Libyans held for Briton 'sex attack'

29 March 2013 Last updated at 11:49 ET

Checkpoints are frequently set up by the army and militia groups

Four Libyans have been arrested over claims they sexually assaulted two British aid workers earlier this week.

The workers were apparently abducted at a checkpoint near the city of Benghazi and held for hours before being freed on Wednesday.

The women were in a convoy travelling overland to Gaza.

A Libyan army official said the arrested men were former members of the security forces who had been dismissed from their jobs several months ago.

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli said Friday prayer sermons in some mosques began with condemnations of the assault.

The women were in a convoy driving from Morocco to Gaza.

They reached the Egyptian border, where officials refused permission for them to cross.

Five members of the convoy, including the two women, took a taxi to Benghazi in the hope of catching a flight back to the UK.

They were stopped at a checkpoint, abducted and the two women were allegedly sexually assaulted.

UK ambassador Michael Aaron told the BBC that the incident was horrific and the Libyan authorities were investigating.

The group of aid workers were taken to the Turkish consulate in Benghazi after their release. British officials said they had now returned to the UK.

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The largest DDoS attack didn't break the internet, but it did try - ZDNet

Summary: A 300Gbps distributed denial-of-service attack thought to be the largest in the world has put key internet infrastructure to the test, and, so far, the attack has failed.

CloudFlare has claimed to have mitigated the biggest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in the history of the internet.

Spamhaus, a not-for-profit anti-spam organisation, came to CloudFlare last week for assistance against a large DDoS attack it was experiencing. Switching over to CloudFlare's network on March 19, the attack began with a 10Gbps flood of traffic, ramping up in excess of 100Gbps later that night. It initially took Spamhaus' website down, with the outage independently observed by the Internet Storm Center at the time.

According to CloudFlare, the majority of the attack was traffic sent using a technique called DNS (domain name system) reflection. Under normal circumstances, DNS resolvers wait for a user request, such as a lookup for the IP address for a domain name, then respond accordingly.

The issue with this system is that the source address of such requests can easily be forged, and in the absence of any checking or authentication, the DNS resolver simply replies to the source IP address. While this is a simple way of "bouncing" a request off a different server, it also has the added benefit of amplifying the damage that an attacker can do, as the response sent from the DNS resolver is often many times larger than the request.

Restricting DNS resolver responses to known IP addresses is one way to control who can or cannot be a potential target, but many DNS resolvers simply aren't configured in this manner — or, as with Google's Public DNS service, are meant to be open to the public.

To mitigate against abuse, a generally accepted practice is to throttle responses, which is what Google currently does. But, according to CloudFlare, the attackers used multiple DNS resolvers to spread the load across many targets, stop any throttling from occurring, and fly under the radar of any security measures. According to the company, it initially recorded over 30,000 DNS resolvers that were tricked into participating in the attack.

CloudFlare's strategy to respond to such distributed attacks is similar. DDoS attacks are typically successful, as a single target is unable to cope with the combined effects of multiple incoming traffic streams, so CloudFlare's response is to create more "targets", each capable of handling a smaller chunk of the traffic. It took the traffic and spread it across 23 of its own datacentres, while also dumping any requests it knew to be bogus.

Moving upstream

Realising their attack wasn't working, the attackers changed tactics, circumventing CloudFlare entirely by moving the attack upstream to CloudFlare's suppliers, which in turn pushed the traffic further up to even larger networks — in simplistic terms, those that service the connections to and from major ISPs that allow countries to talk to each other.

According to CloudFlare, the attack on these networks was in excess of 300Gbps, and further attacks "risk overwhelming the systems that link together the internet itself", referring to the internet exchanges (IXs) that many high-tier ISPs use to talk to each other.

"The largest routers that you can buy have, at most, 100Gbps ports. It is possible to bond more than one of these ports together to create capacity that is greater than 100Gbps; however, at some point, there are limits to how much these routers can handle. If that limit is exceeded, then the network becomes congested and slows down," the company wrote.

Despite admitting that it doesn't have "direct visibility into the traffic loads" that Tier 1 networks are seeing, CloudFlare said, "we've seen congestion across several major tier ones, primarily in Europe, where most of the attacks were concentrated, that would have affected hundreds of millions of people even as they surfed sites unrelated to Spamhaus or CloudFlare. If the internet felt a bit more sluggish for you over the last few days in Europe, this may be part of the reason why."

Sophos Asia-Pacific director Rob Forsyth agreed with CloudFlare's assessment of the impact on the European network, telling ZDNet that Europe is experiencing quite a lot of interruption to its usual flow of traffic, depending on what users are doing. However, he disagreed with any notion that the global internet as a whole was affected.

"People might notice streaming might be disrupted in Europe, but things like delivery of email and traffic of data files and so on is not the sort of thing that's going to be interrupted to any large extent," he said.

"The issue, for the time being, is confined to Europe."

As for Australia, Forsyth said there is "no noticeable reduction of internet capacity", indicating that the attack is not one that "almost broke the internet".

"The internet has been designed to be resilient, and I think internet traffic will be routed around any type of disruption."

As for CloudFlare's claims that the largest routers won't be able to scale to support the amount of traffic, some of Cisco's own products appear to more than exceed the capacity required. The multi-shelf version of Cisco's CRS-1 (carrier routing system) router, for example, is able to scale to 92Tbps. Cisco did not return ZDNet's queries as to whether these would be suitable for this application, but it appears that many IXs can handle the 300Gbps of traffic with their existing or minimal upgrades to their infrastructure.

To highlight a few IXs for comparison, Amsterdam IX AMS-IX had peak annual traffic of about 2.2Tbps in the past year, Sweden IX Netnod had peak annual traffic of about 340Gbps, and Moscow IX MSK-IX had peak annual traffic of about 1Tbps.

DNSSEC

Although a security initiative aimed at making DNS more secure exists — DNSSEC — it does not necessarily address the issue of spoofed source addresses. DNS requests and responses typically use the UDP protocol, rather than the TCP protocol. The latter requires a three-way handshake to establish a channel and confirm with the machine it is talking to that it did, in fact, initiate a connection. The former, however, does not.

Instead of being an issue that DNSSEC might solve, it is actually a transport protocol problem that has little to do with the additional security measures that DNSSEC might offer. However, as Cloudflare and others have pointed out in the past, DNSSEC can make the issue worse, as the additional keys required to authenticate records further increases the magnitude of amplification that an attacker has access to.

Yet, Forsyth said that such attacks may have a silver lining, raising awareness of the flaws in DNS and DNSSEC's importance.

"DNSSEC tightens up the rules around the way which the domain name service behaves and provides an additional layer of security, so, as you increase the security on any component, perhaps the cybercriminals will focus on a weaker link somewhere else," he said.

"This might be the catalyst to review all aspects of security, including DNSSEC."

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'Dog attack' girl, 14, found dead

26 March 2013 Last updated at 12:44 ET

A 15-year-old girl has been found dead at a house where a number of dogs were "out of control".

Her body was discovered by police in a house in Chaucer Grove, Atherton, Greater Manchester, at about 14:00 GMT.

Police said four dogs described by police as "aggressive and out of control" have since been put down.

More to follow.

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College dropout found dead with plans of a campus attack - TheCelebrityCafe.com

A college dropout at the University of Central Florida with plans of a campus attack is dead after a suicide.

According to CNN, 30-year-old James Oliver Seevakumaran was found dead in his dorm room after a self inflicting gunshot to his head, Monday. His body was found next to a backpack which contained explosives and weapons.

"While the crime scene processing was under way in that room, we found some notes and some writings that indicated that this was a planned attack," said UCF Police Chief Richard Beary.

Seevakumaran’s plan seems to have been set since February when he first made purchases of weapons and ammunition. In the room was a handgun, assault rifle, four bombs and a couple hundred rounds of ammo. A time line of Seevakumaran's plan was also found, including where he wanted to be and when he wanted to be there during the attack.

His plot was spoiled, however. A fire alarm went off at 12:20 a.m. in the dormitory and his roommate noticed him and his weapons. Seevakumaran pulled a gun on the roommate as he ran into a bathroom to dial 911.

The quick response from the authorities is what seems to have made Seevakumaran pull the gun on himself.

"It could have been a very bad day for everybody here,” said Beary. “All things considered, I think that we were very blessed here at the University of Central Florida.”

CBS reports Seevakumaran was arrested in 2006 because he was driving with a suspended license. Seevakumaran never reached out to campus counselors. Roommates say that Seevakumaran would show signs of anti-social behavior, but never anything violent.

Close to 500 students were safely evacuated from the dormitory, and classes at the university were canceled.

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Coroner: Lion attack victim died quickly of broken neck - CBS News

DUNLAP, Calif. A coroner said the 24-year-old volunteer who was mauled to death by a lion at an exotic animal park in California said she died quickly on a broken neck.

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Lion attack death: Why was woman alone?

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Fatal lion attack in California

Fresno County Coroner David Hadden says Dianna Hanson was already dead when the 550-pound lion was tossing her body about its enclosure shortly after the Wednesday afternoon attack.

Hadden said Thursday that bite and claw marks found on Hanson's body were sustained after she died. Haddon said investigators believe the lion broke Haddon's neck with a paw swipe.

A group of federal and state agencies are investigating the attack at Cat Haven, a private zoo about 45 minutes east of Fresno. State investigators who protect workplace safety said they are trying to determine whether Cat Haven has the required written procedures that employees follow to stay safe.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act and hopes to learn whether the 4-year-old lion that Hanson showed any behavior prior to the attack that might have indicated potential danger.

Fresno County sheriff's investigators and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife want to know why Hanson was in the enclosure with the animal. A source familiar with Cat Haven told CBS News that accessing the lion's enclosure would be violating its rules.

The Seattle-area intern had loved lions and tigers since childhood, "was absolutely fearless" around them and hoped to work at a zoo after her six-month internship, her father said.

"She was at ease with those big cats," Paul Hanson, an attorney, said of his daughter. "They liked her."

"It was just a dream job for her," he said, adding that she gave him a little tour and showed him the lion Cous Cous, which authorities said killed her.

Hanson said his daughter had worked with big cats before but told him she would not be allowed to go into the lion cage.

On Wednesday, deputies found the woman severely injured and still lying inside the enclosure with the 4-year-old male African lion nearby, said Fresno County sheriff's Lt. Bob Miller.

Another park worker couldn't lure the lion into another pen, so deputies shot and killed it to safely reach the wounded woman, but she died at the scene, he said.

Cat Haven founder and executive director Dale Anderson cried as he read a one-sentence statement Wednesday about the fatal mauling at the private zoo he has operated since 1993.

Anderson returned to the zoo in Thursday.

`I feel awful," he said

Investigators were trying to determine why the intern was inside the enclosure and what might have provoked the attack, sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. The facility is normally closed on Wednesdays, and only one other worker was there when the mauling happened, he said.

Authorities are not pursuing a criminal investigation because all leads indicate Hanson's death was the result of an accident, Miller said.

Dianna Hanson's older brother, Paul Hanson, said the family knew the line of work she chose was risky, but added she had followed her passion to care for animals since a young age. She grew up loving the family's two cats, volunteered at a local animal shelter and hoped to ultimately get certified to pursue a career in wildlife conservation or work at a zoo.

"Anybody that encountered Dianna couldn't help being enraptured with her and with her enthusiasm," he said in an interview. "She knew the risks and we knew the risks, but that was her passion. You always wondered when she was going to work, but the risks were part of that."

Paul Hanson said his daughter graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School and was a 2011 graduate of Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., where she majored in biology.

During college, she worked at what Hanson described as "a sizeable estate" outside Bellingham that was home to exotic animals, including three tigers and a lion. It was there she learned to care for the cats, he said.

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North Korea threat of nuclear attack predictable but worrisome - NBCNews.com

In a sign that North Korea's threats are wearing thin, their closest ally – China -- voted with the U.S. for tough economic sanctions on luxury goods. North Korea responded by announcing they "will be exercising our right to preemptive nuclear attack." NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

By Robert Windrem
Senior investigative producer, NBC News

Thursday’s announcement by North Korea that it could launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against the United States in the face of new U.N. sanctions is a predictable escalation of the isolated nation’s increasingly aggressive stance toward Washington over the past year. But experts note that Pyongyang’s recent advances in its nuclear weapons and missile programs mean that such bellicose rhetoric cannot be taken lightly.

ANALYSIS

The escalation of the North’s oratory began not long after the country’s 28-year-old leader, Kim Jong Un,  took over from his late father, Kim Jong Il, on Dec. 28, 2011. It has been accompanied by two space launches – one successful – and a third nuclear weapons test.

 It is not unusual for the North to make threats against the U.S., Japan or South Korea. And on occasion -- as in the case of the 2010 artillery barrage of Yeonpyeong Island and an earlier attack on a South Korean gunboat -- it has carried out these threats.  It has never taken any military action after threatening the United States, however.

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Some analysts have suggested that the latest round of threats is intended to show that the young Kim will continue his father’s legacy of hostility toward the U.S.

To what end?

North Korea has long wanted the U.S. to sit down with its negotiators to hammer out an agreement to end the Korean War, which ended in 1953 not in a peace treaty but in a truce.

The North would like to gain concessions from the U.S. in such a negotiation, but its escalating threats and rhetoric have the opposite effect:  The Obama administration, like preceding administrations, has steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyongyang.

KCNA / Reuters

This picture, released Tuesday by North Korea's official KCNA news agency, is said to show a rally by citizens and soldiers to support a statement by the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army that it will scrap the armistice signed in 1953 that ended a three-year war with South Korea if the South and the United States continue with annual military drills.

The problem is that North Korea, which has long taken a backseat in U.S. councils to the Middle East, does have military capabilities that could at the very least threaten U.S. interests in North Asia.

According to a recent analysis, North Korea has a weapon stockpile that could threaten both Japan and South Korea and, in longer term, the United States. Some of the weapons have already been deployed, say U.S. officials, who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity. Moreover, the North has begun research into more advanced and dangerous weapons, possibly even thermonuclear weapons, they say. 

At the high end of the stockpile range, U.S. officials and other researchers said North Korea may already have up to "a few dozen" nuclear weapons that could be fitted atop its vast fleet of ballistic missiles. Those missiles are limited to an intermediate range, capable of hitting targets in Japan, South Korea or elsewhere in the northern Pacific, including U.S. military bases as far south as Guam, the officials believe.

Related story: UN passes sanctions despite North Korea threat of 'pre-emptive nuclear attack'

The U.S. believes the space launch tests are part of a development plan for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the continental United States with a payload of several hundred kilotons — 10 to 20 times the size of the bombs that destroyed the Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

U.S. officials publicly express confidence that the national missile defense system based in Alaska would be able to shoot down any incoming North Korean ICBM.

“I can tell you that the United States is fully capable of defending against any North Korean ballistic missile attack,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday in response to a question about the North Korean threat.

 He also said the U.N. sanctions will make it harder for Pyongyang to continue to make progress on its weapons and missiles. 

“North Korea … will now face new barriers to developing its banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” he said. “Resolution 2094 increases North Korea's isolation and demonstrates to North Korea's leaders the increasing costs they pay for defying the international community.” 

For the past several years, the U.S. also has been monitoring North Korean research into thermonuclear weapons — hydrogen bombs and bombs known as boosted-fission weapons, in which plutonium and uranium are combined for a higher energy yield. (The problem is that if the North conducted a test and claimed that it was thermonuclear, the U.S. would have difficulty determining if the North was telling the truth. The test site at Kilchu is far enough inland that the U.S. would not have access to the particulate matter needed to make an accurate determination, experts say. )

David Guttenfelder, AP's chief Asia photographer, was given unprecedented access on his 2011 journey to Pyongyang and areas outside the nation's showcase capital.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, or ISIS, a nonpartisan nuclear arms research group, said last year that any tests in the future may also be about ensuring the reliability of North Korea's current weapons design.

"Once you get beyond a dozen, it makes sense to test type and reliability of your weapons," he said. Albright said then that his group's estimate of North Korea's weapons stockpile is a bit less than those provided by the U.S. officials, but that ISIS, too, believes Pyongyang has "missile-deliverable weapons."

The design of the weapons is believed to be based on Chinese models (as were the first generation Pakistani nuclear weapons). The design is basic, and was developed in the 1960s with help from the Soviet Union, which used it to produce a whole line of nuclear warheads.

While some analysts suggested that the North planned its December rocket launch to gain attention ahead of the presidential election in South Korea , some in the U.S. non-proliferation community think otherwise. They expect that once the North feels comfortable with its ICBM technology, it will deploy the missiles.  They point to the Musudan intermediate range missile which was tested in middle of the last decade, then deployed — presumably with nuclear warheads — and aimed at Japan.

Once the North has confidence in the long-range missile based on the space rocket, U.S. officials believe they will deploy it as well, making North Korea the third nation to have nuclear weapons targeted at the United States, after Russia and China.

Many in the Obama administration see that as a more frightening prospect than Iran gaining nuclear weapons, believing that Tehran is a rational actor that will serve its own national interest and preserve the regime, compared to successive generations of North Korean leaders who have shown that they are unpredictable and erratic.

But would it force the U.S. to conduct face-to-face talks with the North? State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in December that the North has a better option.

Referring to Kim Jong Un, Nuland said: "He can plot a way forward that ends the isolation, that brings relief and a different way of life and progress to his people, or he can further isolate them with steps like this. He can spend his time and his money shooting off missiles, or he can feed his people, but he can't have both."

NBC News' Shawna Thomas contributed to this report; this piece is an updated version of a post originally published on Dec. 13, 2012.

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