Complete DHS Report for March 3, 2016
Daily Report
Top Stories
•The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the former chief
executive officer (CEO) of Chesapeake Energy Corp was charged March 1 with
conspiring to rig bids to buy oil and natural gas leases in Oklahoma from 2007
to 2012. – Reuters
1. March 2,
Reuters – (Oklahoma) Former Chesapeake CEO charged with bid-rigging of
land leases. The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the former chief
executive officer (CEO) of Chesapeake Energy Corp was charged March 1 with
conspiring to rig bids to buy oil and natural gas leases in Oklahoma by
allegedly setting up a conspiracy involving two energy companies that agreed
not to bid against each other in purchasing oil and natural gas leases in
northwest Oklahoma from 2007 to 2012. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-mcclendon-idUSKCN0W35Y7
•Five New York residents were arrested in Rhode Island February 27
and March 1 after authorities found a total of 309 stolen credit cards and gift
cards in the suspects’ vehicles during traffic stops. – WJAR 10 Providence See item 6 below in
the Financial Services Sector
•Crews worked to contain an ethanol leak from a tanker that
derailed on a Norfolk Southern line in the town of Ripley, New York, March 1. –
Associated Press
7. March 2,
Associated Press – (New York) Train derails in Ripley, NY; homes evacuated due
to ethanol tanker leak. Crews worked to contain an ethanol leak from a
tanker that was part of 16 cars on a freight train that derailed on a Norfolk
Southern line in the town of Ripley, New York, March 1. Officials stated that
25 to 30 people were evacuated as a precaution while cleanup work continued. Source: http://www.syracuse.com/state/index.ssf/2016/03/train_derails_in_ripley_ny_crews_working_to_contain_ethanol_tanker_leak.html
•Federal authorities announced March 1 that Qualcomm Incorporated
agreed to pay $7.5million to settle charges after officials found that the
company provided full-time employment, paid internships, and kickbacks to
Chinese government officials and their relatives in order to obtain business at
government-owned telecom companies in China. –U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission See item 20 below in
the Communications Sector
Financial Services Sector
6. March 1,
WJAR 10 Providence – (Rhode Island; Virginia) Police seize at least 250 stolen
credit cards in West Greenwich, Cranston. Five New York residents were
arrested in Rhode Island February 27 and March 1 after authorities found a
total of 309 stolen credit cards and gift cards in the suspects’ vehicles
during traffic stops. Three of the culprits used the stolen credit cards to
purchase $19,000 worth of merchandise in Virginia and the remaining two
suspects used the stolen credit cards to purchase additional gift cards at
local Stop & Shop Supermarkets. Source: http://turnto10.com/news/local/police-seize-at-least-250-stolen-credit-cards-in-west-greenwich-cranston
Information Technology Sector
15. March 2,
Agence France-Presse – (International) NSA chief worries about cyber attack on US
infrastructure. The U.S. National Security Agency chief warned March 1 that
attackers may try to execute a cyberattack against U.S. infrastructure similar
to a 2015 Ukrainian incident in which a computer virus caused the networks of
several regional electricity companies to go offline, and caused power grid
failures throughout the country. Officials reported that partnerships between
the public and private sectors were key to preventing such attacks.
16. March 1,
SecurityWeek – (International) Kaspersky launches Targeted Attack protection
platform. Kaspersky Lab released its new solution, Kaspersky Anti Targeted
Attack Platform which can help companies reduce the risk of advanced threats
and targeted attacks, detect security breaches and attempts to penetrate
entities’ networks, and help organizations take immediate mitigation actions.
The platform also helps predict where new targeted attacks will occur via an
Advanced Sandbox, which provides an isolated environment for analysis of
suspicious objects, as well as via a Targeted Attack Analyzer, which leverages
data processing and machine learning technology to assess events and combine
feedback from various analysis engines. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/kaspersky-launches-targeted-attack-protection-platform
17. March 1,
SecurityWeek – (International) Microsoft unveils Advanced Threat Protection
service. Microsoft released its new service titled, Windows Defender
Advanced Threat Protection which is designed to help organizations detect,
investigate, and respond to advanced attacks on organizations’ networks and
will bring a post-breach layer of protection to the Windows 10 security
platform by using Windows behavior sensors, cloud-based security analytics, and
threat intelligence.
18. March 1,
SecurityWeek – (International) Google’s DLP for Gmail adds optical character
recognition. Google Inc., reported it will be releasing a new set of
features for its Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Gmail which will help
administrators set DLP policies to analyze common image types and extract text
for policy evaluation, in addition to improving attachment scanning, setting
new predefined content detectors, and increasing control over content detection
thresholds through new features such as Optical character recognition (OCR).
19. March 1,
Help Net Security – (International) BluVector 2.0: Machine-learning malware
detection. Acuity Solutions reported it will be releasing its BluVector version
2.0, a malware detection solution, which will help companies identify threats,
find previously unclassified and undetected attacks, and help security analysts
understand how their organizations are being targeted within milliseconds. The
threat detection appliance analyzes files from the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
protocols using BluVector’s machine-learning classification engine and extracts
features from each file to determine if the file is malicious based on the
device’s knowledge of benign and malicious files. Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/03/01/bluvector-2-0-machine-learning-malware-detection/
Communications Sector
20. March 1,
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (International) SEC: Qualcomm
hired relatives of Chinese officials to obtain business. The U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission announced March 1 that Qualcomm Incorporated
agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) after the company provided full-time employment
and paid internships to relatives of Chinese government officials in order to
obtain business at government-owned telecom companies in China. Qualcomm Inc.,
also provided the officials with gifts, travel, and entertainment and
misrepresented the bribes as legitimate business expenses in its records. Source:
https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2016-36.html