Complete DHS Report for
September 11, 2015
Daily Report
Top Stories
• Officials reported
September 9 that a Salmonella Poona outbreak linked to cucumbers grown in
Mexico has killed 2 people and sickened 341 people across 30 States. – CNN
14. September
9, CNN – (National) Salmonella outbreak kills two, sickens hundreds in
the U.S. Officials reported September 9 that a Salmonella Poona outbreak
linked to cucumbers grown in Mexico has killed 2 people and sickened 341 people
across 30 States.
• Excellus BlueCross
BlueShield announced September 9 that hackers gained unauthorized access to
information technology systems in 2013, potentially compromising the
information of approximately 10.5 million individuals. – SC Magazine
17. September
9, SC Magazine – (National) Excellus BlueCross BlueShield announces breach,
10.5M records at risk. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield and affiliate Lifetime
Healthcare Companies announced September 9 that hackers gained unauthorized
access to information technology systems in 2013, potentially compromising the
personal, financial, and medical information of approximately 10.5 million
individuals. Officials stated that there was no evidence that the information
was removed or used inappropriately and an investigation is ongoing.Source: http://www.scmagazine.com/excellus-bluecross-blueshield-announces-breach-105m-records-at-risk/article/437651/
• Researchers announced that the Turla
advanced persistent threat (APT) group utilizes design flaws on older communications
satellites, allowing the group to intercept Internet traffic and hide the
location of their command-and-control (C&C) servers. – Softpedia See
item 24 below in the Information Technology Sector
• Zimperium released its Stagefright exploit
code and Python script, allowing users to test if their devices are vulnerable
to the Stagefright bug. – Softpedia See item 25 below in the Information Technology Sector
Financial Services Sector
4. September
9, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission – (National) SEC charges
BDO and five partners in connection with false and misleading audit opinions. The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission September 9 charged national audit firm
BDO USA and five of the firm’s partners for allegedly dismissing red flags and
issuing false and misleading unqualified audit opinions about the financial
statements of staffing services company General Employment Enterprises
regarding $2.3 million purportedly invested in a 90-day nonrenewable CD. BDO
agreed to pay disgorgement of its audit fees and interest totaling
approximately $600,000 and pay a $1.5 million penalty in addition to complying
with undertakings related to its quality controls.Source: http://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-184.html
5. September
9, Reuters – (California) SEC charges father, son, friend with insider
trading in GE deal. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged
three California men September 9 with alleged insider trading ahead of General
Electric Co.’s $580 million merger with cancer diagnostics company Clarient Co.
in 2010 after one of the men reportedly learned about the merger from a senior
Clarient director. The three men agreed to pay a total of $169,485 in fines. Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/09/sec-insidertrading-general-electric-clar-idUSL1N11F25F20150909
6. September
8, Reuters – (National) Bankrate to pay $15 million to settle SEC fraud
charges. Bankrate Inc., agreed to pay $15 million in a settlement with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) September 8 after its chief
financial officer, former director of accounting, and former vice president of
finance allegedly posted artificially inflated financial results in 2012,
causing share prices to rise, allowing the chief financial officer to sell $2
million of company stock at inflated prices. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/08/us-sec-bankrate-idUSKCN0R81U920150908
For another story, see item 26 below in the Information Technology Sector
Information Technology Sector
22. September
10, Securityweek – (International) SAP updates patch twenty vulnerabilities. Germany-based
SAP enterprise software maker updated 5 previously released patches and issued
a new patch addressing 20 vulnerabilities including 8 that were missing
authorization checks, 6 cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs, an information
disclosure vulnerability, cross-site forgery (CSRF), remote code execution, SQL
injection, in addition to other types of attacks. Source: http://www.securityweek.com/sap-updates-patch-twenty-vulnerabilities
23. September
10, Help Net Security – (International) PIN-changing,
screen-locking Android ransomware. ESET researchers found a piece of
ransomware that locks Android users out of their devices by changing the
personal identification number (PIN) via masquerading as an app to view adult
videos. Once users download and install the malicious app the LockerPin trojan
prompts the user to install a patch for the app which unknowingly activates the
Device Administrator privileges while appearing as an alleged message from the
FBI asking the victim to pay a $500 fine to regain access to the device. Source:
http://www.net-security.org/malware_news.php?id=3097
24. September
9, Softpedia – (International) Russian hacking group uses satellites to hide
C&C servers. Kaspersky Labs announced that the Turla advanced
persistent threat (APT) group utilizes design flaws on older communications
satellites, allowing the group to intercept Internet traffic and use it to hide
the location of their command-and-control (C&C) servers. The group can
reportedly launch man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks and intercept traffic through
satellite dishes located in areas were the unencrypted satellites provide
coverage. Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/russian-hacking-group-uses-satellites-to-hide-c-c-servers-491352.shtml
25. September
9, Softpedia – (International) Zimperium releases exploit code for testing
against Stagefright vulnerability. Zimperium released its Stagefright
exploit code and Python script, allowing security experts, phone vendors, and
users to test if their devices are vulnerable to the Stagefright bug, which
affects over 95 percent of all Android devices running versions 2.2 or higher.Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/zimperium-releases-exploit-code-for-testing-against-stagefright-vulnerability-491361.shtml
26. September
9, Securityweek – (International) DD4BC extortionist group launched over 140
DDoS attacks: Akamai. A report published by Akamai Technologies’ Prolexic
Security Engineering and Response Team (PLXert) found that the extortionist
group DD4BC, who led a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against
several organizations and demanded Bitcoin payments, launched a total of 141
attacks between September 2015 and August 2015, with 58 percent of attacks
targeting financial service institutions. The report also found that that group
now utilizes social media platforms to expose and threaten targeted
organizations in addition to the DDoS attack.Source: http://www.securityweek.com/dd4bc-extortionist-group-launched-over-140-ddos-attacks-akamai
Communications Sector
See item 26 above in the Information Technology
Sector