Complete DHS Report for January 31, 2014
Daily Report
• Schools, government offices, and most roads
in six outlying counties north of Mobile, Alabama, remained closed January 30
after a severe winter storm left people stranded on highways or involved in
automobile accidents. – Mobile Press-Register
24.
January 29, Mobile Press-Register – (Alabama) Schools, roads and some
offices to remain closed until Thursday in Clarke, Conecuh, Covington,
Escambia, Monroe and Washington counties. Emergency management officials
reported that schools, government offices, and most roads in six outlying
counties north of Mobile would remain closed January 30 after a severe winter
storm left people stranded on highways or involved in automobile accidents.
Source: http://blog.al.com/live/2014/01/schools_roads_and_some_offices.html
• A 4-alarm fire broke out January 30 at a
strip mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey, destroying eight stores and prompting
officials to order the evacuation and demolition of surrounding stores and a
church. – WNBC 4 New York City
33. January 30, WNBC 4 New York City – (New Jersey) 8
New Jersey stores, church to be demolished after 4-alarm blaze. A 4-alarm
fire broke out January 30 at a strip mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey, destroying
eight stores and prompting officials to order the evacuation and demolition of
surrounding stores and a church. Authorities are investigating the cause of the
fire. Source: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Elizabeth-New-Jersey-4-Alarm-Fire-Stores-242732211.html
• A fire destroyed the Geraghty Street
Building in Fairbanks, Alaska, which contained apartment units, a second-hand
furniture store, and offices January 29, and left several people injured while displacing more than 50 residents. – Fairbanks
Daily News-Miner
34.
January 30, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner – (Alaska) Geraghty Street
apartment fire leaves 50 homeless. A fire destroyed the Geraghty Street
Building in Fairbanks which contained apartment units, a second-hand furniture
store, and offices January 29, and left several people injured while displacing
more than 50 residents. Officials are investigating the incident. Source: http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/fire-destroys-geraghty-street-apartment-building-several-people-injured/article_e5dc0c02-8916-11e3-8722-0017a43b2370.html
• One person was injured and 40 residents were
displaced in a January 29 fire at the Turner Plaza Apartments in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, which caused an estimated $1.25 million in damage at the complex. – New Orleans Times-Picayune
37.
January 29, New Orleans Times-Picayune – (Louisiana) Turner Plaza
apartment fire began in area of heater, caused $1.25 million in damage. The
Baton Rouge Fire Department responded to a fire at the Turner Plaza Apartments
January 29, which caused an estimated $1.25 million in damage at the complex.
One person was injured and 40 residents were displaced. Source: http://www.nola.com/traffic/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2014/01/turner_plaza_apartment_fire_be.html
Details
Financial Services Sector
3. January
30, KGW 8 Portland – (Oregon) 3 arrested in Beaverton for ID theft ring.
Three individuals were arrested in Beaverton January 26 after their car was
stopped on suspicion of shoplifting and were found in possession of 100
counterfeit credit cards as well as thousands of dollars’ worth of gift cards
and stolen property. Source: http://www.kgw.com/news/3-arrested-in-Beaverton-for-ID-theft-ring-242625221.html
4. January
29, Newark Star-Ledger – (New Jersey) U.S. regulator accuses NJ mortgage
lender PHH of kickback scheme. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
announced charges January 29 against Mount Laurel-based mortgage lender PHH
Corp., and several of its subsidiaries for allegedly collecting hundreds of
millions of dollars through a 15-year kickback scheme by referring business to
mortgage insurance companies in exchange for payments, causing customers to pay
higher borrowing costs. Source: http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2014/01/cfpb_accuses_nj_mortgage_lender_phh_of_mortgage_insurance_kickback_scheme.html
5. January
29, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois – (Illinois) U.S.
indicts corporate audit director on securities fraud charges for allegedly
profiting $286,000 from insider trading. A certified public accountant in
Chicago was indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly engaging in insider
trading and making over $286,000 in illicit profits in 2012. The accountant was
the director of corporate audit for Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc., and
used nonpublic information he obtained in that position. Source: http://www.fbi.gov/chicago/press-releases/2014/u.s.-indicts-corporate-audit-director-on-securities-fraud-charges-for-allegedly-profiting-286-000-from-insider-trading
6. January
29, Reuters – (National) Target: Hackers attacked with stolen
credentials. Target Corp., reported January 29 that the attackers who
perpetrated a massive breach of customer payment card data used stolen vendor
credentials to access the company’s systems. Source: http://news.msn.com/us/target-hackers-attacked-with-stolen-credentials
7. January
29, SC Magazine – (National) Neiman Marcus hack involved two pieces of
malware. Neiman Marcus reported that two pieces of malware were used to
compromise its systems in a recent data breach, with the first inserted before
July 2013 which allowed the payment card scraping malware to be uploaded later
in the year. Source: http://www.scmagazine.com//neiman-marcus-hack-involved-two-pieces-of-malware/article/331669/
Information Technology Sector
27. January 30, Softpedia – (International) Remote code
execution vulnerability impacts Wikipedia and other MediaWiki sites. Researchers
at Check Point identified a critical vulnerability affecting Web sites created
with the MediaWiki platform that could be exploited for remote code execution.
The MediaWiki Foundation issued a patch to close the vulnerability and advised
users to update their installations. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Remote-Code-Execution-Vulnerability-Impacts-Wikipedia-and-Other-MediaWiki-Sites-422079.shtml
28. January 30, The Register – (International) Security
101 fail: 3G/4G modems expose control panels to hackers. A researcher found
that several 3G and 4G USB modems are vulnerable to cross-site request forgery
(CSRF) attacks that could allow attackers to access the modem’s control panel
Web page and tamper with the device. The vulnerabilities could be exploited to
send messages to premium-rate numbers and steal user credentials. Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/30/3gmodem_security_peril/
29. January 30, Softpedia – (International) Barracuda
Networks identifies rogue SignNow version in App Store. Barracuda Labs
researchers identified a rogue version of their SignNow app in Apple’s App
Store, and found that developers listed as GameStruct and Tektrify are
uploading rogue versions of other apps as well. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Barracuda-Networks-Identifies-Rogue-SignNow-Version-in-the-App-Store-422306.shtml
30. January 29, SC Magazine – (International) Before
shutdown, ransomware op spreading “Icepol” caused 42,000 U.S. infections. Bitdefender
and Romanian authorities analyzed servers seized in relation to the Icepol
ransomware and found that the ransomware was installed around 42,400 times in
the U.S. between May and September 2013. An estimated $32,000 was stolen from
U.S. victims. Source: http://www.scmagazine.com//before-shutdown-ransomware-op-spreading-icepol-caused-42000-us-infections/article/331677/
31. January 29, Threatpost – (International) High-volume
DDoS attacks top operational threat to businesses, service providers. Arbor
Networks released its Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report and found that
distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were the largest operational
threat to service providers and enterprises, reaching unprecedented levels in
2013, among other findings. Source: http://threatpost.com/high-volume-ddos-attacks-top-operational-threat-to-businesses-service-providers/103933
For additional stories, see items 6 and 7 above in the Financial Services Sector
Communications Sector
32.
January 28, Baltimore-Sun – (Maryland) Some Harford AT&T landline
customers faced blackout Tuesday. Some businesses utilizing AT&T
communications in the Bel Air area experienced problems with their landlines
for several hours January 28 due to a third-party cable cut. Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/belair/ph-ag-att-outage-0129-20140128,0,1503659.story