Friday, June 24, 2016



Complete DHS Report for June 24, 2016

Daily Report                                            

Top Stories

• The U.S. President signed a chemical safety act into law June 22 that gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authority to review and regulate chemicals, and mandates that the agency update its inventory of current chemicals, among other provisions. – Washington, D.C. Environment & Energy Publishing

1. June 22, Washington, D.C. Environment & Energy Publishing – (National) U.S. President signs TSCA reform into law. The U.S. President signed the “Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act” into law June 22 that gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency authority to review and regulate chemicals, and mandates that the agency update its inventory of current chemicals as well as creates a risk evaluation process within 6 months. The bill aims to ensure the safety of the public and support U.S. manufacturing while boosting the U.S. economy. Source: http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060039241

• Bolthouse Farms issued a recall June 22 for 3.8 million bottles of its Protein PLUS shakes products and its Mocha Cappuccino Perfectly Protein products due to possible spoilage. –U.S. Food and Drug Administration

12. June 22, U.S. Food and Drug Administration – (National) Bolthouse Farms voluntarily recalls protein beverage due to possible spoilage. Bolthouse Farms issued a voluntary recall June 22 for 3.8 million bottles of its Protein PLUS shakes products sold in 14 variations and its Mocha Cappuccino Perfectly Protein products sold in 2 variations due to possible spoilage after the company received consumer complaints and reports of illness in connection with the products. The cause of the issue is under investigation and the products were distributed nationwide. Source: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm508221.htm

• Federal authorities announced June 22 that 301 people were charged for their roles in health care fraud schemes involving about $900 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medicaid. – U.S. Department of Justice

19. June 22, U.S. Department of Justice – (National) National health care fraud takedown results in charges against 301 individuals for approximately $900 million in false billing. Federal authorities announced June 22 that 301 people were charged in a nationwide sweep for their roles in health care fraud schemes involving about $900 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medicaid. The individuals allegedly participated in various schemes to submit claims for treatments that were medically unnecessary or never provided, or for home health care, mental health services, and pharmacy fraud. Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-health-care-fraud-takedown-results-charges-against-301-individuals-approximately-900

• Security researchers discovered that a CouchDB database containing details on over 154 million U.S voters was compromised after a hacker took down L2’s, a company that manages access to U.S. voter records, firewall. – Softpedia; Austin Daily Dot See item 26 below in the Information Technology Sector

Financial Services Sector

Nothing to report

Information Technology Sector

26. June 23, Softpedia; Austin Daily Dot – (International) Hackers breach US company and unwittingly expose 154 million voter records. Security researchers from MacKeeper discovered that a CouchDB database containing details on over 154 million U.S voters was compromised after a hacker took down L2’s, a company that builds, manages, and sells access to U.S. voter records, firewall. The database contained 1-year-old information and was taken down, and authorities were unsure of the identity of the hacker. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/hackers-breach-us-company-and-unwittingly-expose-154-million-voter-records-505553.shtml

27. June 23, Softpedia – (International) Criminals set up fake companies to hijack and sell IPv4 addresses. Security researchers from Check Point reported that cyber criminals were leveraging legacy networks belonging to companies no longer in existence by scanning the IPv4 address pool and searching for networks’ contact information, and if no data is found, attackers impersonate the defunct company by re-registering old business names or expired domain names. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/criminals-set-up-fake-companies-to-hijack-and-sell-ipv4-addresses-505554.shtml

28. June 23, Softpedia – (International) Massive spam flood delivering Cerber ransomware hit users at the end of May. Check Point released a report which detailed that the Cerber ransomware was attacking victims in April and May through two recent incidences that included large amounts of email spams containing Microsoft Office documents loaded with malicious macros that were downloading and installing the ransomware. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/massive-spam-flood-delivering-cerber-ransomware-hit-users-at-the-end-of-may-505556.shtml

Communications Sector

29. June 22, TurlockCityNews.com – (California) Damaged fiber optic line causes Charter service outage. Charter Communications customers in Turlock, Escalaon, and Riverbank lost Internet, video, and phone services for at least 3 hours June 22 after a fiber optic line operated by a third party provider was damaged. Crews worked to repair the damaged line. Source: http://www.turlockcitynews.com/news/item/5863-damaged-fiber-optic-line-causes-charter-service-outage

For another story, see item 25 below from the Emergency Services Sector