Complete DHS Report for December 15, 2016
Daily Report
Top Stories
• Thirty-five individuals connected to the Brooklyn, New
York-based Hoodstarz street gang and associated crews were charged December 13
for allegedly buying more than 750 credit card numbers from the Dark Web and
using the numbers to create fraudulent credit cards. – WNBC 4 New York See item 5
below in the Financial Services Sector
• A Nigerian national pleaded guilty December 12 for his role in a
roughly $4.7 million scheme to file thousands of fraudulent Federal and Oregon
State tax returns from 2012 –2015. – Medford Mail Tribune See item 6
below in the Financial Services Sector
• The Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority in Connecticut
reported that 84,000 gallons of raw sewage leaked into the East Branch of
Stamford Harbor December 13. – Stamford Advocate
15. December 14, Stamford
Advocate – (Connecticut) Broken pipe leaks 84,000 gallons of sewage into
Stamford Harbor. The Stamford Water Pollution Control Authority in
Connecticut reported that 84,000 gallons of raw sewage leaked into the East
Branch of Stamford Harbor December 13 after a force main pipe broke at the
city’s water pollution control plant. Officials stated that the spill has been
contained and the pipe is being repaired. Source:
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Broken-pipe-leaks-84-000-gallons-of-sewage-into-10795509.php
• Frederick County Public Schools officials in Maryland announced
December 13 that the personal information of about 1,000 former students was
stolen and offered for sale online following a data breach that occurred before
2010. – Frederick News-Post
17. December 13,
Frederick News-Post – (Maryland) Personal details of about 1,000 former
Frederick County students stolen, was for sale. A spokesperson for
Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland announced December 13 that the
personal information of about 1,000 former students who attended the district’s
schools between November 2005 and November 2006 was stolen and offered for sale
online following a data breach that occurred before 2010. The breach was
discovered in September when a former student found the information online. Source: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/schools/personal-details-of-about-former-frederick-county-students-stolen-was/article_147339b1-de16-513b-8288-0e0ba62bf506.html
Financial Services Sector
5. December 14, WNBC 4
New York – (New York) Brooklyn gang members used fake credit cards to
buy American Girl dolls, guns: Officials. Thirty-five individuals connected
to the Brooklyn, New York-based Hoodstarz street gang and associated crews were
charged December 13 for allegedly buying more than 750 credit card numbers from
the Dark Web and using the numbers to create fraudulent credit cards, which the
group used to buy dolls, concert tickets, and weapons, as well as to fund
violent crimes. The charges allege that the group tested the fraudulent credit
cards by charging $1 at parking meters. Source: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Fake-Credit-Card-Brooklyn-Gang-Indictment-Violence-American-Girl-Dolls-Hoodstarz-406312075.html
6. December 14, Medford
Mail Tribune – (International) Stolen PINs net nearly $5 million in tax
fraud. A Nigerian national pleaded guilty December 12 for his role in a
roughly $4.7 million scheme to file thousands of fraudulent Federal and Oregon
State tax returns from 2012 – May 2015 where he and 5 co-conspirators obtained
the personal information of more than 250,000 people from an overseas hacker,
and used the information to get PIN numbers used by the victims to
electronically file U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) returns. The IRS paid
refunds directly to prepaid debit cards or third-party bank accounts the group
opened, and the co-conspirators subsequently wired some of the refunds to
Nigeria via the Western Union Company. Source: http://www.mailtribune.com/news/20161213/stolen-pins-net-nearly-5-million-in-tax-fraud
For another story, see item 4
below from the Critical
Manufacturing Sector
4. December 12,
Washington Post – (California) A Calif. man steals $5 million, spends $1
million on a cellphone game. A California man pleaded guilty December 8
after he defrauded his employer, Holt Manufacturing Company, out of nearly $5
million from May 2008 – March 2015 by conducting hundreds of unauthorized
credit card transactions on the firm’s commercial account, falsifying records
regarding the account, and misleading the bank that held the credit account
when it made inquiries about suspicious transactions. The former employee used
the stolen funds for personal expenses. Source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/12/12/a-calif-man-stole-nearly-5-million-from-his-company-then-spent-1-million-on-a-cellphone-game/?utm_term=.1eab2b6b5a60
Information Technology Sector
18. December 14,
SecurityWeek – (International) Apple patches 72 vulnerabilities in macOS
Sierra. Apple released version 10.12.2 of its Sierra operating system (OS)
patching a total of 72 vulnerabilities in Apache, Audio, Bluetooth, security,
the kernel, and Disk Images, among other components, after security researchers
discovered that the flaws could be exploited to cause an application to enter a
denial-of-service (DoS) condition, execute arbitrary code with elevated
privileges, leak memory data, and overwrite existing files, among other
nefarious actions. Apple also released security updates for iCloud for
Microsoft Windows, iTunes for Windows, and Safari 10.0.2, which resolved two dozen
flaws.
19. December 14,
SecurityWeek – (International) Microsoft patches several publicly
disclosed flaws. Microsoft released its December 2016 security updates
which include a total of 12 critical and important security bulletins that
resolve flaws in Windows, Office, Edge, and Internet Explorer, including 11
flaws in Edge, an information disclosure and 2 remote code execution bugs in
Windows graphics component, and 16 privilege escalation, information
disclosure, and arbitrary code execution flaws, among other flaws, in Office
and Office for Apple Mac. One of the critical bulletins also includes patches
for Adobe Flash Player, in which Adobe resolved a total of 17 vulnerabilities,
including a zero-day flaw that was being exploited in targeted attacks.
20. December 14, Help Net
Security – (International) Corporate Office 365 users hit with clever
phishing attack. Security researchers reported that phishers are targeting
users of Microsoft’s Corporate Office 365 service to bypass its email filters
and default security protections using a trick that makes the user see one
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in the link and anti-phishing filters another
link, while the actual link leads the victim to a third, phishing URL. The
malicious actors exploit the way that Office 365 anti-phishing and
URL-reputation security layers translate Punycode, the method for encoding
domain names with Unicode characters.
Source:
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/12/14/corporate-office-365-phishing/
21. December 13, Help Net
Security – (International) More Android-powered devices found with
trojans in their firmware. Doctor Web security researchers discovered two
types of downloader trojans incorporated in the firmware of several
Android-powered devices that are used to deliver ad-showing apps that push
users to download additional apps, and are capable of updating themselves,
contacting their command and control (C&C) servers, receiving instructions
on which apps to covertly download and run, and start running each time the
device is turned on. One of the trojans, dubbed Android.Sprovider.7 was found
inserted into the firmware of Lenovo smartphones and can open specified links
in a browser, as well as show ads on top of apps and in the status bar, among
other malicious actions. Source:
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/12/13/android-devices-trojans-firmware/
22. December 13, Help Net
Security – (International) 93% of SOC managers unable to triage all
potential threats. Intel Security released a report after interviewing 400
Security Operations Center (SOC) managers across several countries, industries,
and company sizes, which revealed that on average, organizations are unable to
adequately investigate 25 percent of security alerts, as many as 93 percent of
SOCs are unable to triage all potential threats, and that the most common
threat detection signals for 64 percent of companies come from traditional
security control points, including firewall and intrusion prevention systems,
among other findings.
Source:
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/12/13/soc-managers-triage-threats/
23. December 13,
SecurityWeek – (International) Apple patches 12 vulnerabilities in iOS,
tvOS, and watchOS. Apple released version 10.2 of its mobile operating
system (iOS) resolving 12 vulnerabilities affecting several components in
iPhone 5 and later, iPad 4th generation and later, and iPod touch 6th
generation and later, including a memory corruption issue in the Profiles
component, which was also found to impact 4th generation Apple TV and all Apple
Watch models, that could allow an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution
if the victim opened a specially crafted certificate on a vulnerable device.
Communications Sector
24. December 14, Help Net
Security – (International) Netgear pushes out beta firmware for
vulnerable router models. Netgear released a beta firmware to temporarily
resolve a vulnerability affecting at least 12 of its router models after
confirming the flaw could allow remote, unauthenticated attackers to execute
Linux commands with root privileges on the routers if the commands are appended
to the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a page that the user is tricked into
visiting. Netgear is reviewing its router portfolio to determine if the flaw
affects other router models. Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/12/13/netgear-firmware-vulnerable-routers/
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