Complete DHS Report for October 25, 2016
Daily Report
Top Stories
• Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. reported October 23 that crews
completed repairs to a broken pipeline that dumped approximately 55,000 gallons
of gasoline into the Susquehanna River in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania,
October 21. – LancasterOnline.com
2. October 23,
LancasterOnline.com – (Pennsylvania) Section of damaged pipeline removed
after 55,000 gallons of gasoline spill into Susquehanna. Sunoco Logistics
Partners L.P. reported October 23 that crews completed repairs to a broken
pipeline that dumped approximately 55,000 gallons of gasoline into the Wallis
Run tributary of the Susquehanna River in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania,
October 21 following heavy flooding in the area. Crews shut down the pipeline
after detecting a drop in pressure and removed an 80-foot section of the pipeline.
Source: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/gallons-of-gasoline-spill-into-susquehanna-effect-on-lancaster-county/article_5ed0d20c-97b8-11e6-8fb8-17dc59d3a8e1.html
• Five people operating a web of sham mortgage relief companies
were charged October 21 for allegedly defrauding homeowners and banks out of
$30 million from 2005 – 2014. – U.S. Department of Justice See item 4
below in the Financial Services Sector
• Massachusetts-based Baystate Health announced October 21 that
the personal data of 13,000 patients may have been compromised following a
phishing email scam in August. – Springfield Republican
17. October 21,
Springfield Republican – (Massachusetts) Baystate Health in Springfield
reveals 13K patients potentially affected in data breach. Springfield,
Massachusetts-based Baystate Health announced October 21 that the personal data
of 13,000 patients may have been compromised following a phishing email scam in
August that gave the attacker access to employee email accounts and a large
Baystate database containing patients’ names, dates of birth, insurance ID
numbers, and diagnosis or treatment information. Officials stated there is no
evidence that the compromised information has been misused. Source: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/10/baystate_health_in_springfield.html
• Officials in North Carolina reported October 22 that at least 17
dams in the State, including 13 in the Cape Fear River Basin burst following
heavy rains and flooding from Hurricane Matthew. – Raleigh News &
Observer
26. October 22, Raleigh
News & Observer – (North Carolina) Babysitting NC’s dams around the
clock. Officials in North Carolina reported October 22 that at least 17
dams in the State, including 13 in the Cape Fear River Basin burst following
heavy rains and flooding from Hurricane Matthew. Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article109902432.html
Financial Services Sector
4. October 21, U.S.
Department of Justice – (National) Alleged architect of $30 million mortgage
relief fraud scheme and four others indicted in conspiracy to defraud banks and
homeowners. Five people operating a web of sham mortgage relief companies
under the names Ownership Management Service LLC and Trust Holding Service LLC
were charged October 21 for allegedly defrauding homeowners and banks out of
$30 million from 2005 – 2014 by claiming to perform short sales for homeowners,
while in reality failing to make mortgage payments and submitting fictitious
short sale purchase offers to banks in order to delay foreclosure and maximize
the time period during which the defendants could collect rent from the
homeowners. The charges allege that the defendants also regularly forged
signatures, used fake and stolen identities, and filed fraudulent bankruptcy
petitions to maximize their profits. Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alleged-architect-30-million-mortgage-relief-fraud-scheme-and-four-others-indicted-conspiracy
5. October 21, U.S.
Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois – (National) Chicago
woman arrested in $5 million fraud scheme involving bogus business to re-sell
tickets to concerts and sporting events. A Chicago resident was arrested
October 21 for allegedly orchestrating a more than $5 million fraud scheme
where she mislead investors by claiming their funds would be used to purchase
tickets for sporting events and concerts at face value and then subsequently
re-sold for a profit on the secondary market, while she used the victims’ money
for personal expenses and to make Ponzi-type payments to other investors. Source:
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/chicago-woman-arrested-5-million-fraud-scheme-involving-bogus-business-re-sell-tickets
For additional stories, see
item 20 below in the Communications
Sector and item 25 below from the Commercial Facilities Sector
25. October 21, Greater
Alexandria Patch – (Virginia) Police investigating 8 skimming device
incidents, including 3 in Richmond Highway area. Police in Fairfax County,
Virginia, are investigating October 21 after credit-card skimming devices were
discovered at 8 gas stations and businesses across the county from June 2016 –
October 2016. Authorities reported that some of the stolen information was used
at various ATMs to withdraw cash. Source: http://patch.com/virginia/greateralexandria/police-investigating-8-skimming-device-incidents-including-3-richmond
Information Technology Sector
See items 20 and 21 below in the Communications Sector
Communications Sector
20. October 24, Help Net
Security – (International) Dyn DDoS attack: The aftermath. New
Hampshire-based Dyn DNS Company suffered 3 distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
attacks involving millions of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that targeted
the company’s managed Domain Name Server (DNS) infrastructure and rendered many
Websites and online services such as Twitter, PayPal, and Etsy, among others
inaccessible for several hours October 21. Security researchers from Flashpoint
and Akamai confirmed that one source of the attacks’ traffic were Internet of
Things (IoT) devices infected by the Mirai botnet. Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/10/24/dyn-ddos-attack-aftermath/
21. October 23,
SecurityWeek – (International) VoIP service servers abused to host RATs.
Symantec researchers warned that Discord, a free Voice-over-Internet
Protocol (VoIP) service had its servers abused to host and distribute remote
access trojans (RATs) such as NanoCore, njRAT, and SpyRat after finding that
malicious actors were abusing the service’s chat feature to create servers and
post or upload malicious attachments to a chat, and then use the attachment as
a download site in second-stage attacks. Researchers reported that the malware
affecting Discord is mainly targeting the gaming industry and aims to steal
sensitive information related to online gaming directly from the victim’s
computer. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/voip-service-servers-abused-host-rats