Thursday, December 3, 2015



Complete DHS Report for December 3, 2015

Daily Report                                            

Top Stories

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Connecticut-based companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner, as well as its founder December 1 for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme in which more than 10,000 investors were bilked out of $20 million. – U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission See item 6 below in the Financial Services Sector

• Officials reported December 2 that the nationwide recall of celery products contaminated with E. coli expanded to include more than 155,000 products in 18 States sold in several commercial stores. – ABC News

12. December 2, ABC News (National) Concern over E.coli outbreak leads to celery recall at major grocery stores. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported December 2 that the nationwide recall of celery products contaminated with E. coli expanded to include more than 155,000 products in 18 States after the products were linked to California-based Tracy Farms Pacific Inc. The recall was expanded to include products sold at numerous grocery store chains including Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, and Safeway stores, among other retailers. Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/fda-celery-recall-expanded-major-grocery-stores/story?id=35526676

• Emergency 9-1-1 service for portions of Mitchell County, Iowa, remained down December 2, requiring residents to use cellular phones after service became unavailable for customers November 25. – Mason County Globe Gazette

23. December 2, Mason County Globe Gazette – (Iowa) Partial 911 outage continues in Mitchell County. Emergency 9-1-1 service for portions of Mitchell County remained down December 2, requiring residents to use cellular phones or call an administrative line after service became unavailable for Windstream and Century Link customers November 25. The county’s emergency services coordinator reported that the issue appeared to be with the telephone companies, not with the county’s 9-1-1 equipment. Source: http://globegazette.com/news/local/partial-outage-continues-in-mitchell-county/article_d4b07bee-5c17-5d45-8e19-28832e5901dd.html

• Three Virginia men were indicted in Federal court December 1 for three-counts of robbery conspiracy following an FBI investigation that revealed the men were plotting to attack synagogues and black churches with stolen machinery. – Associated Press

26. December 2, Associated Press – (Virginia) Federal grand jury indicts 3 in alleged race war plot. Three Virginia men were indicted in Federal court December 1 for three-counts of robbery conspiracy following an FBI undercover investigation that revealed the men were plotting to rob a silver and coin dealer, use the money to buy weapons and land, as well as train for a race war, all in an attempt to shoot or use explosive devices to attack synagogues and black churches. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/12/02/us/ap-us-church-attack-plot.html?_r=0

Financial Services Sector

6. December 1, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Connecticut) SEC charges Bitcoin mining companies. Officials from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Connecticut-based companies GAW Miners and ZenMiner, as well as its founder December 1 for allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme in which more than 10,000 investors were bilked of $20 million from August 2014 – December 2014 by participating in a fraudulent mining scheme in which the companies promised returns earned by the Bitcoin mining activities, but never directed funds towards such activities. Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-271.html

Information Technology Sector

24. December 2, Securityweek – (International) Google patches over dozen serious flaws in Chrome. Google reported December 1 that its newest version of Chrome 47 includes 41 security patches that address a dozen high severity issues discovered by independent researchers including out-of-bounds access vulnerabilities in V8, Skia, PDFium, use-after-free flaws in Extensions and Document Object Model (DOM), and a type confusion in PDFium, among other patched vulnerabilities. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/google-patches-over-dozen-serious-flaws-chrome

Communications Sector
 
25. December 1, KSL 5 Salt Lake City – (Utah) Thieves steal $100K in batteries, wires from SLC cellphone towers. Authorities are searching for the individuals responsible for 5 thefts that occurred between November 30 and December 1 at cellphone towers in Salt Lake City, which left between $80,000 and $100,000 in total damages. Suspects stole batteries and copper wires at each site.