of a third suspect charged in a series of crimes including a robbery at 1st Bank in Lakewood where 3 suspects entered the bank November 18 wearing masks and made off with about $50,000 before shooting and injuring at least 2 people during their getaway. Authorities arrested two out of the three suspects who are also believed to be tied to a September bank robbery in Lakewood. Source: http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/11/24/1-of-2-suspects-identified-in-bank-robbery-crime-spree/

For another story, see item 12 above in Top Stories

Information Technology Sector

19. November 25, Securityweek – (International) Reuse of Cryptographic keys exposes millions of IoT: study. Researchers from SEC Consult released a report identifying that millions of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices use the same cryptographic keys hardcoded into the firmware, including secure shell (SSH) host keys and X.509 certificates used for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), that may allow attackers to obtain sensitive information by connecting to a victim’s network and leveraging the keys to launch impersonations, man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, and passive decryption attacks. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/reuse-cryptographic-keys-exposes-millions-iot-devices-study

20. November 24, Wall Street Journal – (International) U.S. fines tech firm $1.5 million over sanctions violations. Campbell, California-based Barracuda Networks Inc., agreed November 24 to pay about $1.5 million to the U.S. Department of Commerce and $38,930 to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to resolve allegations that the company and its U.K. subsidiary violated U.S. sanctions and export control laws after selling Internet security products, Web-filtering products that can block or censor Internet activity, and related software subscriptions to Syria, Iran, and Sudan. Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2015/11/24/u-s-fines-tech-firm-1-5-million-over-sanctions-violations/

21. November 23, Securityweek – (International) Malicious adware uses certificates to disable security products. Researchers from Malwarebytes detected a trojan adware, dubbed Vonteera, that blacklists13 certificates as “Untrusted Certificates” in Microsoft Window’s certificate store to prevent anti-malware products that block its infection as well as execute a new service called “appinf.exe” onto infected operating systems that modifies desktop, taskbar, and start menu shortcuts via a script designed to redirect victims to randomized Web sites. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/malicious-adware-uses-certificates-disable-security-products

Communications Sector

Nothing to report