, Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodulides tweeted . How the hijacking unfolded Image copyright AFP / Getty Image caption A man believed to be the hijacker leaves the aircraft
Police arrested a lovestruck “ idiot ” who wore a fake suicide belt and forced an EgyptAir passenger jet to land in Cyprus Tuesday morning , government officials confirmed , ending a bizarre and frightening hijackingconflict.attack.nathat stretched on for hours . The president of Cyprus , Nicos Anastasiades insisted it was not terrorism , with another government official saying the man " seems ( to be ) in love . " Police said he demanded a meeting with his ex - wife , with whom he has four children .
One slide points out that the attack works on users with an encrypted wireless connection to the internet . That trick , it seems , often involves BADDECISION and SECONDDATE , with the latter described as a “ component ” for the former . A series of diagrams in the “ Introduction to BADDECISION ” presentation show how an NSA operator “ uses SECONDDATE to inject a redirection payload at [ a ] Target Client , ” invisibly hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijacka user ’s web browser as the user attempts to visit a benign website ( in the example given , it ’s CNN.com ) . Executed correctly , the file explains , a “ Target Client continues normal webpage browsing , completely unaware , ” lands on a malware - filled NSA server , and becomes infected with as much of that malware as possible — or as the presentation puts it , the user will be left “ WHACKED ! ” In the other top - secret presentations , it ’s put plainly : “ How do we redirect the target to the FOXACID server without being noticed ” ? Simple : “ Use NIGHTSTAND or BADDECISION . ”
After the 1979 revolution that brought Shi'ite Muslim clerics to power , Iran would typically use hostages to extract concessions from its western adversaries . Early on , it held 52 hostages taken from the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days . That incident ranked alongside Iranian - backed suicide bombings against Western embassies and troops in Lebanon , the hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijackof planes and the kidnapping of Western hostages in the country . All this left deep scars and incited hostility towards Iran as an outlaw , in the region and the world . Yet last week 's naval incident contrasted to 2007 when Iran captured British sailors in similar circumstances , but accused of them of spying and held them for two weeks .
Photo : Twitter / The Cairo Post " The negotiations with the hijacker have resulted in the release of all the plane passengers with the exception of the crew and five foreigners , " the airline said in a statement . Egypt ’s Foreign Ministry said the man behind the hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijackis ‘ not a terrorist , he ’s an idiot ’ . Mustafa surrendered after six hours . Photo : AFP / Getty Images
In “ The Dark Knight , ” the seminal reboot of the “ Batman ” cinematic franchise , the Caped Crusader is able to locate any of Gotham ’s denizens on a whim , by hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijackthe microphones and cameras on their cellphones . FindFace , the identification app created by Alexander Kabakov , 29 , and Artem Kukharenko , 26 , is not quite as powerful as Christopher Nolan ’s Orwellian nightmare tool . But the Russian developers say their facial recognition software could be used by authorities to fight crime — and , just as easily , score dates with attractive strangers .
This means voting machines with voter - verified paper audit trails , and no Internet voting . I know it ’s slower and less convenient to stick to the old - fashioned way , but the security risks are simply too great . There are other ways to attack our election system on the Internet besides hacking voting machines or changing vote tallies : deleting voter records , hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijackcandidate or party websites , targeting and intimidating campaign workers or donors . There have already been multiple instances of political doxing — publishing personal information and documents about a person or organization — and we could easily see more of it in this election cycle . We need to take these risks much more seriously than before .
" It looks like a completely controlled flight aside from the fact it was hijacked , " Petchenik said . Reuters , citing an Israeli military source , reported that Israel scrambled warplanes in its airspace as a precaution in response to the hijacking . The hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijackagain calls attention to security at Egyptian airports , five months after a Russian aircraft crashed over Egypt 's Sinai Peninsula minutes after it took off from Egypt 's Red Sea resort of Sharm el - Sheikh . All 224 people on board were killed in the crash . Russia later said an explosive device brought down the aircraft and the Islamic State terror group claimed it downed the plane .
But Egyptian officials rejected the notion of suicide altogether , insisting some mechanical reason caused the crash . In March , an EgyptAir plane was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus . A man who admitted to the hijackingconflict.attack.naand was described by Cypriot authorities as " psychologically unstable " is in custody . Fox News ' Greg Palkot , Lucas Tomlinson , Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report
This means voting machines with voter - verified paper audit trails , and no Internet voting . I know it ’s slower and less convenient to stick to the old - fashioned way , but the security risks are simply too great . There are other ways to attack our election system on the Internet besides hacking voting machines or changing vote tallies : deleting voter records , hijackingconflict.attack.nacandidate or party websites , targeting and intimidating campaign workers or donors . There have already been multiple instances of political doxing — publishing personal information and documents about a person or organization — and we could easily see more of it in this election cycle . We need to take these risks much more seriously than before .
Airline officials later said they had been told by Cypriot authorities that the belt was fake . The hijacker 's motives remain unclear but the Cypriot president said the incident was not terrorism - related . No - one was injured in the hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijack, Cypriot government spokesman Nikos Christodulides tweeted . How the hijacking unfolded Image copyright AFP / Getty Image caption A man believed to be the hijacker leaves the aircraft
Incoming flights were diverted to Paphos on the island 's western edge . The Larnaca airport operator later said it had reopened " after the end of the unfortunate incident " and that flights had resumed . Israel scrambled warplanes in its airspace as a precaution in response to the hijackingconflict.attack.stealrobhijack, according to an Israeli military source . Egypt 's vital tourism industry was already reeling from the crash of a Russian passenger plane in the Sinai in late October . President Abdel Fattah al - Sisi has said it was brought down by a terrorist attack .
Something of a trade contest has emerged between the United States ’ TPP initiative versus China ’s countervailing RCEP initiative . The TPP represents an important component of America ’s ‘ Asian pivot ’ as it aims to tie up key economic partners under rules which are favourable to the United States . Certainly , the United States ’ hijackingconflict.attack.naof the TPP process , from initially being outside the negotiations to taking on a leadership role , suggests that there is a sense for the United States to use its power advantage before it is rivalled by China and others ( possibly India , for example ) . China ’s motivation for the RCEP is similarly about maximising its power . However , whereas the United States appears motivated because of its declining power , China ’s motivation clearly stems from its rising power .