New slow-motion DoS attack: just a few PCs, little fear of detection

Qualsys Security Labs researcher Sergey Shekyan has created a proof-of-concept tool that could be used to essentially shut down websites from a single computer with little fear of detection. The attack exploits the nature of the Internet's Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), forcing the target server to keep a network connection open by performing a "slow read" of the server's responses.

The Slow Read attack, which is now part of Shekyan's open-source slowhttptest tool, takes a different approach than previous "slow" attacks such as the infamous Slowloris?a tool most notably used in 2009 to attack Iranian government websites during the protests that followed the Iranian presidential election. Slowloris clogs up Web servers' network ports by making partial HTTP requests, continuing to send pieces of a page request at intervals to prevent the connection from being dropped by the Web server.

Slow Read, on the other hand, sends a full request to the server, but then holds up the server's response by reading it very slowly from the buffer. Using a known vulnerability in the TCP protocol, the attacker could use TCP's window size field, which controls the flow of data, to slow the transmission to a crawl. The server will keep polling the connection to see if the client?the attacker?is ready for more data, clogging up memory with unsent data. With enough simultaneous attacks like this, there would be no resources left on the server to connect to legitimate users.

Shekyan said in his post about the tool that this type of attack could be prevented by setting up rules in the Web server's configuration that refuse connections from clients with abnormally small data window settings, and limit the lifetime of an individual request.

Source: http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/everything/~3/MRk8Ifs_oyM/new-slow-motion-dos-attack-just-a-few-pcs-little-fear-of-detection.ars

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Speier to focus on military spending

As 2012 begins, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier is planning to shift her efforts toward reforming the Department of Defense and combating military assault and rape.

Speier, D-San Mateo, held a wide-ranging conversation with local reporters Thursday morning and expressed optimism about her new goals of stopping ?waste, fraud and abuse? by the Department of Defense. Speier has taken issue with how assault and rape within the military ? the number of occurrences as well as how it?s handled.

Looking ahead, Speier has chosen some possibly difficult challenges. First, she would like to combat problems with the Department of Defense stemming from overspending as well as investing in obsolete equipment. One example of a problem Speier noted is the Alaska Native Corporations, formed by Congress decades ago to help impoverished native people. Awarding contracts through the ANCs allows the government to bypass the bid process. Numerous reports have questioned the practice often saying the awarding of such contracts violates the law, Speier said.

?No one touches it,? Speier said, despite the reports and questionable practices. ?I?m going to.?

Another issue Speier hopes to address is assault and rape in the military.

This is not a new issue for Speier who in November introduced the Sexual Assault Training Oversight and Prevention Act ? the STOP Act which would take the reporting, oversight, investigation and victim care of sexual assaults out of the hands of the military?s normal chain of command and into the newly created? Sexual Assault Oversight and Response Office comprised of civilian and military experts. ?

Currently, a person must report the act to his or her commanding officer, a requirement Speier questioned as being a conflict of interest. That commanding officer, she noted, has personal incentive not to look into the reported assault.

In 2010, the Department of Defense conducted a survey of active duty members which revealed that only 13.5 percent of the more than 19,000 incidents of rapes and sexual assaults involving service members were actually reported, Speier said.

Speier also touched on other issues such as legislation passed in the wake of the Sept. 10, 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, which failed to require updates in older lines. Since the 2010 explosion, Speier has been an active advocate for safety enhancements in the transportation of gas. As a result, she feels the local transmission lines are the safest in the nation. That being said, she continues to have concerns about national safety. Bills that passed, for example, do not require automatic shutoff valves in existing pipes ? a recommendation from the National Transportation and Safety Board.

Another goal, one which will partner Speier with a Republican from Arkansas, will give states the power to require Internet companies to charge sales tax. Such a bill could create currently lost income for states, she said.

Although not discussed at length, Speier also noted she doesn?t see immigration reform happening in 2012; she thinks President Obama will be re-elected; and would locally like to raise residents? awareness of the dangers of rising sea levels.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by email: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.

Source: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=226108

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I-70 Baseball Radio Special: Cooperstown Choices - Jan 08,2012

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Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ivieleagueproductions/2012/01/08/i-70-baseball-radio-special-cooperstown-choices

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Air battery to let electric cars outlast gas guzzlers

ONE of the biggest drawbacks with owning an electric vehicle (EV) is range anxiety - a driver's nagging fear that the battery charge will not get them to their destination. Now IBM claims to have solved a fundamental problem that may lead to the creation of a battery with an 800-kilometre (500-mile) range - letting EVs potentially compete with most petrol engines for the first time.

Standard electric vehicles use lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, which are bulky and rarely provide 160 kilometres (100 miles) of driving before they run down.

A newer type, known as a lithium-air cell, is more attractive because it has theoretical energy densities more than 1000 times greater than the Li-ion type, putting it almost on a par with gasoline. Instead of using metal oxides in the positive electrode, lithium-air cells use carbon, which is lighter and reacts with oxygen from the air around it to produce an electrical current.

But there's a problem. Chemical instabilities limit their lifespan when recharging, making them impractical for use in cars, says physicist Winfried Wilcke at IBM's Almaden laboratories, based in San Jose, California.

So Wilcke studied the underlying electrochemistry of these cells using a form of mass spectrometry. What he found was that oxygen is reacting not just with the carbon electrode, as it was known to, but also with the electrolytic solvent - the conducting solution that carries the lithium ions between the electrodes.

However, if the electrolyte reacts with the oxygen when the car is in use it will eventually be depleted. So, working with his colleague Alessandro Curioni at IBM's Zurich research labs in Switzerland, Wilcke used a Blue Gene supercomputer to run extremely detailed models of the reactions to look for alternative electrolytes. This included a form of atomistic modelling right down to the quantum mechanics of the components, says Curioni.

"We now have one which looks very promising," says Wilcke. He won't reveal what material it is but says that several research prototypes have already been demonstrated. And as part of Battery 500, an IBM-led coalition involving four US national laboratories and commercial partners, the hope is to have a full-scale prototype ready by 2013, with commercial batteries to follow by around 2020.

If it works, this would solve a major obstacle with lithium-air batteries, says Phil Bartlett, head of electrochemistry at the University of Southampton, UK. There are other practical issues to address, such as enabling such batteries to cope with moist air. "Lithium in water spontaneously catches fire," he points out.

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Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1b9541ca/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg213284660B20A0A0Eair0Ebattery0Eto0Elet0Eelectric0Ecars0Eoutlast0Egas0Eguzzlers0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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?Plant a Dream-Grow a Community? Food Drive and Kids Gardening Activity set for Jan. 16

FINDLAY, OH (PRESS RELEASE) ? The Halt Hunger Initiative, in conjunction with Community Gardens of Hancock County and the Findlay YMCA, is holding a two-part special event in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.?s Day on Monday, Jan. 16 at the Findlay YMCA, 300 E. Lincoln St., Findlay, OH.

?Plant a Dream-Grow a Community? Food Drive and Kids Gardening Activity is being made possible through a grant awarded to United Way of Hancock County for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The grant was received from ServeOhio (The Ohio Commission on Service and Volunteerism).

The community is invited to model King?s life of activism and bring canned goods or nonperishable food items to the Findlay YMCA between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Jan. 16.

The goal is to collect 400 cans or boxes of food. Donations will be collected and delivered to Lutheran Social Services Food Pantry for distribution to those in need in the community.

Children from kindergarten through sixth grade are invited to participate in a one-hour hands on gardening activity. Kindergarten through second grade will begin at 10 a.m., third through fourth grades will begin at 1:00 p.m., and fifth and sixth grades will begin at 2:00 p.m.

Each child will create a personalized garden marker and receive planting pots, soil and seed. Education and information on the basics of gardening and how to maintain their seedling will be shared. Children will be invited to plant their seedling in a special ?Dream Plot? at the Community Gardens of Hancock County on planting day. Date to be announced.

The purpose of the activity is to inspire children to be agents of change through service and volunteerism. Children who are able are being asked to bring an item for the food drive.

To register your child for this event, please email the child/children?s name, age and contact information to Heather Snyman, program and grants coordinator for United Way of Hancock County at hsnyman@uwhancock.org or call 419-423-1432.

The purpose of the Halt Hunger Initiative is to mobilize the community to research, identify, implement and promote long-term sustainable solutions to the problem of hunger in Hancock County. For more information visit http://LiveUnitedHancockCounty.org or join the Facebook Halt Hunger Initiative page.

Source: http://findlay.wtol.com/news/events/75715-plant-dream-grow-community-food-drive-and-kids-gardening-activity-set-jan-16

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California high-speed rail funding could be in jeopardy

The Legislature should not authorize the issuance of $6 billion in bonds to start building California's $98.5-billion bullet train project, a state-appointed review panel says in a key report to be released later Tuesday.

The conclusion by the California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group is a serious blow to the project as it is currently designed because state law specifically empowered the group to make recommendation before any serious money on the train could be spent.

Gov. Jerry Brown has said he intends to ask the Legislature this month to appropriate and sell bonds to raise billions of dollars to start construction of the project.

But that plan is facing an increasingly skeptical Legislature and general public. And now, lawmakers would have to disregard the recommendation of the very group it directed to guide it on the project if they decide to approve the bond issue.

Voters authorized $9 billion in bonds for the bullet train project in 2008, but the measure required that the Peer Review Group sign off on the feasibility and reasonableness of the plan to build the rail system before the state issues the bonds.

A recent poll indicates a sharp drop in public support for the project.

The report was expected to be?issued Tuesday afternoon, but the overall conclusions were described to The Times by members of the group.

The panel concludes that the plan to start building a $6-billion initial segment of the project in the Central Valley without any assurance of additional federal funding for many years is not sound. It cites a lack of clarity in the business plan that was unveiled in November.

While the panel supports the concept of high-speed rail, it believes the best action now is to take a timeout on the?project and?reevaluate the overall goals, routes, financing and phasing of the effort, members of the panel said.

In an interview in late December, Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), chairman of the budget subcommittee for transportation, said he also believed that a one-year delay in the project would allow time to reexamine and refine exactly what the state wants to do.

The California High Speed Rail Authority wants to build a 130-mile segment of the project in the Central Valley, running from Chowchilla to Bakersfield. Critics have questioned the entire strategy of starting the project in the Central Valley, rather than first improving rail systems at ends in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

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-- Ralph Vartabedian

Photo: A freight train rolls past the Buena Park Metrolink station. Officials say upgrades could allow bullet trains to share rails already in use. Credit:?Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/Z2DJqCMI9WA/state-bonds.html

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Indonesia boy appears in court over sandal theft (AP)

PALU, Indonesia ? An Indonesian boy accused of stealing an old pair of sandals belonging to a policeman has appeared in court where he faces up to five years in prison.

Hundreds of people packed the court building in Central Sulawesi's capital on Wednesday, many bringing pairs of used sandals and piling them outside the courtroom to express their frustration over uneven justice in the country. Some rallied outside the building to demand the boy's acquittal.

The 15-year-old boy took the sandals in November 2010 near a boarding house used by police. Six months later he was interrogated and badly beaten by police officers who accused him of theft.

Indonesia has made tremendous strides since the ouster of dictator Suharto in 1998, but its judicial system remains a weak point.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120104/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia_sandal_protest

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