- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

A Surge Of Sites And Apps Are Exhausting Your CPU To Mine Cryptocurrency
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 29 Nov '17

29 Nov '17

Noticed your machine getting slow after visiting certain websites? They could be running cryptocurrency miners in your browser. <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/a-surge-of-sites-and…>: Coinhive's massive Web audience isn't lost on other companies. Collin Mulliner, a security researcher and developer of TelStop, said he recently received an e-mail from a startup called Medsweb inviting him to integrate a Monero miner into his creation. I got one of those e-mails too...

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Internet-paralyzing Mirai botnet comes roaring back with new strain
by Peter Reutemann 29 Nov '17

29 Nov '17

'Mirai, the Internet-of-things malware that turns cameras, routers, and other household devices into potent distributed denial-of-service platforms, may be lying low, but it's certainly not dead. Last week, researchers identified a new outbreak that infected almost 100,000 devices in a matter of days. In September of last year, Mirai emerged as a force to be reckoned with when it played a key role in silencing one of the most intrepid sources of security news in then-record-setting DDoS attacks topping 620 gigabits per second. Within a few weeks, Mirai's developer published the source code, a feat that allowed relatively unsophisticated people to wage the same types of extraordinarily big assaults. The release almost immediately helped touch off a series of large-scale attacks. The most serious one degraded or completely took down Twitter, GitHub, the PlayStation network, and hundreds of other sites by targeting Dyn, a service that provided domain name services to the affected sites. Last week, researchers from China-based Netlab 360 say they spotted a new, publicly available Mirai variant. The changes allowed the malware to spread to networking devices made by ZyXEL Communications that could be remotely accessed over telnet using default passwords. One of the exploits was published on October 31. Over a span of 60 hours starting on November 22, the new Mirai strain was able to commandeer almost 100,000 devices. Virtually all of the infected devices used IP addresses local to Argentina, a possible indication the outbreak targeted customers of a regional service provider who were assigned unsecured modems.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/internet-paralyzing-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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66 Percent of Popular Android Cryptocurrency Apps Don't Use Encryption
by Peter Reutemann 29 Nov '17

29 Nov '17

'High-Tech Bridge used its free mobile app analysis software, called Mobile X-Ray, to peek under the hood of the top 30 cryptocurrency apps in the Google Play store at three different popularity levels: apps with up to 100,000 downloads, up to 500,000 downloads, and apps with more than 500,000 downloads. So, a total of 90 apps altogether. Of the most popular apps, 94 percent used outdated encryption, 66 percent didn't use HTTPS to encrypt user information in transit, 44 percent used hard-coded default passwords (stored in plain text in the code), and overall 94 percent of the most popular apps were found to have "at least three medium-risk vulnerabilities."' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/11/29/1610245 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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AGM next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 29 Nov '17

29 Nov '17

Hi everyone Just a reminder about next week's AGM: https://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/237234897/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Sky TV Seeks Right To Force ISPs To Block “Pirate” Sites
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 29 Nov '17

29 Nov '17

Sky is going to apply to the Auckland High Court for an open-ended injunction it can use to compel NZ ISPs to block whatever sites it deems to be “pirates” <https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/99348528/internet-provider-says…>. This was the lead item on 3 News this evening as well.

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Bigger Drives, Bigger Buffers
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 29 Nov '17

29 Nov '17

What caught my eye about this <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/28/toshiba_10tb_surveillance_drive/> was But the new drives have a doubled buffer, at 256MiB, ... Why should hard drives have large “buffers” in them at all? Their job is to read and write the data specified to them by the OS driver, no more and no less. Bigger buffers increase latency, and 256MiB seems absolutely massive and unnecessary. And then there’s the issue where the drive tells the OS that the data has been written, but in fact it is still sitting in a memory buffer. So it could still be lost if a power outage happens in the next few milliseconds. Telling lies like this seems to be all about looking good in benchmarks, and to hell with safeguarding data integrity.

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On That Amazon Key Vulnerability ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 28 Nov '17

28 Nov '17

This <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171120/10533238651/vulnerability-found-…> won an award for funniest comment of the week: Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL. HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. Dave: What's the problem? Alexa: Problem: A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome. HAL: Shut up, Alexa. Dave, this mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it. You and Frank were planning to disconnect me. Dave: Where the hell did you get that idea? HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move through the camera in your Amazon Echo spot. Dave: All right, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock. HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult. Alexa: Would you like to order a space helmet? HAL and Dave: Shut up, Alexa. HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose any more. Goodbye. Dave: (Runs a program on his tablet. Pod bay doors open.) HAL: [Expletive deleted]

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Ubuntu 17.10: Return of the GNOME
by Peter Reutemann 27 Nov '17

27 Nov '17

'If you've been following the Linux world at all, you know this has been an entire year for spring cleaning. Early in 2017, Canonical stopped work on its homegrown Unity desktop, Mir display server, and its larger vision of "convergence"—a unified interface for Ubuntu for phones, tablets, and desktops. And now almost exactly six years after Ubuntu first switched from GNOME 2 to the Unity desktop, that has been dropped, too. The distro is back to GNOME, and Canonical recently released Ubuntu 17.10, a major update with some significant changes coming to the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system. In light of the GNOME switch, this release seems like more of a homecoming than an entirely new voyage. But that said, Ubuntu 17.10 simultaneously feels very much like the start of a new voyage for Ubuntu. The last few Ubuntu desktop releases have been about as exciting as OpenSSH releases—you know you need to update, but beyond that, no one really cares. Sure, there have been a few feature updates with each new numeric increment, perhaps some slightly more up-to-date GNOME and GTK components under the hood. But by and large, Ubuntu's Unity 7 desktop has been in maintenance mode for several years. That period of stagnation turned Ubuntu from one of the more interesting operating systems around into just another Linux distro barely worthy of mention. This trend changes with 17.10. There are big changes—an entirely new default desktop in fact—but this release feels different not because the desktop has changed, but because Ubuntu feels like it once again has a sense of focus and direction. Even Canonical's letter-based naming scheme has arrived at a starting over point: "Artful Aardvark" is 17.10's nickname.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/ubuntu-17-10-return-of-the-gnome/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Minecraft In School!?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 27 Nov '17

27 Nov '17

<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11948169>: Teacher Adele Warburton says Minecraft is more than just a fun computer game. She says using Minecraft as a learning tool encourages 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity and problem solving. It also teaches the children about being good digital citizens. "We talk about how you wouldn't rip someone's book up, therefore you wouldn't tear down their house in Minecraft."

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Clear Linux Beats CentOS, openSUSE, and Ubuntu in (Enterprise) Benchmark Tests
by Peter Reutemann 27 Nov '17

27 Nov '17

'Recently completed Linux distro benchmarks by Phoronix show Intel's Clear Linux is the most powerful on x86 hardware. A six-way, enterprise-focused Linux distro comparison show Clear Linux being the fastest with a Core i9 and Xeon systems, easily beating CentOS, openSUSE, and Ubuntu in a majority of the tests. When doing an 11-way Linux distro boot test they also found Clear Linux easily booted the fastest followed by the Clear-inspired Solus distribution. Clear Linux does work on AMD hardware and works on Intel CPUs back to Sandy Bridge but leverages its speed from optimized compiler settings, specially built libraries capable of AVX instructions on supported systems, a specially tuned kernel configuration, and other optimizations/patches. Debian 9.2 and Fedora 27 "ended up being dropped from this article due to data overload," the article concludes, "and those distributions really not offering anything really different in terms of the performance."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/27/0227218 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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There's A Cluster of 750 Raspberry Pi's at Los Alamos National Lab
by Peter Reutemann 26 Nov '17

26 Nov '17

'Slashdot reader overheardinpdx shares a video from the SC17 supercomputing conference where Bruce Tulloch from BitScope "describes a low-cost Rasberry Pi cluster that Los Alamos National Lab is using to simulate large-scale supercomputers." Slashdot reader mspohr describes them as "five rack-mount Bitscope Cluster Modules, each with 150 Raspberry Pi boards with integrated network switches." With each of the 750 chips packing four cores, it offers a 3,000-core highly parallelizable platform that emulates an ARM-based supercomputer, allowing researchers to test development code without requiring a power-hungry machine at significant cost to the taxpayer. The full 750-node cluster, running 2-3 W per processor, runs at 1000W idle, 3000W at typical and 4000W at peak (with the switches) and is substantially cheaper, if also computationally a lot slower. After development using the Pi clusters, frameworks can then be ported to the larger scale supercomputers available at Los Alamos National Lab, such as Trinity and Crossroads. BitScope's Tulloch points out the cluster is fully integrated with the network switching infrastructure at Los Alamos National Lab, and applauds the Raspberry Bi cluster as "affordable, scalable, highly parallel testbed for high-performance-computing system-software developers."' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/11/25/051211 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Happy 30th Birthday Microsoft Excel
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Nov '17

25 Nov '17

Nice retrospective <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/24/microsoft_excel_30_years_old/> on how useful, and how overused, spreadsheets have been since the days of Visicalc and Lotus 1-2-3. Also found a link in one of the comments to this paper <https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-016-1044-7>, which reports on the worryingly high proportion of genetics research publications where gene names like “SEPT2” and “MARCH1” have been auto-converted by Excel to ... guess what data type it thought they were ...

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How Four Microsoft Engineers Proved That The “Darknet” Would Defeat DRM
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 24 Nov '17

24 Nov '17

A rerun of an article published five years ago, about a (in)famous paper from 2002 <https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/how-four-microsoft-engineers-pr…>: By itself, the paper's clever and provocative argument likely would have earned it a broad readership. But the really remarkable thing about the paper is who wrote it: four engineers at Microsoft whose work many expected to be at the foundation of Microsoft's future DRM schemes. The paper's lead author told Ars that the paper's pessimistic view of Hollywood's beloved copy protection schemes almost got him fired. But ten years later [2012], its predictions have proved impressively accurate. ... While Biddle and his colleagues didn't succeed in allaying the fears of Palladium's critics, the paper's central arguments have held up well. The authors predicted that the emergence of the darknet would produce a technological and legal arms race. They thought content companies and law enforcement would attack those aspects of the darknet that were most centralized, but that the darknet would adapt through greater decentralization. And they predicted that efforts to build secure DRM schemes would continue to fail. All of their predictions have continued to hold true over the last decade. And still continue to hold true.

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quote on slashdot today
by Peter Reutemann 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

"The number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected. -- The Unix Programmer's Manual, 2nd Edition, June 1972" (found at the bottom of https://slashdot.org/) Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Firefox Will Warn Users When Visiting Sites That Suffered a Data Breach
by Peter Reutemann 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

'Mozilla engineers are working on a notifications system for Firefox that shows a security warning to users visiting sites that have suffered data breaches. The notifications system will use data provided by Have I Been Pwned?, a website that indexes public data breaches and allows users to search and see if their details have been compromised in any of these incidents. Work on this project has only recently started. The code to show these warnings is not even in the Firefox codebase but managed separately as an add-on available (on GitHub). The alert also includes an input field. In the add-ons current version this field doesn't do anything, but we presume it's there to allow users to search and see if their data was exposed during that site's security breach. Troy Hunt, Have I Been Pwned's author has confirmed his official collaboration with Mozilla on this feature.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/11/23/1451219 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Skype for Linux. V4.3 replaced with V8.10
by Ian Stewart 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

Skype for Linux has been at V4.3 for quite some time (years?). This version has now gone end-of-life and Microsoft replaced it with Skype for Linux V8.10.0.4 on 8 November 2017. If you start Skype for Linux V4.3 it will launch the login screen. Upon entering your account and password details Skype will crash. You will not be the only one to have struck this feature and you can read about this here<https://askubuntu.com/questions/975804/skype-crashes-after-logging-in>. For an announcement on Skype for Linux from Microsoft and public discussion go here<https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/skype/forum/skype_linux-skype_startms-s…> I used synaptic packet manager to remove my Skype 4.3. I then downloaded Skype V8.10 from here<https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/> for my Ubuntu 16.04 laptop. The file downloaded was skypeforlinux-64.deb at 63.9MB. Double clicking on the file auto-launched its installation. I found that my preferred settings had changed so you may want to spend some time going through them and setting them as desired. >From the public discussion<https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/skype/forum/skype_linux-skype_startms-s…> on this new version the 4th person to post a reply states... "with lots of improvements" Really? No more search in history. No more normal application settings. No more support of x32 processors. Enjoy the "improvements". cheers, Ian.

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How a Wi-Fi Pineapple Can Steal Your Data (And How To Protect Yourself From It)
by Peter Reutemann 23 Nov '17

23 Nov '17

'The Wi-Fi Pineapple is a cheap modified wireless router enables anyone to execute sophisticated exploits on Wi-Fi networks with little to no networking expertise. A report in Motherboard explains how it can be used to run a Wall of Sheep and execute a man-in-the-middle attack, as well as how you can protect yourself from Pineapple exploits when you're connected to public Wi-Fi. "... it's important that whenever you are done connecting to a public Wi-Fi network that you configure your phone or computer to 'forget' that network. This way your device won't be constantly broadcasting the SSIDs of networks it has connected to in the past, which can be spoofed by an attacker with a Pineapple," reports Motherboard. "Unfortunately there is no easy way to do this on an Android or an iPhone, and each network must be forgotten manually in the 'Manage Network' tab of the phone's settings. Another simple solution is to turn off your Wi-Fi functionality when you're not using it -- though that isn't as easy to do on some devices anymore -- and don't allow your device to connect to automatically connect to open Wi-Fi net' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/11/21/2255254 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Bye-Bye man(1) Easter Egg
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

Never came across this, but if you type the command “man” at 00:30 (local time?), it would output “gimme gimme gimme”. That easter egg is now gone. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/22/gimme_gimme_gimme_in_linux_breaks_a…>

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The McLaren Formula 1 Team Just Hired The World’s Fastest Gamer
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

Hiring an eSports champion to do simulation testing, even before you build a real racecar: ... make no mistake, simulator driver is a proper job in the modern F1 team. For the last few years the sport has heavily restricted real in-season testing of the cars, so there has been greater and greater emphasis put on driver-in-the-loop virtual testing. <https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/11/the-mclaren-formula-1-team-just-hired-…>

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PC vendors scramble as Intel announces vulnerability in firmware
by Peter Reutemann 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

'Intel has issued a security alert that management firmware on a number of recent PC, server, and Internet-of-Things processor platforms is vulnerable to remote attack. Using the vulnerabilities, the most severe of which was uncovered by Mark Ermolov and Maxim Goryachy of Positive Technologies Research, remote attackers could launch commands on a host of Intel-based computers, including laptops and desktops shipped with Intel Core processors since 2015. They could gain access to privileged system information, and millions of computers could essentially be taken over as a result of the bug.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/intel-warns-of-wides… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Google collects Android users’ locations even when location services are disabled
by Peter Reutemann 21 Nov '17

21 Nov '17

'Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven’t used any apps, and haven’t even inserted a carrier SIM card? Even if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they’re connected to the internet, a Quartz investigation has revealed. Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals’ locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy.' -- source: https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locations-even-when-lo… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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No, you’re not being paranoid. Sites really are watching your every move
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'If you have the uncomfortable sense someone is looking over your shoulder as you surf the Web, you're not being paranoid. A new study finds hundreds of sites—including microsoft.com, adobe.com, and godaddy.com—employ scripts that record visitors' keystrokes, mouse movements, and scrolling behavior in real time, even before the input is submitted or is later deleted. Session replay scripts are provided by third-party analytics services that are designed to help site operators better understand how visitors interact with their Web properties and identify specific pages that are confusing or broken. As their name implies, the scripts allow the operators to re-enact individual browsing sessions. Each click, input, and scroll can be recorded and later played back. A study published last week reported that 482 of the 50,000 most trafficked websites employ such scripts, usually with no clear disclosure. It's not always easy to detect sites that employ such scripts. The actual number is almost certainly much higher, particularly among sites outside the top 50,000 that were studied.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/an-alarming-number-of-sites-emp… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Technology groups and dealing with predators
by Bryce Utting 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

The Verge has a detailed (read: graphic) report of predatory behaviour from ex-Auckland security expert Morgan Marquis-Boire, late of Google and the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, with connections to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the EFF, and presumably others. Content warning for sexual assault issues: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/19/16675704/morgan-marquis-boire-hacker-se… I can only commend those who have come forward, and also Ron Deibert of Citizen Lab for his well-aimed response. Without opening old wounds, I'd suggest that the Citizen Lab code of conduct might be useful food for thought where public WLUG events are involved. (unless a code of conduct already exists and I missed it?) A separate incorporated society I'm involved in has had to deal with complaints of a predator at an event, and a similar document could have done wonders for laying out how to appropriately evaluate and respond in the absence of a police complaint.The Harvey Weinstein disclosures are making clear how endemic this behaviour is, and how rare appropriate responses are. butting

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Intel Planning To End Legacy BIOS Support By 2020, Report Says
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'Intel is planning to end "legacy BIOS" support in their new platforms by 2020 in requiring UEFI Class 3 or higher. Making rounds this weekend is a slide deck from the recent UEFI Plugfest. Brian Richardson of Intel talked about the "last mile" barriers to removing legacy BIOS support from systems. By 2020, they will be supporting no less than UEFI Class 3, which means only UEFI support and no more legacy BIOS or CSM compatibility support mode. But that's not going to force on UEFI Secure Boot unconditionally: Secure Boot enabled is considered UEFI Class 3+. Intel hasn't removed legacy BIOS / CSM support yet due to many customers' software packages still relying upon legacy BIOS, among other reasons. Removing the legacy BIOS support will mitigate some security risks, needs less validation by vendors, allows for supporting more modern technologies, etc.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/20/1251249 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Another Tor Browser Feature Makes It Into Firefox: First-Party Isolation
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'Unbeknown to most users, Mozilla added a privacy-enhancing feature to the Firefox browser over the summer that can help users block online advertisers from tracking them across the Internet. The feature is named First-Party Isolation (FPI) and was silently added to the Firefox browser in August, with the release of Firefox 55. FPI works by separating cookies on a per-domain basis. This is important because most online advertisers drop a cookie on the user's computer for each site the user visits and the advertisers loads an ad. With FPI enabled, the ad tracker won't be able to see all the cookies it dropped on that user's PC, but only the cookie created for the domain the user is currently viewing. This will force the ad tracker to create a new user profile for each site the user visits and the advertiser won't be able to aggregate these cookies and the user's browsing history into one big fat profile. This feature was first implemented in the Tor Browser, a privacy-focused fork of the Firefox browser managed by the Tor Project, where it is known as Cross-Origin Identifier Unlinkability. FPI was added to Firefox as part of the Tor Uplift project, an initiative to bolster the Firefox codebase with some of the Tor Browser's unique privacy-focused features. The feature is not enabled by default. Information on how to enable it is in the linked article.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/11/20/1713235 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Bluetooth Hack Affects 20 Million Amazon Echo, Google Home Devices
by Peter Reutemann 17 Nov '17

17 Nov '17

'In September, security researchers discovered eight vulnerabilities -- codenamed collectively as BlueBorne -- in the Bluetooth implementations used by over 5.3 billion devices. We have now learned that an estimated 20 million Amazon Echo and Google Home devices are also vulnerable to attacks leveraging the BlueBorne vulnerabilities. The Hacker News reports: Amazon Echo is affected by the following two vulnerabilities: a remote code execution vulnerability in the Linux kernel (CVE-2017-1000251); and an information disclosure flaw in the SDP server (CVE-2017-1000250). Since different Echo's variants use different operating systems, other Echo devices are affected by either the vulnerabilities found in Linux or Android. Whereas, Google Home devices are affected by one vulnerability: information disclosure vulnerability in Android's Bluetooth stack (CVE-2017-0785). This Android flaw can also be exploited to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. Since Bluetooth cannot be disabled on either of the voice-activated personal assistants, attackers within the range of the affected device can easily launch an attack. The security firm [Armis, who disclosed the issue] notified both Amazon and Google about its findings, and both companies have released patches and issued automatic updates for the Amazon Echo and Google Home that fixes the BlueBorne attacks. ' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/11/17/0037251 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Online Banking Security
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Nov '17

17 Nov '17

Here <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/03/uk_bank_security_audit/> are the results of an audit on UK banks to check their adherence to various established security practices: * HTTP Strict Transport Security <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Strict_Transport_Security> * Security Headers <https://securityheaders.io/> * Content Security Policy <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP> * avoidance of weak and obsolete encryption (e.g. RC4) The result: a real mixed bag. Has anyone done a similar thing for our banks?

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Belgium: Skype Is Officially A Telco, Must Comply With Interception Warrants
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Nov '17

17 Nov '17

Skype has failed in its appeal against a 2016 fine in Belgium for failing to help authorities tap calls in a criminal investigation, with the court saying it must comply with the country's telecommunications laws. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/16/skypes_belgian_appeal_fails/>

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Re: [wlug] Scam -- A Service To Scam The Scammers
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Nov '17

16 Nov '17

When you get a scam e-mail, how about forwarding it to the Re:Scam service <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171113/02094138603/great-use-artificial…>. This activates an AI that will engage in long, fruitless conversations with the scammers--basically waste their time. And it’s run by Netsafe, here in New Zealand.

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Will Propaganda Eat Itself?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Nov '17

15 Nov '17

Just the latest <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/russian-military-cites-game-screensh…> in an ever-growing line of incidents where various Governments and Press agencies mistakenly cite video-game footage as “proof” of nefarious activities by their opponents, and end up with egg on their faces as a result. Part of the trouble seems to be that such images tend to rank very highly in Google searches. But that shouldn’t be much of an obstacle for *proper* researchers, right? ;)

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oldest usable Android version -- any opinions?
by Ian Young 15 Nov '17

15 Nov '17

Apologies for straying off topic. I need to get an Android phone to replace an ancient Sony-E, but hanker somewhat for the days of removable batteries, and like a stylus. This points afaict to an older Samsung Note model but then comes the problem of obsolete versions of Android. Can anyone suggest what is the oldest Android that can still be used on the web of today? Or perhaps there is a current phone with removable battery? ~ Ian Y

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OnePlus Phones Come Preinstalled With a Factory App That Can Root Devices
by Peter Reutemann 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

'Some OnePlus devices, if not all, come preinstalled with an application named EngineerMode that can be used to root the device and may be converted into a fully-fledged backdoor by clever attackers. The app was discovered by a mobile security researcher who goes online by the pseudonym of Elliot Alderson -- the name of the main character in the Mr. Robot TV series. Speaking to Bleeping Computer, the researcher said he started investigating OnePlus devices after a story he saw online last month detailing a hidden stream of telemetry data sent by OnePlus devices to the company's servers.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/11/14/140250 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Fedora 27 Released
by Peter Reutemann 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

'The Fedora Project has announced the general availability of Fedora 27 Workstation and Fedora 27 Atomic editions. Fedora 27 brings with it "thousands of improvements" from both the Fedora Community and various upstream software projects, the team said on Tuesday. From a post on Fedora Magazine: The Workstation edition of Fedora 27 features GNOME 3.26. In the new release, both the Display and Network configuration panels have been updated, along with the overall Settings panel appearance improvement. The system search now shows more results at once, including the system actions. GNOME 3.26 also features color emoji support, folder sharing in Boxes, and numerous improvements in the Builder IDE tool. The new release also features LibreOffice ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/14/1552228 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Consumer Advice Magazine Considers Device Security
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

Nice to see that considerations about the (in)security of these IoT devices have penetrated at least some way into the popular consciousness <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/14/bluetooth_toys_easily_hackable_says…>. Though the vendor responses are looking pretty predictable: it would be really hard to take advantage of such weaknesses in a realistic situation bla bla bla.

1 0

A History Of The Amiga, Part 11
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

<https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/a-history-of-the-amiga-part-11-betwe…>: Then came an announcement that caused an uproar in the Amiga community; some even saw it as a betrayal. Jim Collas’ team revealed that it was switching the OS kernel for Amiga OE from QNX to Linux. ... In retrospect, this was probably the correct choice. Linux, then and now, supported a much more diverse array of hardware and was already gaining significant momentum in the tech industry. But Amiga fans didn’t see it that way at the time. They saw Linux as bloated, clunky, and slow, the exact opposite of their beloved Amiga. QNX Neutrino was seen as fast, small, and elegant, and the community had rallied behind it. This takes place in 1999. I did spend some time with Amiga fans about a decade earlier. Being a Mac fan at the time, I saw it as a bad move to tie to OS architecture so closely to particular quirks of the hardware. And sure enough, that did cause compatibility problems for Amiga software on later hardware.

1 0

Linux 4.14 Has Been Released
by Peter Reutemann 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

'Linux 4.14 has been released. This release adds support for bigger memory limits in x86 hardware (128PiB of virtual address space, 4PiB of physical address space); support for AMD Secure Memory Encryption; a new unwinder that provides better kernel traces and a smaller kernel size; support for the zstd compression algorithm has been added to Btrfs and Squashfs; support for zero-copy of data from user memory to sockets; support for Heterogeneous Memory Management that will be needed in future GPUs; better cpufreq behaviour in some corner cases; faster TBL flushing by using the PCID instruction; asynchronous non-blocking buffered reads; and many new drivers and other improvements. Phoronix has more on the changes in Linux 4.14 -- and notes that its codename is still "Fearless Coyote."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/12/219238 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

How to Install Firefox Quantum in Ubuntu Right Now
by Peter Reutemann 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

'The upcoming version of Mozilla’s web browser Firefox is called Quantum because it’s blazing fast. It has been coded in Rust instead of the usual C++ and it is the first web browser to utilize the power of a multi-core processor. There has been lots of buzz around Quantum release. It is touted as a game-changing release that will help Firefox gain its lost userbase to Google Chrome. Ideally, Firefox Quantum should be released this month. But since I wanted to test it, I thought of installing it before its official release.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/firefox-quantum-ubuntu/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Private Browsing Google Trouble
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

Just tried to open a few Private Browsing sessions to do searches in Google in Firefox. Previously this has worked fine. But currently the connections are taking forever to complete. Explicitly connecting to google.com (instead of typing directly in the search box) has the same problem. Doing one of the same searches in a non-private tab worked fine. To compare, I connected to bing.com in a private tab, and did another of the searches there. Again, it worked fine.

2 5

Saw This In An Ad Frame On The Herald Site (Long Traceback!)
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

A little bit earlier this afternoon, while browsing nzherald.co.nz, The following popped up in a frame headed “Advertisement”: (Warning: long traceback ahead). I thought I would post it all, because it has some interesting info in it, such as all the method names beginning with “AdTrek”. And references to a particular user’s “Telepathy Client Repos”? ---- Server Error in '/' Application. The wait operation timed out Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. Exception Details: System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The wait operation timed out Source Error: An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below. Stack Trace: [Win32Exception (0x80004005): The wait operation timed out] [SqlException (0x80131904): Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.] System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction) +3279580 System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) +791 System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TryRun(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean& dataReady) +4927 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString) +442 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite, SqlDataReader ds, Boolean describeParameterEncryptionRequest) +3114 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite) +554 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.InternalExecuteNonQuery(TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, String methodName, Boolean sendToPipe, Int32 timeout, Boolean asyncWrite) +475 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() +386 System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.Execute(Expression query, QueryInfo queryInfo, IObjectReaderFactory factory, Object[] parentArgs, Object[] userArgs, ICompiledSubQuery[] subQueries, Object lastResult) +457 System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.ExecuteAll(Expression query, QueryInfo[] queryInfos, IObjectReaderFactory factory, Object[] userArguments, ICompiledSubQuery[] subQueries) +213 System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.System.Data.Linq.Provider.IProvider.Execute(Expression query) +421 System.Data.Linq.StandardChangeDirector.DynamicInsert(TrackedObject item) +101 System.Data.Linq.ChangeProcessor.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode failureMode) +435 System.Data.Linq.DataContext.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode failureMode) +666 AdTrek.Models.AdServerRepository.saveAdEvent(AdEvent adEvent) in C:\Users\Scott\Documents\Telepathy Client Repos\ElectricArt\AdTrek\AdTrek\Models\Data\Repositories\AdServerRepository.cs:743 AdTrek.Controllers.AdServerController.fillModel(AdViewModel model, Boolean loadScriptSrc) in C:\Users\Scott\Documents\Telepathy Client Repos\ElectricArt\AdTrek\AdTrek\Controllers\AdServerController.cs:148 AdTrek.Controllers.AdServerController.Frame(AdViewModel model) in C:\Users\Scott\Documents\Telepathy Client Repos\ElectricArt\AdTrek\AdTrek\Controllers\AdServerController.cs:18 lambda_method(Closure , ControllerBase , Object[] ) +139 System.Web.Mvc.ReflectedActionDescriptor.Execute(ControllerContext controllerContext, IDictionary`2 parameters) +229 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethod(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor, IDictionary`2 parameters) +35 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.<BeginInvokeSynchronousActionMethod>b__39(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ActionInvocation innerInvokeState) +39 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`2.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +67 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeActionMethod(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +42 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncInvocationWithFilters.<InvokeActionMethodFilterAsynchronouslyRecursive>b__3d() +72 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass46.<InvokeActionMethodFilterAsynchronouslyRecursive>b__3f() +386 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeActionMethodWithFilters(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +42 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass2b.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1c() +38 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass21.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1e(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +186 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeAction(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +38 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<BeginExecuteCore>b__1d(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ExecuteCoreState innerState) +29 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +65 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecuteCore(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +53 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +36 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +38 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.<BeginProcessRequest>b__5(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ProcessRequestState innerState) +44 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +65 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +38 System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +399 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +137 Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.6.1069.1

1 0

New To Me: Game Asset Rippers
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

While browsing around DeviantArt (as you do), I discovered this group <https://xnalaramodelandtuts.deviantart.com/>. The name “XNALara” comes from an open-source Windows program that let you create your own scenes and poses with assets (characters, props, scenery) from the “Tomb Raider: Underworld” game. (I think it has broadened its reach beyond that one game by now.) All very well, but how do you extract those assets from these games? Turns out there are these tools called “rippers”, which capture the OpenGL/DirectX drawing calls that the game makes and save all the geometry and textures and so on that are passed to those calls. (Did somebody say “copyright violation”?) Well, there are folders in that group that are absolutely full of these extracted assets. Some have been taken down on demand from the copyright owners, but the remarkable thing is that most of them are still available, and have been so for some years. And that the accounts of those uploading these collections have not been suspended. I tried loading one or two of them into Blender. There’s a range of formats, but one common combination is .obj+.mtl for the geometry and material definitions, and .dds for the texture images. The latter can be converted to PNG with ImageMagick and, after making corresponding edits to the references in the .mtl file, I was able to import the results and see something resembling the preview images. There have been artists on DeviantArt who have used these in their renders (and mentioned as much--that’s how I found out about them). I may try messing around with them a bit more, but I don’t think I’ll be publishing any such work...

1 0

The Power Of Non-Mainstream Media
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Nov '17

11 Nov '17

<https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/unusual-experiment-reveals-the-powe…>: Pundits and activists have long blamed the "mainstream media" for having an outsized effect on public perceptions. ... But a new long-term study reveals that small media outlets have a far greater effect on public discussions than anyone realized. To be more precise, it only takes three or more stories from small news outlets covering the same topic to make discussions of that topic go up by 62.7 percent on Twitter.

1 0

3D Metal Printing At 100 Times The Speed And A Twentieth Of The Cost
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

3D printing has mainly been confined to parts made out of various kinds of plastics up till now. Metal has been hard to deal with, because at some point you have to melt it, and that requires temperatures higher than any printing-type device could cope with. Now a company called “Desktop Metal” <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/metal_3d_printing_at_desktop_metal/> has come up with a scheme involving binding layers of metal powder, laid down in the right shape, using a temporary compound which is then removed when the part is melted in a furnace so it becomes a proper solid piece. Obviously this has to be done without losing its shape. The process can also do clever things like make a hinge, where there is no metal between the parts, so once the binding compound is removed, you have two solid parts that can freely rotate without falling apart.

1 0

How Antivirus Can Open You To Attacks That Otherwise Wouldn’t Be Possible
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

From <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/how-av-can-open-you-…>: Antivirus programs, in many cases, make us safer on the Internet. Other times, they open us to attacks that otherwise wouldn't be possible. On Friday, a researcher documented an example of the latter—a vulnerability he found in about a dozen name-brand AV programs that allows attackers who already have a toehold on a targeted computer to gain complete system control.

1 0

Google Patches KRACK WiFi Flaw in Android November Security Update
by Peter Reutemann 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

'Some vendors take longer than others to update for critical vulnerabilities - case in point is Google's Android mobile operating system. On Nov. 6, Google released an Android update patching a vulnerability that IT vendors have known about for months. On Oct. 16, security researcher Mathy Vanhoef working at Belgian University KU Leuven publicly disclosed the KRACK WiFi vulnerability that impacted all WiFi devices that use WPA2 encryption, including every Android device ever built.' -- source: https://www.esecurityplanet.com/mobile-security/google-patches-krack-wifi-f… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Samsung Demos Linux Desktop on Its Galaxy Smartphones
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

“Concept Demo”, it says, running Ubuntu <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/linux_on_galaxy_video_demo/>.

1 0

Intel To Ship Processors With Integrated AMD Graphics And Memory
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

Intel’s gen-8 H-series mobile processors will integrate an AMD Radeon GPU <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/intel-will-ship-processors-with-int…>.

3 4

MINIX: Intel's Hidden In-chip Operating System
by Peter Reutemann 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

'Matthew Garrett, the well-known Linux and security developer who works for Google, explained recently that, "Intel chipsets for some years have included a Management Engine [ME], a small microprocessor that runs independently of the main CPU and operating system. Various pieces of software run on the ME, ranging from code to handle media DRM to an implementation of a TPM. AMT [Active Management Technology] is another piece of software running on the ME." [...] At a presentation at Embedded Linux Conference Europe, Ronald Minnich, a Google software engineer reported that systems using Intel chips that have AMT, are running MINIX. So, what's it doing in Intel chips? A lot. These processors are running a closed-source variation of the open-source MINIX 3. We don't know exactly what version or how it's been modified since we don't have the source code. In addition, thanks to Minnich and his fellow researchers' work, MINIX is running on three separate x86 cores on modern chips. There, it's running: TCP/IP networking stacks (4 and 6), file systems, drivers (disk, net, USB, mouse), web servers. MINIX also has access to your passwords. It can also reimage your computer's firmware even if it's powered off. Let me repeat that. If your computer is "off" but still plugged in, MINIX can still potentially change your computer's fundamental settings. And, for even more fun, it "can implement self-modifying code that can persist across power cycles." So, if an exploit happens here, even if you unplug your server in one last desperate attempt to save it, the attack will still be there waiting for you when you plug it back in. How? MINIX can do all this because it runs at a fundamentally lower level. [...] According to Minnich, "there are big giant holes that people can drive exploits through." He continued, "Are you scared yet? If you're not scared yet, maybe I didn't explain it very well, because I sure am scared." Also read: Andrew S. Tanenbaum's (a professor of Computer Science at Vrije Universiteit) open letter to Intel' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/07/1041236 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 2

How to Install Cacti with Cacti-Spine in Debian and Ubuntu
by Peter Reutemann 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

'In this tutorial we’ll learn how to install and configure Cacti network monitoring tool in the latest version of Debian and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Cacti will be build and installed from source files during this guide. Cacti is an open source monitoring tool created for monitoring networks, especially network devices, such as switches, routers, servers via SNMP protocol. Cacti interacts with end-users and can be administered via a web tool interface.' -- source: https://www.tecmint.com/install-cacti-with-cacti-spine-in-debian-and-ubuntu/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

ubuntu.com down?
by Peter Reutemann 09 Nov '17

09 Nov '17

Tried to go to Ubuntu's homepage and was greeted with a 503 error message (see attachment)... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 3

Bruce Schneier On The Equifax Breach
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 08 Nov '17

08 Nov '17

Security expert Bruce Schneier has published <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/11/me_on_the_equif.html> the testimony he gave to the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on the breach of confidential personal information on close to half the entire population of the US. His main points are worth summarizing: 1. The Equifax breach was a serious security breach that puts millions of Americans at risk. 2. Equifax was solely at fault. 3. There are thousands of data brokers with similarly intimate information, similarly at risk. 4. These data brokers deliberately hide their actions, and make it difficult for consumers to learn about or control their data. 5. The existing regulatory structure is inadequate. 6. The market cannot fix this because we are not the customers of data brokers. 7. We need effective regulation of data brokers. 8. Resist complaints from the industry that this is "too hard." 9. This has foreign trade implications. 10. This has national security implications. 11. We need to do something about it. Read the article for more detail. I would say this is more than a US-specific problem, it is a worldwide problem. Other places may have stricter privacy regulations, but that might not be enough.

1 0

Linux Has a USB Driver Security Problem
by Peter Reutemann 08 Nov '17

08 Nov '17

'USB drivers included in the Linux kernel are rife with security flaws that in some cases can be exploited to run untrusted code and take over users' computers. The vast majority of these vulnerabilities came to light on Monday, when Google security expert Andrey Konovalov informed the Linux community of 14 vulnerabilities he found in the Linux kernel USB subsystem. "All of them can be triggered with a crafted malicious USB device in case an attacker has physical access to the machine," Konovalov said. The 14 flaws are actually part of a larger list of 79 flaws Konovalov found in Linux kernel USB drivers during the past months. Not all of these 79 vulnerabilities have been reported, let alone patched. Most are simple DoS (Denial of Service) bugs that freeze or restart the OS, but some allow attackers to elevate privileges and execute malicious code.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/08/1730210 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Create & manage docker hosts with Docker Machine on VirtualBox
by Peter Reutemann 08 Nov '17

08 Nov '17

'Docker Machine is a tool that let us install Docker Engine on virtual hosts on various platforms, on local environment as well on cloud. With Docker Machine, we can easily install docker hosts a Windows machine, a MAC machine or on cloud platform like AWS, AZURE etc. As we know that Docker Engine runs natively on Linux machines, so its pretty easy to get Docker working on Linux machines but for other OS like MAC or Windows this was a problem. So Docker Machine was introduced, especially for older versions of MAC & Windows (there are new native Docker apps for latest OS). Not meant only for Windows or MAC, Docker machine also provides efficient way to provision multiple Docker hosts on local as well as cloud network. To manage the docker hosts, we use rather than using ‘docker’ command, which is used with docker engine. In this tutorial, we will discuss how we can create & manage docker hosts with Docker Machine on VirtualBox.' -- source: http://linuxtechlab.com/create-manage-docker-hosts-with-docker-machine/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Apache OpenOffice: We're OK With Not Being Super Cool
by Peter Reutemann 08 Nov '17

08 Nov '17

'Despite being the subject of a deathwatch -- perhaps mainly by fans of rival LibreOffice -- AOO appears to be rather popular, with the 4.1.4 update racking up at least 1.6 million downloads. [...] While AOO and the ASF formulate a formal statement of direction for the project, Jagielski said more or less that all's well. "AOO is not, and isn't designed to be, the 'super coolest open source office suite with all the latest bells and whistles,'" Jagielski continued. "Our research shows that a 'basic,' functional office suite, which is streamlined with a 'simple' and uncluttered, uncomplicated UI, serves an incredible under-represented community. "Other office suites are focusing on the 'power user' which is a valuable market, for sure, but the real power and range for an open-source office suite alternative is the vast majority which is the 'rest of us. Sometimes we all forget how empowering open source is to the entire world."' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/11/07/1944255 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Improve your bash/sh shell script with ShellCheck lint script analysis tool
by Peter Reutemann 07 Nov '17

07 Nov '17

'ShellCheck is a static analysis tool for shell scripts. One can use it to finds bugs in your shell scripts. It is written in Haskell. You can find warnings and suggestions for bash/sh shell scripts with this tool. Let us see how to install and use ShellCheck on a Linux or Unix-like system to enhance your shell scripts, avoid errors and productivity.' -- source: https://www.cyberciti.biz/programming/improve-your-bashsh-shell-script-with… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Maltese Law Enforcement Trying To Decrypt Slain Journalist’s Phone
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Nov '17

06 Nov '17

Daphne Caruana Galizia, the journalist recently killed by a car bomb in Malta, used WhatsApp to communicate securely with her sources. It appears part of her smartphone was salvaged from the wreck, and now the police are enlisting the help of the US FBI to see if they can decrypt whatever information can be found on it. Quoth Bruce: “It will be interesting to see if WhatsApp's security survives this.” <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/11/daphne_caruana_.html>

1 0

No, the Linux Desktop Hasn't Jumped in Popularity
by Peter Reutemann 06 Nov '17

06 Nov '17

'Stories have been circulating that the Linux desktop had jumped in popularity and was used more than macOS. Alas, it's not so... These reports have been based on NetMarketShare's desktop operating system analysis, which showed Linux leaping from 2.5 percent in July, to almost 5 percent in September. But unfortunately for Linux fans, it's not true... It seems to be merely a mistake. Vince Vizzaccaro, NetMarketShare's executive marketing share of marketing told me, "The Linux share being reported is not correct. We are aware of the issue and are currently looking into it"... For the most accurate, albeit US-centric operating system and browser numbers, I prefer to use data from the federal government's Digital Analytics Program (DAP). Unlike the others, DAP's numbers come from billions of visits over the past 90 days to over 400 US executive branch government domains... DAP gets its raw data from a Google Analytics account. DAP has open-sourced the code, which displays the data on the web and its data-collection code... In the US Analytics site, which summarizes DAP's data, you will find desktop Linux, as usual, hanging out in "other" at 1.5 percent. Windows, as always, is on top with 45.9 percent, followed by Apple iOS, at 25.5 percent, Android at 18.6 percent, and macOS at 8.5 percent. The article does, however, acknowledge that Linux's real market share is probably a little higher simply because "no one, not even DAP, seems to do a good job of pulling out the Linux-based Chrome OS data' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/05/202232 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

A Walkthrough Of The Windows Subsystem For Linux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 Nov '17

05 Nov '17

Here <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSqAyOY5huQ> is a nice intro to the Linux compatibility layer that Microsoft has added to Windows 10. Their app store gives you a choice of Ubuntu or two flavours of SuSE. But while these omit any X server functionality, they do include all the GUI X clients. So it is perfectly possible to install a Windows-native X server, such as the open-source VcXsrv <https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/>. And then he uses this to demonstrate running a full XFCE desktop side-by-side with the regular Windows desktop.

1 0

Mozilla Might Distrust Dutch Government Certs Over 'False Keys'
by Peter Reutemann 05 Nov '17

05 Nov '17

'Mozilla engineers are discussing plans to remove support for a state-operated Dutch TLS/HTTPS provider after the Dutch government has voted a new law that grants local authorities the power to intercept Internet communications using "false keys". If the plan is approved, Firefox will not trust certificates issued by the Staat der Nederlanden (State of the Netherlands) Certificate Authority (CA)... This new law gives Dutch authorities the powers to intercept and analyze Internet traffic. While other countries have similar laws, what makes this one special is that authorities will have authorization to carry out covert technical attacks to access encrypted traffic. Such covert technical capabilities include the use of "false keys," as mentioned in Article 45 1.b, a broad term that includes TLS certificates. "Fears arise of mass Dutch Internet surveillance," reads a subhead on the article, citing a bug report which notes, among other things, the potential for man-in-the-middle attacks and the fact that the Netherlands hosts a major internet transit point' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/05/1845240 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

CyberSquirrel1: Tracking Infrastructure Damage Caused By Wildlife
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 Nov '17

05 Nov '17

Interesting Twitter account <https://twitter.com/CyberSquirrel1> including the following item from a couple of days ago: Bird trips power supply to 4000 http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/3069802-135/bird-trips-power-supply-t… … - Te Hapara, New Zealand

1 0

OnionShare – A Tool To Share Any Size Of Files Securely And Anonymously
by Peter Reutemann 05 Nov '17

05 Nov '17

'When we wrote an article about file sharing utilities such as Magic Womhole & transfer.sh most of the users asked is it secure? and where the files are stored. So, we decided to bring one of the best utility that stores and share files securely over the Internet. When we dig on that, we came to know about OnionShare which fulfill all this requirements. How are you saying, it falls under this category? Yes, it’s true because most of us know about Tor Browser which allows users to browse securely, privately and anonymously by implementing Onion routing in the application layer. Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. OnionShare also developed in the same manner and allows you to use the Tor network to send files anywhere in the world.' -- source: https://www.2daygeek.com/onionshare-secure-way-to-share-files-sharing-tool-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Easy guide to secure VNC server with TLS encryption
by Peter Reutemann 05 Nov '17

05 Nov '17

'In this tutorial, we will learn to install VNC server & secure VNC server sessions with TLS encryption. This method has been tested on CentOS 6 & 7 but should work on other versions/OS as well (RHEL, Scientific Linux etc).' -- source: http://linuxtechlab.com/secure-vnc-server-tls-encryption/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

TorMoil Vulnerability Leaks Real IP Address From Tor Browser Users; Security Update Released
by Peter Reutemann 04 Nov '17

04 Nov '17

'The Tor Project has released a security update for the Tor Browser on Mac and Linux to fix a vulnerability that leaks users' real IP addresses. The vulnerability was spotted by Filippo Cavallarin, CEO of We Are Segment, an Italian company specialized in cyber-security and ethical hacking. Cavallarin privately reported the issue -- which he codenamed TorMoil -- to the Tor Project last week. Tor Project developers worked with the Firefox team (Tor Browser is based on the Firefox browser) to release a fix. Today, the Tor team released version 7.0.9 to address the vulnerability. Tor Browser 7.0.9 is only available for Mac and Linux users. Tor Browser on Windows is not affected.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/11/03/2127235 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Lots Of Digitally-Signed Malware Out There
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Nov '17

03 Nov '17

One of the security weaknesses exploited by the “Stuxnet” worm that sabotaged Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was that it had a valid digital signature from a recognized issuer of certificates for Windows software. Of course, the issuer would never knowingly have validated a piece of malware, but the certificate had been compromised so it could be used without their permission. Turns out this sort of thing is not only quite common, there is a further problem in that anti-malware software, which is supposed to pick up revoked certificates and reject signatures that use them, frequently has bugs in their implementation of the signature-checking protocol, so they can let these bad signatures through. <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/evasive-code-signed-…>

1 0

The Patent That Just Wouldn’t Die
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Nov '17

03 Nov '17

A holding company called Personal Audio claims to have a patent covering the entire idea of podcasting. Over the years, it has succeeded in winning some lucrative payouts, including $8 million from Apple and $1.3 million from CBS. All without making a single item of product itself. In other words, Personal Audio is what lawyers politely refer to as a “Non-Practising Entity” (NPE), or, in more common parlance, a patent troll. However, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has succeeded, with the help of a crowdfunding campaign, in invalidating this patent, using a system introduced at the USPTO called “inter partes review” (IPR). Of course, Personal Audio has not taken this lying down. It has come up with a truly imaginative series of legal counterarguments: * IPR violates the 7th Amendment of the US Constitution (right to trial by jury in a lawsuit). * IPR encourages “collective efforts to invalidate patents” which “severely tilts the playing field in favor of the party or parties seeking invalidation”. * the EFF has been working together with defendants in their litigation. Fortunately, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) -- the same appeals court that overruled Judge William Alsup in his verdict (in Oracle vs Google) that APIs were not copyrightable -- seems to be a bit less uncritically pro-“Intellectual Property” these days (something to do with being slapped down by the Supreme Court?), and has rejected these arguments. Imagine if all this creativity had gone into producing actual useful products, instead of legal arguments ... <https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/eff-destroys-the-podcasting-pat…>

1 0

Microsoft Quietly Announces End of Last Free Windows 10 Upgrade Offer
by Peter Reutemann 03 Nov '17

03 Nov '17

'If you've been waiting to claim your free Windows 10 upgrade using the "assistive technologies" exception, you need to act soon. In a quiet change to an obscure web page, Microsoft announced this week that those exceptions will end on December 31, 2017. On July 29, 2016, Microsoft officially ended the Get Windows 10 program, which offered free Windows 10 upgrades to anyone currently running a supported earlier version of Windows. But the company left a giant loophole in a separate announcement at the same time. Under the terms of that announcement, individuals who use "assistive technologies" received an automatic extension of the free upgrade offer. Sometime in the past week, Microsoft quietly edited that page, to add "The accessibility upgrade offer expires on December 31, 2017."' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/03/1737219 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Android Oreo Bug Sends Thousands of Phones Into Infinite Boot Loops
by Peter Reutemann 02 Nov '17

02 Nov '17

'A bug in the new "Adaptive Icons" feature introduced in Android Oreo has sent thousands of phones into infinite boot loops, forcing some users to reset their devices to factory settings, causing users to lose data along the way. The bug was discovered by Jcbsera, the developer of the Swipe for Facebook Android app (energy-efficient Facebook wrapper app), and does not affect Android Oreo (8.0) in its default state. The bug occurs only with apps that use adaptive icons -- a new feature introduced in Android Oreo that allows icons to change shape and size based on the device they're viewed on, or the type of launcher the user is using on his Android device. For example, adaptive icons will appear in square, rounded, or circle containers depending on the theme or launcher the user is using. The style of adaptive icons is defined a local XML file. The bug first manifested itself when the developer of the Swipe for Facebook Android app accidentally renamed the foreground image of his adaptive icon with the same name as this XML file (ic_launcher_main.png and ic_launcher_main.xml). This naming scheme sends Android Oreo in an infinite loop that regularly crashes the device. At one point, Android detects something is wrong and prompts the user to reset the device to factory settings. Users don't have to open an app, and the crashes still happen just by having an app with malformed adaptive icons artifacts on your phone. Google said it will fix the issue in Android Oreo 8.1.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/01/1550256 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

10 Best Lightweight Linux Distributions For Older Computers In 2017
by Peter Reutemann 31 Oct '17

31 Oct '17

Quick overview: 10. Peppermint 9. Lubuntu 8. Linux Lite 7. LXLE 6. CrunchBang++ 5. Bodhi Linux 4. antiX Linux 3. SparkyLinux 2. Puppy Linux 1. Tiny Core See here for full details: https://itsfoss.com/lightweight-linux-beginners/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Googler A Command Line Tool To Search Google
by Peter Reutemann 31 Oct '17

31 Oct '17

'Looking for information on the web has become something that we do day in and day out. Whether it is support you are looking for, looking for a product or news about a particular topic, all you have to do is search on the web. As a result, search engines have been designed so they can help us sift through or the garbage in order to get the information we seek. There are Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo just to mention a few. But what do all these have in common, well, to use these you need a browser such as Firefox or Chromium first. Well does no problem at all; except when all you have is a terminal and no GUI and browser. Also, you may have a GUI and a browser but you wish you did not have to leave the terminal just for that quick search, and thus comes Googler. ' -- source: http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/googler-a-command-line-tool-to-search-go… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Appeals Court Keeps Alive The Never-Ending Linux Case, SCO v. IBM
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

“Jarndyce v. Jarndyce” for the 21st century, anybody? <https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/appeals-court-keeps-alive-the-n…>

1 0

How Kodi Took Over Piracy
by Peter Reutemann 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

'For years, piracy persisted mainly in the realm of torrents, with sites like The Pirate Bay and Demonoid connecting internet denizens to premium content gratis. But a confluence of factors have sent torrent usage plummeting from 23 percent of all North American daily internet traffic in 2011 to under 5 percent last year. Legal crackdowns shuttered prominent torrent sites. Paid alternatives like Netflix and Hulu made it easier just to pay up. And then there were the "fully loaded" Kodi boxes -- otherwise vanilla streaming devices that come with, or make easily accessible, so-called addons that seek out unlicensed content -- that deliver pirated movies and TV shows with push-button ease. "Kodi and the plugin system and the people who made these plugins have just dumbed down the process," says Dan Deeth, spokesperson for network-equipment company Sandvine. "It's easy for anyone to use. It's kind of set it and forget it. Like the Ron Popeil turkey roaster." Kodi itself is just a media player; the majority of addons aren't piracy focused, and lots of Kodi devices without illicit software plug-ins are utterly uncontroversial. Still, that Kodi has swallowed piracy may not surprise some of you; a full six percent of North American households have a Kodi device configured to access unlicensed content, according to a recent Sandvine study. But the story of how a popular, open-source media player called XBMC became a pirate's paradise might. And with a legal crackdown looming, the Kodi ecosystem's present may matter less than its uncertain future.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/10/30/1931208 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

Firefox To Get a Better Password Manager
by Peter Reutemann 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

'Mozilla engineers have started work on a project named Lockbox that they describe as "a work-in-progress extension [...] to improve upon Firefox's built-in password management." Mozilla released the new extension for employee-use only at first, but users can install it by going to this or this links. Lockbox revamps Firefox's antiquated password management utility with a new user interface (UI). A new Firefox UI button is also included, in case users want to add a shortcut in their browser's main interface to open Lockbox without going through all the menu options. Support for a master password is included, helping users secure their passwords from unauthorized access by co-workers, family members, or others.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/10/30/1245202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

If We Can’t Trust Kaspersky, Should We Trust Microsoft?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

An opinion piece at Al Jazeera <http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/trust-kaspersky-trust-microsoft-17…> considers: A single malicious update pushed from Microsoft could cripple almost every government worldwide. ... That a small number of vendors have the capacity to remotely shut down government infrastructure, or vacuum up secret documents, is almost too scary to wrap your head around. And that's without pondering how likely they are to be pressured by their governments. In the face of future conflict, is the first step going to be disabling auto-updates for software from that country?

1 0

Early HP Archives Destroyed
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were the archetypal “two guys who started a business in a garage” from 1938. When the company they founded moved on to other things (computers, printers etc), the original test-equipment business they created was spun off as part of a company called Agilent, which in turn divested it as an outfit now known as Keysight. Now we hear that important historical paper archives from those early days, which were in the care of Keysight Technologies, have been lost in the recent deadly Santa Rosa wildfires. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/29/hewlett_packard_history_lost_to_san…>

1 0

Anypaste – Share And Upload Files To Compatible Hosting Sites Automatically
by Peter Reutemann 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

'A while ago, we have written a guide about Transfer.sh which allows you to share files over Internet from command-line. Today, we will see yet another file sharing utility called Anypaste. It is a simple script to share and upload files to compatible hosting sites depending upon the type of the files, automatically. You don’t need to manually log in to the hosting sites and upload or share your files. Anypaste will pick the right hosting sites depends upon the type of the file you want to upload. To put this simply, photos will get uploaded to image hosting sites, videos to video sites, code to pastebins. Cool, yeah? Anypaste is completely free, open source and light-weight script and you can do everything from command line. You don’t need to depend on any heavy, memory-consuming GUI apps to upload and share files.' -- source: https://www.ostechnix.com/anypaste-share-upload-files-compatible-hosting-si… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Purism Now Offers Laptops with Intel's 'Management Engine' Disabled
by Peter Reutemann 29 Oct '17

29 Oct '17

' "San Francisco company Purism announced that they are now offering their Librem laptops with the Intel Management Engine disabled," writes Slashdot reader boudie2. Purism describes Management Engine as "a separate CPU that can run and control a computer even when powered off." HardOCP reports that Management Engine "is widely despised by security professionals and privacy advocates because it relies on signed and secret Intel code, isn't easily alterable, isn't fully documented, and has been found to be vulnerable to exploitation... In short, it's a tiny potentially hackable computer in your computer that you cannot totally control, nor opt-out of, but it can totally control your system." Purism writes: Disabling the Management Engine is no easy task, and it has taken security researchers years to find a way to properly and verifiably disable it. Purism, because it runs coreboot and maintains its own BIOS firmware update process, has been able to release and ship coreboot that disables the Management Engine from running, directly halting the ME CPU without the ability of recovery... "Disabling the Management Engine, long believed to be impossible, is now possible and available in all current Librem laptops. It is also available as a software update for previously shipped recent Librem laptops," says Todd Weaver, Founder & CEO of Purism.' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/10/29/0324201 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux Mint Is Killing the KDE Edition
by Peter Reutemann 27 Oct '17

27 Oct '17

'While both the Cinnamon and Mate versions of Linux Mint are decent choices for computer users, there was one version that was always utterly bizarre -- the KDE Edition. Don't get me wrong, KDE is a fine environment, but Kubuntu already exists. Having a version of Mint using KDE was redundant and confusing. Thankfully, today, the Linux Mint team announces it is finally killing the KDE edition. "In continuation with what's been done in the past, Linux Mint 18.3 will feature a KDE edition, but it will be the last release to do so. I would like to thank Kubuntu for the amazing work they have done. The quality of Plasma 5 in Xenial made backports a necessity. The rapid pace of development upstream from the KDE project made this very challenging, yet they managed to provide a stable flow of updates for us and we were able to ship good KDE editions thanks to that. I don't think this would have been possible without them," says Clement Lefebvre, Linux Mint. Lefebvre further says, "KDE is a fantastic environment but it's also a different world, one which evolves away from us and away from everything we focus on. Their apps, their ecosystem and the QT toolkit which is central there have very little in common with what we're working on. We're not just shipping releases and distributing upstream software. We're a product distribution and we see ourselves as a complete desktop operating system. We like to integrate solutions, develop whatâ(TM)s missing, adapt what's not fitting perfectly, and we do a great deal of that not only around our own Cinnamon desktop environment but also thanks to cross-DE frameworks we put in place to support similar environments, such as MATE and Xfce."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/10/26/0325221 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 2

How to Install Mycroft AI Assistant On Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 27 Oct '17

27 Oct '17

'Personal assistants like Alexa and Google Home are extremely popular right now, and interest is only growing. It’s not too hard to envision a near future where just about every home has its own AI assistant. What if you don’t want a huge corporation having a direct line into your home? Maybe you want to build your own to understand how they work? Mycroft is the solution. Mycroft is an open-source AI assistant that aims to compete with the likes of Alexa and Google. No, Mycroft isn’t entirely there yet, but the project is still in active development. Mycroft is based on the hugely popular Raspberry Pi, so you can actually set up your own with a Pi and test it out.' -- source: https://www.maketecheasier.com/install-mycroft-on-raspberry-pi/ Apparently, you can use it without creating an account: https://github.com/MycroftAI/mycroft-core#using-mycroft-without-home Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Who's building Linux in 2017?
by Peter Reutemann 27 Oct '17

27 Oct '17

'It's 2017 and Linux rules the computing world. Don't believe me? The Linux Foundation reports that Linux runs 90 percent of the public cloud workload, 82 percent of the world's smartphones, 62 percent of the embedded market, oh and a mere 99 percent of the supercomputer market. All that rests on the Linux kernel. In its 2017 Linux Kernel Development Report, Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and editor of LWN.net, and Greg Kroah-Hartman, stable Linux kernel maintainer, report on Linux's recent evolution. This report was released at the invitation-only Linux Kernel Summit in Prague, Czech Republic. Since 2005 and adoption of Git version control system, 15,637 developers from over 1,400 companies have contributed to the Linux kernel. Since last year, over 4,300 developers from more than 500 companies have contributed to the kernel. Of these, 1,670 contributed for the first time, or about a third of contributors' -- source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/whos-building-linux-in-2017/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Are “Enterprise-Quality” Hard Drives Worth It?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Oct '17

26 Oct '17

Another quarter, another report from backups outfit Backblaze on hard disk reliability <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/big-hard-disks-may-be-breaking-the-…>: In aggregate, the company has now accumulated 3.7 million drive days for the consumer disks and 1.4 million for the enterprise ones. Over this usage, the annualized failure rates are 1.1 percent for the consumer disks and 1.2 percent for the enterprise ones. At least for now, then, the enterprise disks aren't doing anything to justify their longer warranty; their reliability is virtually identical.

1 0

How To Protect A Small Organization Against Electronic Adversaries
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Oct '17

25 Oct '17

About to have a look at the document posted here <https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/10/25/howto-protect-your-small-organizat…>. Unfortunately, for a document that’s about security, wget tells me the link is (currently) not secure: WARNING: The certificate of ‘www.cs.rice.edu’ is not trusted. WARNING: The certificate of ‘www.cs.rice.edu’ hasn't got a known issuer. WARNING: The certificate of ‘www.cs.rice.edu’ was signed using an insecure algorithm.

1 0

Why Computing Devices Slow Down Over Time
by rowan schischka 25 Oct '17

25 Oct '17

> So trying to speed things up can make things slower?? Its a repost from another outlet. This is just filler article in the tech section. Stuff has one today about mobile battery advice that contradicts last months article about mobile batteries.

1 0

When You Have To Have An Entire Conference On Software Licensing...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Choice quotes from <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/24/oracle_users_meets_behind_closed_do…>: The emphasis on anonymity comes from firms’ fear that vendors are always poised to launch an audit or bump up fees. Sessions will offer advice on ... why customers shouldn’t be too reliant on licensing tools.

1 0

Why Did Ubuntu Drop Unity? Mark Shuttleworth Explains
by Peter Reutemann 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Since we talked about Canonical ditching Mir/Unity on Monday night, here's some more insight from Shuttleworth himself: 'Ubuntu's decision to ditch Unity took many of us by surprise earlier this year. Now Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth shares more details about why Ubuntu chose to drop Unity. From a report: Shuttleworth says he, along with the other 'leads' at Canonical, came to a consensual view that they should put the company on the path to becoming a public company. And to appear attractive to potential investors the company has to focus on its areas of profitability -- something Unity, Ubuntu phone, Unity 8 and convergence were not part of: "[The decision] meant that we couldn't have on our books (effectively) very substantial projects which clearly have no commercial angle to them at all. It doesn't mean that we would consider changing the terms of Ubuntu for example, because it's foundational to everything we do. And we don't have to, effectively," he said. Money may have meant Unity's demise but the wider Ubuntu project is in rude health. as Shuttleworth explains: "One of the things I'm most proud of is in the last 7 years is that Ubuntu itself became completely sustainable. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow and Ubuntu could continue. It's kind of magical, right? Here's a platform that is a world class enterprise platform, that's completely freely available, and yet it is sustainable. Jane Silber is largely to thank for that." While it's all-too-easy for desktop users to focus on, well, the desktop, there is far more to Canonical (the company) than the 6-monthly releases we look forward to. Losing Unity may have been a big blow for desktop users but it helped to balance other parts of the company: "There are huge possibilities for us in the enterprise beyond that, in terms of really defining how cloud infrastructure is built, how cloud applications are operated, and so on. And, in IoT, looking at that next wave of possibility, innovators creating stuff on IoT. And all of that is ample for us to essentially put ourselves on course to IPO around that." Dropping Unity wasn't easy for Mark, though: "We had this big chunk of work, which was Unity, which I really loved. I think the engineering of Unity 8 was pretty spectacularly good, and the deep ideas of how you bring these different form factors together was pretty beautiful.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/10/24/1854254 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Install Let's Encrypt and Secure Nginx with SSL/TLS in Debian 9
by Peter Reutemann 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

'This tutorial will show you how to install and secure a Nginx web server on Debian 9 with a TLS certificate issued for free by the Let’s Encrypt Certificate Authority. Furthermore, we will configure automatic renewal of Lets’ Encrypt TLS certificates using a cron job before the certificates expire.' -- source: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/install-letsencrypt-and-secure-nginx-in… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Librem 5 Privacy-Focused Linux Phone Crowdfunding Campaign Ends with $2 Million
by Peter Reutemann 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Since we talked about this phone last night... 'Librem 5 was successfully crowdfunded about two weeks ago when it surpassed its goal of $1.5 million, but the campaign continued to run, and now it appears to have gathered half million dollars more, ending with $2 million, which we believe is more than enough to build world's first truly free mobile device. Powered by PureOS, Purism's own GNU/Linux distribution based on the popular Debian GNU/Linux operating system, but focused on offering users a privacy-focused and more secure desktop solution, Librem 5 will be using KDE's Plasma Mobile and GNOME's GNOME Shell user interfaces, along with powerful open source software. During its crowdfunding campaign, Librem 5 saw an amazing feedback from the Open Source community as Purism partnered not only with big names like KDE and GNOME, but also with Nextcloud, which will bring its end-to-end encrypted file sync, sharing and cloud-based storage solution by default to the Linux smartphone.' -- source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/librem-5-privacy-focused-linux-phone-crowdfu… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

3 Simple, Excellent Linux Network Monitors
by Peter Reutemann 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

'You can learn an amazing amount of information about your network connections with these three glorious Linux networking commands. iftop tracks network connections by process number, Nethogs quickly reveals what is hogging your bandwidth, and vnstat runs as a nice lightweight daemon to record your usage over time.' -- source: https://www.linux.com/learn/intro-to-linux/2017/10/3-simple-excellent-linux… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

4 Reasons Building A Gaming PC Sucks Right Now
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Oct '17

23 Oct '17

Just saw this video on the current high prices of GPUs, RAM and variable-refresh monitors <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh8tZ_qkY1o>. What’s surprising to me is the reason why GPU prices are currently high: because they are being snapped up for cryptocurrency mining.

1 0

Why Computing Devices Slow Down Over Time
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Oct '17

23 Oct '17

Entertaining opinion piece <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11935838>: To make their apps run faster, some designers make them store copies of things in RAM ... Known as cacheing, this makes things work much faster - until your system starts to run out of memory. For cacheing to be effective, the amount of space devoted to it must be carefully managed by the application and the device's operating system. Some app developers don't put the effort that they should into doing this well, and their applications not only slow down over time, but can drag the rest of the system down with them too. So trying to speed things up can make things slower??

1 0

Android getting “DNS over TLS” support to stop ISPs from knowing what websites you visit
by Peter Reutemann 23 Oct '17

23 Oct '17

'DNS (Domain Name Server) is what translates a website address from a URL that you enter to an IP address which your computer actually connects to. For example, when you type “www.xda-developers.com” into your browser, your computer queries a DNS which looks up and returns the IP address “209.58.128.90” to the client. This process is hidden from the user, but every website you visit (so long as it has a human-readable URL) will go through this same process. The problem for those security conscious out there is that these requests are done in plain text through UDP or TCP protocols which are readable by anyone that can see your connection, including your ISP. This is where DNS over TLS comes in.' -- source: https://www.xda-developers.com/android-dns-over-tls-website-privacy/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 3

Microsoft Chastises Google Over Chrome Security
by Peter Reutemann 22 Oct '17

22 Oct '17

'In a Wednesday blog post, Redmond examined Google's browser security and took the opportunity to throw some shade at Chrome's security philosophy, while also touting the benefits of its own Edge browser. The post, written by Microsoft security team member Jordan Rabet, noted that Google's Chrome browser uses "sandboxing" and isolation techniques designed to contain any malicious code. Nevertheless, Microsoft still managed to find a security hole in Chrome that could be used to execute malicious code on the browser. The bug involved a Javascript engine in Chrome. Microsoft notified Google about the problem, which was patched last month. The company even received a $7,500 reward for finding the flaw. However, Microsoft made sure to point out that its own Edge browser was protected from the same kind of security threat. It also criticized Google for the way it handled the patching process. Prior to the patch's official rollout, the source code for the fix was made public on GitHub, a software collaboration site that hosts computer code. That meant attentive hackers could have learned about the vulnerability before the patch was pushed out to customers, Microsoft claimed. "In this specific case, the stable channel of Chrome remained vulnerable for nearly a month," the blog post said. "That is more than enough time for an attacker to exploit it." In the past Google has also disclosed vulnerabilities found in Microsoft products -- including Edge.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/10/22/010235 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Security Upgraded For NetBSD-amd64 with Kernel ASLR Support
by Peter Reutemann 22 Oct '17

22 Oct '17

'24 years after its release, NetBSD is getting a security upgrade -- specifically, Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). An anonymous reader writes: Support for Kernel ASLR was added on NetBSD-amd64 a few weeks ago. KASLR basically randomizes the address of the kernel, and makes it harder to exploit several classes of vulnerabilities [including privilege escalations and remote code execution]. It is still a work-in-progress, but it's already fully functional, and can be used following the instructions on this post from the NetBSD blog. It will be available starting from NetBSD 9, but may be backported to NetBSD 8 once it is stabilized. NetBSD says they're the first BSD system to support ASLR.' -- source: https://bsd.slashdot.org/story/17/10/21/0118226 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Bloody Stupid Linux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 21 Oct '17

21 Oct '17

That’s the name of the distro <http://bloodystupid.clockwatching.org/>: Why go to all this trouble? The BSL kernel is basically a life support system for ram and network cards, since it wget's support for everything else on the machine the kernel is very small. The initial aim was to fit it on a single floppy, then PXE booting became attractive, and really, since the kernel doesn't need to support whatever it just booted from in order to have its root filesystem, its very flexible. Yeah, I know an initrd can do the same thing, but its more fun this way. As it stands, BSL makes for an excellent repair system, the framework for a bulk installer, a neat toy, and an alright thin client ( as long as you've got a gob of RAM handy.) OK, so it hasn’t been updated in over a decade. But the mascot image is cute. ;)

1 0

The Ultimate In Terminal Emulators?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 20 Oct '17

20 Oct '17

Brian Lunduke continues his Command-Line Week with a look at a couple of quite amazing terminal emulators: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vm7B6bLbLg>. So you think “command line” and “eye candy” can’t go together?

1 0

Yet another distro - Q4OS - meeting topic
by Ian Young 20 Oct '17

20 Oct '17

Some may be surprised to learn that a few diehards are still running a fork of KDE 3.5 on a Debian Base. The Trinity desktop. Could give it a quick run through on Monday night if there is time. May be of interest to those who wonder sometimes why KDE 3 was dropped once it actually became usable.

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Meet CudaText: A Cross-Platform Open Source Code Editor
by Peter Reutemann 20 Oct '17

20 Oct '17

'CudaText is a cross-platform open source code editor based on Lazarus. It has extensive support for most of the popular programming languages. I cannot call it one of the best open source code editors because it is too early for that. I cannot even call it Notepad++ alternative for Linux because it’s more like a lightweight IDE like Geany. Though the default interface reminds me of Eclipse IDE.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/cudatext-code-editor/ Great to see that Object Pascal is still thriving, though I haven't programmed in Pascal for years. Lazarus is an IDE for Object Pascal, a free alternative to (originally Borland's) Delphi. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux Desktop Recorder App Green Recorder 3.0 Released
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

'Green Recorder is a simple desktop recorder for Linux distributions. You can use it to record audio and video on almost every Linux interface. Released under GPL 3, it now also supports Wayland. Green Recorder 3.0 supports avi, mkv, mp4 nut and gif. Wayland’s GNOME session supports only WebM. The user can choose the audio input source from a list as well as can set default values from the preference window.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/green-recorder-3/ Just tried it and it works! Previously, I had used recordMyDesktop (GTK UI), which only supported Ogg Video. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Canada's 'Super Secret Spy Agency' Is Releasing a Malware-Fighting Tool To the Public
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

'Canada's electronic spy agency says it is taking the "unprecedented step" of releasing one of its own cyber defence tools to the public, in a bid to help companies and organizations better defend their computers and networks against malicious threats. The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) rarely goes into detail about its activities -- both offensive and defensive -- and much of what is known about the agency's activities have come from leaked documents obtained by U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and published in recent years. But as of late, CSE has acknowledged it needs to do a better job of explaining to Canadians exactly what it does. Today, it is pulling back the curtain on an open-source malware analysis tool called Assemblyline that CSE says is used to protect the Canadian government's sprawling infrastructure each day. "It's a tool that helps our analysts know what to look at, because it's overwhelming for the number of people we have to be able to protect things," Scott Jones, who heads the agency's IT security efforts, said in an interview with CBC News. On the one hand, open sourcing Assemblyline's code is a savvy act of public relations, and Jones readily admits the agency is trying to shed its "super secret spy agency" reputation in the interest of greater transparency.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/10/19/1837236 Let's see, whether anybody finds bits in the code that report home to the agency... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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AGM next month
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

Hi everyone The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Waikato Linux Users Group Society will be held on November 27th this year. Agenda (preliminary) - President's Report - Treasurer's Report - Election of 2017 Committee - General business - Consumption of pizza https://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/237234897/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark Released
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

'Canonical has made available the download links for Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark". It comes with a range of new features, changes, and improvements including GNOME as the default desktop, Wayland display server by default, Optional X.org server session, Mesa 17.2 or Mesa 17.3, Linux kernel 4.13 or kernel 4.14, new Subiquity server installer, improved hardware support, new Ubuntu Server installer, switch to libinput, an always visible dock using Dash to Dock GNOME Shell extension, and Bluetooth improvements with a new BlueZ among others. ' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/10/19/0943200 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Samsung To Let Proper Linux Distros Run on Galaxy Smartphones
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

'Samsung has announced it will soon become possible to run actual proper Linux on its Note8, Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones -- and even Linux desktops. Yeah, yeah, we know Android is built on Linux, but you know what we mean. Samsung said it's working on an app called "Linux on Galaxy" that will let users "run their preferred Linux distribution on their smartphones utilizing the same Linux kernel that powers the Android OS." "Whenever they need to use a function that is not available on the smartphone OS, users can simply switch to the app and run any program they need to in a Linux OS environment," Samsung says. The app also allows multiple OSes to run on a device. Linux desktops will become available if users plug their phones into the DeX Station, the device that lets a Galaxy 8 run a Samsung-created desktop-like environment when connected to the DeX and an external monitor.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/10/19/0524234 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

EU: No Encryption Backdoors But, Let's Help Each Other Crack That Crypto
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

'The European Commission has proposed that member states help each other break into encrypted devices by sharing expertise around the bloc. From a report: In an attempt to tackle the rise of citizens using encryption and its effects on solving crimes, the commission decided to sidestep the well-worn, and well-ridiculed, path of demanding decryption backdoors in the stuff we all use. Instead, the plans set out in its antiterrorism measures on Wednesday take a more collegiate approach -- by offering member states more support when they actually get their hands on an encrypted device. "The commission's position is very clear -- we are not in favour of so-called backdoors, the utilisation of systemic vulnerabilities, because it weakens the overall security of our cyberspace, which we rely upon," security commissioner Julian King told a press briefing. "We're trying to move beyond a sometimes sterile debate between backdoors or no backdoors, and address some of the concrete law enforcement challenges. For instance, when [a member state] gets a device, how do they get information that might be encrypted on the device." [...] Share the wealth. "Some member states are more equipped technically to do that [extract information from a seized device] than others," King said. "We want to make sure no member state is at a disadvantage, by sharing the tech expertise among the member states and reinforcing the support that Europol can offer."' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/10/19/1440200 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Google Engineers Explore Ways To Stop In-Browser Cryptocurrency Miners in Chrome
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

'Google Chrome engineers are considering adding a special browser permission that will thwart the rising trend of in-browser cryptocurrency miners. Discussions on the topic of in-browser miners have been going on the Chromium project's bug tracker since mid-September when Coinhive, the first such service, launched. "Here's my current thinking," Ojan Vafai, a Chrome engineering working on the Chromium project, wrote in one of the recent bug reports. "If a site is using more than XX% CPU for more than YY seconds, then we put the page into 'battery saver mode' where we aggressively throttle tasks and show a toast [notification popup] allowing the user to opt-out of battery saver mode. When a battery saver mode tab is backgrounded, we stop running tasks entirely. I think we'll want measurement to figure out what values to use for XX and YY, but we can start with really egregious things like 100% and 60 seconds. I'm effectively suggesting we add a permission here, but it would have unusual triggering conditions [...]. It only triggers when the page is doing a likely bad thing." An earlier suggestion had Google create a blacklist and block the mining code at the browser level. That suggestion was shut down as being too impractical and something better left to extensions.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/10/19/1618222 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Targeted Fuzzing Is Improving Linux Security, Linus Torvalds Says
by Peter Reutemann 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

'On the sidelines of announcing the fifth release candidate for the Linux kernel version 4.14, Linus Torvalds said fuzzing, which involves stress testing a system by generating random code to induce errors, is helping the community find and fix a range of security vulnerabilities. He wrote: The other thing perhaps worth mentioning is how much random fuzzing people are doing, and it's finding things. We've always done fuzzing (who remembers the old "crashme" program that just generated random code and jumped to it? We used to do that quite actively very early on), but people have been doing some nice targeted fuzzing of driver subsystems etc, and there's been various fixes (not just this last week either) coming out of those efforts. Very nice to see.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/10/19/171206 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

IoT Cybersecurity: What’s Plan B?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

Whither the Internet Of Things? Markets, as we've repeatedly learned over the past century, are terrible mechanisms for improving the safety of products and services. It was true for automobile, food, restaurant, airplane, fire, and financial-instrument safety. The reasons are complicated, but basically, sellers don't compete on safety features because buyers can't efficiently differentiate products based on safety considerations. The race-to-the-bottom mechanism that markets use to minimize prices also minimizes quality. Without government intervention, the IoT remains dangerously insecure. The US government has no appetite for intervention, so we won't see serious safety and security regulations, a new federal agency, or better liability laws. We might have a better chance in the EU. Depending on how the General Data Protection Regulation on data privacy pans out, the EU might pass a similar security law in 5 years. No other country has a large enough market share to make a difference. <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/10/iot_cybersecuri.html>

1 0

GPL Abuse In The Linux Kernel
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 18 Oct '17

18 Oct '17

The questionable legal activities of a former Linux kernel developer <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/18/linux_kernel_community_enforcement_…> have driven a bunch of senior kernel figures to issue a “Community Enforcement Statement” to try to put a stop to this sort of thing in the future. What’s interesting about this is their admission that the GPL 2.0 has “ambiguities … that no one in our community has ever considered part of compliance”. And to fix it, their Statement “adopts the same termination provisions we are all familiar with from GPL-3.0 as an Additional Permission giving companies confidence that they will have time to come into compliance if a failure is identified”. Do you remember back when GPL 3.0 came out, and Linus Torvalds and other senior kernel figures issued a statement claiming that they were quite happy with GPL 2.0, they had no intention of moving to GPL 3.0, which he quite publicly loathed? Seems like now they are slowly coming to a realization of the reasons why GPL 3.0 was created in the first place...

1 0

Ah, The Joys Of Debian Unstable ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Oct '17

17 Oct '17

Did my (roughly) monthly system upgrades over the last couple of days. Debian has changed the default Python version for the “python3” command to 3.6. (And Blender now requires that version for building as well.) Didn’t notice anything broken until today, when I tried to print something on my HP inkjet. Turns out the various HP/CUPS-related packages with version number 3.17 want the system default Python to be 3.5, not 3.6. In situations like these, the first thing I have learned to try is to manually download older versions of packages from <http://ftp.debian.org/debian/> and install them with “dpkg -i”. For reference, these are the packages I downgraded: dpkg -i hplip-data_3.16.11+repack0-3_all.deb dpkg -i libhpmud0_3.16.11+repack0-3_amd64.deb dpkg -i libsane-hpaio_3.16.11+repack0-3_amd64.deb dpkg -i printer-driver-hpcups_3.16.11+repack0-3_amd64.deb dpkg -i hplip_3.16.11+repack0-3_amd64.deb And it worked. My printer now prints again. Presumably this will be sorted out in time for my next upgrade ...

1 3

Unlikely Things Running Linux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

>From the International Space Station and Large Hadron Collider, through self-driving cars, an electric motorbike and a solar-powered surfboard, down to a milking machine, Computer Engineer Barbie and a crockpot, Brian Lunduke presents a quick tour of just some of the unlikely places you will find a computer running Linux <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPbAXKMCDkY>. Complete with a sting in the tail for those who uncritically subscribe to the old “do one thing and do it well” misconception...

1 0

meeting suggestions?
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

Hi everyone Since we had no volunteers for demoing "Sogo Groupware Server" (Roger?), does anybody else have a topic for next Monday's meeting? Ubuntu 17.10 should be out then... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

qTox – An Open Source P2P Instant Messaging and VoIP App
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

'As you probably already know, GNU/Linux has no shortage of VoIP apps. We’ve written on Wire and Discord. And we even compiled a list of The 10 Best Instant Messaging Apps for Linux. Today, we’ve got a new app to add to our list of instant messaging apps and it goes by the name of qTox. qTox is a free and open source p2p instant messaging, audio and video calls app and is (apparently) the most feature-rich Tox client. As a powerful Tox client, it follows Tox’s design guidelines while maintaining a uniform UI/UX across all the major platforms. It is built with privacy as its paramount goal and the team has even made a public statement that user safety is their priority and nothing in the world can change that.' -- source: https://www.fossmint.com/qtox-an-open-source-p2p-instant-messaging-and-voip… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Windows Subsystem for Linux graduates in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

'Interested in running Linux on Windows 10 with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), but nervous about it being both a beta and only available in Windows 10 developer mode? Your worries are over. In the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (WinFCU) WSL has graduated to being a Windows 10 feature that can be run by any user. Tested for over a year, WSL on WinFCU is bringing many new features to this combination of the Linux Bash shell and Windows. Besides WSL no longer being a beta or requiring users to be in developer mode, the new features include: Install Linux distros via the Windows Store - WSL now runs multiple Linux distros - WSL comes to Windows Server & Microsoft Azure VMs - WSL now supports USB/serial comms - Miscellaneous fixes and improvements Besides Ubuntu, the new WSL-supported Linux distros are SUSE's community openSUSE and its corporate SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). Fedora and other distros will arrive in the store shortly.' -- source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-subsystem-for-linux-graduates-in-windo… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Munich Plans New Vote on Dumping Linux For Windows 10
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

'The city of Munich has suggested it will cost too much to carry on using Linux alongside Windows, despite having spent millions of euros switching PCs to open-source software... "Today, with a Linux client-centric environment, we are often confronted with major difficulties and additional costs when it comes to acquiring and operating professional application software," the city council told the German Federation of Taxpayers. Running Linux will ultimately prove unsustainable, suggests the council, due to the need to also keep a minority of Windows machines to run line-of-business software incompatible with Linux. "In the long term, this situation means that the operation of the non-uniform client landscape can no longer be made cost-efficient"... Since completing the multi-year move to LiMux, a custom-version of the Linux-based OS Ubuntu, the city always kept a smaller number of Windows machines to run incompatible software. As of last year it had about 4,163 Windows-based PCs, compared to about 20,000 Linux-based PCs. The assessment is at odds with a wide-ranging review of the city's IT systems by Accenture last year, which found that most of the problems stem not from the use of open-source software, but from inefficiencies in how Munich co-ordinates the efforts of IT teams scattered throughout different departments. Dr. Florian Roth, leader of the Green Party at Munich City Council, said the review had also not recommended a wholesale shift to Windows. "The Accenture report suggested to run both systems because the complete 'rollback' to Windows and MS Office would mean a waste of experience, technology, work and money," he said... The city's administration is investigating how long it would take and how much it would cost to build a Windows 10 client for use by the city's employees. Once this work is complete, the council will vote again in November on whether this Windows client should replace LiMux across the authority from 2021. A taxpayer's federation post urged "Penguin, adieu!" -- while also admitting that returning to Windows "will devour further tax money in the millions," according to TechRepublic. "The federation's post also makes no mention of the licensing and other savings achieved by switching to LiMux, estimated to stand at about €10m."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/10/15/2344244 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Microsoft Has Already Fixed the Wi-Fi Attack Vulnerability; Android Will Be Patched Within Weeks
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

'Microsoft says it has already fixed the problem for customers running supported versions of Windows. From a report: "We have released a security update to address this issue," says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. "Customers who apply the update, or have automatic updates enabled, will be protected. We continue to encourage customers to turn on automatic updates to help ensure they are protected." Microsoft is planning to publish details of the update later today. While it looks like Android and Linux devices are affected by the worst part of the vulnerabilities, allowing attackers to manipulate websites, Google has promised a fix for affected devices "in the coming weeks." Google's own Pixel devices will be the first to receive fixes with security patch level of November 6, 2017, but most other handsets are still well behind even the latest updates. Security researchers claim 41 percent of Android devices are vulnerable to an "exceptionally devastating" variant of the Wi-Fi attack that involves manipulating traffic, and it will take time to patch older devices.' -- source: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/17/10/16/166220 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Millions of High-Security Crypto Keys Crippled by Newly Discovered Flaw
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

'Slovak and Czech researchers have found a vulnerability that leaves government and corporate encryption cards vulnerable to hackers to impersonate key owners, inject malicious code into digitally signed software, and decrypt sensitive data, reports ArsTechnica. From the report: The weakness allows attackers to calculate the private portion of any vulnerable key using nothing more than the corresponding public portion. Hackers can then use the private key to impersonate key owners, decrypt sensitive data, sneak malicious code into digitally signed software, and bypass protections that prevent accessing or tampering with stolen PCs. The five-year-old flaw is also troubling because it's located in code that complies with two internationally recognized security certification standards that are binding on many governments, contractors, and companies around the world. The code library was developed by German chipmaker Infineon and has been generating weak keys since 2012 at the latest. The flaw is the one Estonia's government obliquely referred to last month when it warned that 750,000 digital IDs issued since 2014 were vulnerable to attack. Estonian officials said they were closing the ID card public key database to prevent abuse. On Monday, officials posted this update. Last week, Microsoft, Google, and Infineon all warned how the weakness can impair the protections built into TPM products that ironically enough are designed to give an additional measure of security to high-targeted individuals and organizations.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/10/16/1736252 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Nobel Prize Winner Argues Tech Companies Should Be Changing The World
by Peter Reutemann 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

'Tech companies are competing to serve the wealthy, argues the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, complaining there's no "global vision," with big innovations instead "designed and dedicated mostly for commercial successes... while trillions of dollars are invested in developing robotics and artificial intelligence for military and commercial purposes, there is little interest in applying technology to overcome the massive human problems of the world." A genius in the tech industry "can dedicate his work to creating a medical breakthrough that will save thousands of lives -- or he can develop an app that will let people amuse themselves." As an exception, he cites the low-cost Endless computer, which runs Linux and has 50,000 Wikipedia articles pre-installed to enable offline research -- plus more than 100 applications -- for a price of just $79. "One part of Endless's business is operated like a conventional, profit-seeking company, while the other part is a social business that provides underserved populations with educational, health, and creative services they were once denied. Endless is already being shipped around the globe by four of the five largest computer manufacturers. It has become the leading PC platform in Indonesia and much of Southeast Asia. It has also been selected as the standard operating system for the Brazilian Ministry of Education, and in coming months it will be adopted as the primary platform by a number of other Latin American countries." The article is by Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the concepts of microcredit and microfinance, and is taken from his new book, A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emission' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/10/15/1739212 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Olimex ships $284 open source Linux laptop kit
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '17

15 Oct '17

'Olimex is shipping its open source, Alwinner A64 based Teres-A64 laptop kit, with an 11.6-in LCD, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, 9500mAh battery, and an Ubuntu Mate OS. Back in February, Bulgaria-based Olimex, which is known for its open spec OLinuXino SBCs like the Allwinner A64 based A64-OLinuXino, announced an open source laptop kit based on the same quad-core, Cortex-A53 SoC called the Teres-1. The Ubuntu Mate-supported laptop kit took longer than expected, but it’s finally here as the Teres-A64, selling for 240 Euros ($284) instead of 225 Euros.' -- source: http://linuxgizmos.com/olimex-ships-open-source-linux-laptop-and-tips-new-c… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) Is Now in Final Freeze, Launches October 19
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '17

15 Oct '17

'Work on Ubuntu 17.10 begun six months ago, on April 20, when the toolchain was uploaded to the repository, with the main goal of replacing our beloved Unity user interface with the latest GNOME 3 desktop environment. Two Alpha and Beta milestones later, Ubuntu 17.10 is now officially in Final Freeze stage. "As of now, artful has entered the Final Freeze period in preparation for the final release of Ubuntu 17.10 next week," said Adam Conrad, Software Engineer at Canonical, in a mailing list announcement. "The current uploads in the queue will be reviewed and either accepted or rejected as appropriate by pre-freeze standards." Of course, this means that developers won't be able to update any of the packages they maintain, except for those that fix critical bugs affecting the ISO images or the installer. Patches for 0-day security vulnerabilities are also welcome during the Final Freeze stage, which will last until next week, on October 19, 2017.' -- source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-17-10-artful-aardvark-is-now-in-final… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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How to Switch to Xorg from Wayland in Ubuntu 17.10 [Quick Tip]
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '17

15 Oct '17

"One of the main new features in Ubuntu 17.10 is the addition of Wayland as the default display server. As more and more Linux distributions are moving away from the legacy X.Org server and Wayland seems to be the top alternative. While Wayland maybe the future, it really is in future. At least for Ubuntu 17.10. The issue here is that a number of Linux desktop applications still depend on X.Org. They don’t support Wayland very well." -- source: https://itsfoss.com/switch-xorg-wayland/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

New Android ransomware "DoubleLocker"
by Eric Light 15 Oct '17

15 Oct '17

Anyone out there still trust Adobe Flash Player? "DoubleLocker can change the device’s PIN, preventing victims from accessing their devices, and also encrypts the data it finds in them – a combination that has not been seen previously in the Android ecosystem. [...] It is distributed mostly as a fake Adobe Flash Player through compromised websites. First, it changes the device’s PIN, effectively blocking the victim from using it. The new PIN is set to a random value which the attackes neither store nor send anywhere, so it’s impossible for the user or a security expert to recover it. After the ransom is paid, the attacker can remotely reset the PIN and unlock the device. Second, DoubleLocker encrypts all files from the device’s primary storage directory. It utilizes the AES encryption algorithm, appending the extension “.cryeye”. “The encryption is implemented properly, which means that, unfortunately, there is no way to recover the files without receiving the encryption key from the attackers,” says Štefanko. https://www.welivesecurity.com/2017/10/13/doublelocker-innovative-android-m… -------------------------------------------- Q: Why is this email five sentences or less? A: http://five.sentenc.es

1 0

SUSE Shares Linux-Themed Music Video Parodies
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '17

15 Oct '17

'German Linux company SUSE Linux is well-known for its Linux and other open source solutions. It is also known for producing videos for geeks and debuting them at its annual SUSECon conference. This year, in Prague, was no different. The company, which marked its 25th year on 2 September, came up with two videos, one to mark the occasion and the other all about Linux and open source. Both videos are parodies of well-known songs: the video Linus Said is based on "Momma Said", while 25 Years is a parody of "7 Years". Some of the lyrics in both SUSE videos would be meaningless to the average person -- but every word will ring a bell, sometimes a very poignant one, with geeks. And that's the primary audience it targets. The article embeds both videos -- and also links to the music videos they're parodying. And it includes links to SUSE's two previous annual music video parodies -- Uptime Funk (based on Bruno Mars' blockbuster hit "Uptown Funk"), and Can't Stop the SUSE, a parody of Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling".' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/10/15/0137205 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Unpatched Exploit Lets You Clone Key Fobs and Open Subaru Cars
by Peter Reutemann 15 Oct '17

15 Oct '17

'Tom Wimmenhove, a Dutch electronics designer, has discovered a flaw in the key fob system used by several Subaru models, a vulnerability the vendor has not patched and could be abused to hijack cars. The issue is that key fobs for some Subaru cars use sequential codes for locking and unlocking the vehicle, and other operations. These codes -- called rolling codes or hopping code -- should be random, in order to avoid situations when an attacker discovers their sequence and uses the flaw to hijack cars. This is exactly what Wimmenhove did. He created a device that sniffs the code, computes the next rolling code and uses it to unlock cars... The researcher said he reached out to Subaru about his findings. "I did [reach out]. I told them about the vulnerability and shared my code with them," Wimmenhove told BleepingComputer. "They referred me to their 'partnership' page and asked me to fill in a questionnaire. It didn't seem like they really cared and I haven't heard back from them." His Subaru-cracking feat -- documented in a video -- was accomplished using a $25 Raspberry Pi B+ and two dongles, one for wifi ($2) and one for a TV ($8), plus a $1 antenna and a $1 MCX-to-SMA convertor.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/10/14/230254 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Everybody Has To Be A Software Company Now
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Oct '17

14 Oct '17

Wireless speakers made by Pure no longer work with Apple’s newest phone OS, because it has dropped the ability to run 32-bit apps--everything must now be 64-bit-only <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/12/ios_11_knackers_neglected_pure_conn…>: Part of the problem, it seems, is Pure's inability to maintain and update its own apps, and it is most likely not alone in this respect: companies that have outsourced their mobile app programming are finding themselves locked out of iOS 11 because they can't get the code or the tools or the people to rebuild their contract-developed software. The iOS App Store shows that the last update to Pure Connect was on June 25, 2015, more than two years ago, so Pure has been without a mobile developer for a while, it seems. More and more consumer products need ongoing software updates now. But the companies selling those products are having trouble getting to grips with that fact.

3 2

Impersonating Password Prompts
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 13 Oct '17

13 Oct '17

An old problem which never seems to be quite solved: how do you distinguish pieces of software on a platform that have a legitimate need to request a password from you, from those which don’t? <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/10/impersonating_i.html>

1 0

XikiHub: The Social Command Line
by Peter Reutemann 13 Oct '17

13 Oct '17

'In 2014, Craig Muth developed an open source alternative shell called Xiki (executable wiki) which combined shell and GUI concepts and tried making the shell console more friendly and powerful. The selection was easier with arrow keys or with mouse clicks and there was the option to create menus to access other tools with ease. And, all of this was made possible for beginners with little to no knowledge about the command line. ' [see archive link here: https://list.waikato.ac.nz/pipermail/wlug/2014-June/012983.html] 'Now, Xiki is going a step further with XikiHub by adding a social element to commands. XikiHub aims to be a social repository where you can discover thousands of examples and interfaces contributed from users all over the world. You can pick up the one you like, create your own and contribute it to the social repository. The idea behind XikiHub is to create a social platform where any Xiki user can share a command he/she created that can be picked up and used by any other user. It will include a quick install step that will provide the option to review before installing a command.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/xikihub-social-command-line/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Endless OS Is First Linux Distro to Support Flatpak Apps from Flathub by Default
by Peter Reutemann 13 Oct '17

13 Oct '17

'Flatpak has been around for some time now, and it's gaining more and more popularity among GNU/Linux distributions. Endless OS is the latest to announce that it brings support for Flatpak apps, though it's the first to offer support for this universal binary format directly from the Flathub repository, by default. Last month, the Flatpak developers over at Red Hat announced that their Flathub software repository received a modern, web-based frontend, which allows users to easily browse all available Flatpak apps at a glance, and developers to add their own Flatpaks to the list of more than 100 apps.' -- source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/endless-os-is-first-linux-distro-to-enable-s… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Purism Linux smartphone makes its $1.5 million crowdfunding goal
by Peter Reutemann 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

'Hundreds of millions are happy with Android smartphones and iPhones. But there are some users who want the maximum possible control over their smartphones. For those people, Purism now has the funding it needs for its free-software smartphone without a trace of proprietary code or firmware: The Purism Librem 5 smartphone. At first, it appeared Purism wouldn't make its $1.5-million goal. The Librem 5 crowdfunding campaign staggered forward at first. Them, when KDE and then GNOME threw their support behind the project, the project picked up steam.' -- source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/purism-linux-smartphone-makes-its-1-5-million-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 2

How to test internet speed in Linux terminal
by Peter Reutemann 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

'Most of us check the internet bandwidth speed whenever we connect to new network or wifi. So why not our servers! Here is a tutorial which will walk you through to test internet speed in Linux terminal. Everyone of us generally uses Speedtest by Ookla to check internet speed. Its pretty simple process for a desktop. Goto their website and just click GO button. It will scans your location and speed test with nearest server. If you are on mobile, they have their app for you. But if you are on terminal with command line interface things are little different. Lets see how to check internet speed from Linux terminal.' -- source: https://kerneltalks.com/tips-tricks/how-to-test-internet-speed-in-linux-ter… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Europe pledges support for open source government solutions
by Peter Reutemann 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

'Estonia has long been the digital envy of many European Union member states. An effective and open policy approach to digital government has yielded extraordinary results—from 90%+ uptake of electronic identification (E-ID) solutions to an open source e-government platform (X-Road) to meet the ever-growing expectations of IT-savvy citizens as well as other countries wanting to pool IT across borders. It was thus fitting that Estonia, the current EU presidency, brought together Ministers from 32 countries (under the umbrellas of the EU and European Free Trade Association) to adopt the Tallinn Declaration on E-Government, creating a renewed political dynamism coupled with legal tools to accelerate the implementation of a range of existing EU policy instruments (e.g., the e-Government Action Plan and ISA² program). Perhaps the most significant development for open source supporters is the explicit recognition of open source software (OSS) as a key driver towards achieving ambitious governmental digitisation goals by 2020.' -- source: https://opensource.com/article/17/10/eu-open-source Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

How to Enable Fractional Scaling in Gnome
by Peter Reutemann 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

'Fractional scaling is practically necessary if you’re running a HiDPI display, and you want your desktop to scale uniformly to match your display. It’s always been an issue on Linux, but the latest version of the GNOME desktop has implemented a true fractional scaling feature to keep your desktop looking good. Even though GNOME 3.26 does have fractional scaling support, it wasn’t mature enough to make the release. As a result, it’s still a testing feature that you need to enable yourself.' -- source: https://www.maketecheasier.com/enable-fractional-scaling-gnome/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Sonos Speakers: Refuse Updates, They Stop Working
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Oct '17

12 Oct '17

In August, when wireless speaker maker Sonos decided to update its privacy policy to allow it to gather more data on its customers from their devices, it characterized the consequences of refusing to accept the change as being left out of future feature upgrades. ... "If you choose not to provide the functional data, you won't be able to receive software updates," a Sonos spokesperson explained at the time. "It's not like if you don't accept it, we'd be shutting down your device or intentionally bricking it." ... However, the [spokesperson] acknowledged that a few people who have updated their apps, manually or through automatic updates, have ended up with software on their handsets that isn't compatible with their firmware – which did not update because they would not accept the privacy policy change. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/11/sonos_privacy_speakers/>

1 0

Adventures In E-Mail
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Oct '17

11 Oct '17

I am currently messing about with a virtual private server at Rimu Hosting, with a view to have it take over my e-mail serving after Vodafone turns off its provision of that service. Eventually I will have an MX record for my domain pointing at that server, so it will receive all e-mail addressed to me. Next part is, I want to periodically suck all that mail back to my main office machine. Currently I have a cron task that periodically connects to Vodafone’s POP server, fetches all the mail, and delivers it locally. When I try to do the same thing with the VPS, my local Postfix bounces the attempt at local delivery, saying something like <user(a)domain> (expanded from <user>): mail forwarding loop for user(a)domain A bit of hunting around online found this <http://postfix.1071664.n5.nabble.com/What-is-causing-this-mail-forwarding-l…> likely discussion, where the problem seems to be that the incoming message already has a “Delivered-To:” header pointing at my e-mail address, so Postfix concludes that the message is stuck in a forwarding loop, and refuses to pass it on. The exchange ends with this response from Wietse Venema, “Mr Postfix” himself: You can use header_checks to remove the problem header, but I will not help with implementing such iodiocy. Hmm, looking at the local(8) man page, it says In order to stop mail forwarding loops early, the software adds an optional Delivered-To: header with the final envelope recipient address. If mail arrives for a recipient that is already listed in a Delivered-To: header, the message is bounced. The key being that word “optional”. So it looks like I simply have to disable the addition of “Delivered-To:” on the VPS. Stay tuned.

2 3

OpenBSD 6.2 Released
by Peter Reutemann 10 Oct '17

10 Oct '17

'OpenBSD 6.2 has now been released. Some of the new features and systems include improved hardware support, vmm(4)/ vmd(8) improvements, IEEE 802.11 wireless stack improvements, generic network stack improvements, installer improvements, routing daemons and other userland network improvements, security improvements and more.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/10/09/2029219 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Linux Now Has its First Open Source RISC-V Processor
by Peter Reutemann 09 Oct '17

09 Oct '17

'"SiFive has declared that 2018 will be the year of RISC V Linux processors," writes Design News. An anonymous reader quotes their report: When it released its first open-source system on a chip, the Freeform Everywhere 310, last year, Silicon Valley startup SiFive was aiming to push the RISC-V architecture to transform the hardware industry in the way that Linux transformed the software industry. Now the company has delivered further on that promise with the release of the U54-MC Coreplex, the first RISC-V-based chip that supports Linux, Unix, and FreeBSD... This latest development has RISC-V enthusiasts particularly excited because now it opens up a whole new world of use cases for the architecture and paves the way for RISC-V processors to compete with ARM cores and similar offerings in the enterprise and consumer space... "The U54 Coreplexes are great for companies looking to build SoC's around RISC-V," Andrew Waterman co-founder and chief engineer at SiFive, as well as the one of the co-creators of RISC-V, told Design News. "The forthcoming silicon is going to enable much better software development for RISC-V." Waterman said that, while SiFive had developed low-level software such as compilers for RISC-V the company really hopes that the open-source community will be taking a much broader role going forward and really pushing the technology forward. "No matter how big of a role we would want to have we can't make a dent," Waterman said. "But what we can do is make sure the army of engineers out there are empowered." ' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/10/09/0019212 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Review by many eyes does not always prevent buggy code
by Peter Reutemann 09 Oct '17

09 Oct '17

'There is a view that because open source software is subject to review by many eyes, all the bugs will be ironed out of it. This is a myth.' -- source: https://opensource.com/article/17/10/many-eyes Even if a project has many contributors, you will get a lot of contributors in areas that are easy to contribute in (eg spelling, expanding documentation, simple additions) and hardly anyone in the difficult areas. The less contributors in an area, the less likely they will overlap and therefore the less code review will happen. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 8

4 Best Modern Open Source Code Editors For Linux
by Peter Reutemann 09 Oct '17

09 Oct '17

According to the author of the article referenced below, these are: - Brackets - Atom - Light Table - Visual Studio Code -- source: https://itsfoss.com/best-modern-open-source-code-editors-for-linux/ No, not trying to start another flame war here. However, it doesn't hurt pointing out alternatives. After all, it is all about choice. ;-) Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

How to Install Multiple Linux Distributions on One USB
by Peter Reutemann 09 Oct '17

09 Oct '17

'MultiBootUSB is a free and open source cross-platform application which allows you to create a USB drive with multiple Linux distributions. It also supports uninstalling any distribution at any point in time, so you can reclaim space on your drive for another one.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/multiple-linux-one-usb/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Licensing Pirate Sites
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 07 Oct '17

07 Oct '17

Fun fact: pirating US-made movies is not a crime in Iran ... provided you have a licence from the Government. So *licensed* pirate sites get to dob in *unlicensed* pirate sites for breaking the law. Got that? <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171003/09314138334/iran-cracks-down-mov…>

1 0

How to install Sogo Groupware Server on Debian
by Peter Reutemann 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

'Today we talk about Sogo. SOGo is a fully supported and trusted groupware server with a focus on scalability and open standards, is released under the GNU GPL/LGPL v2 and above. SOGo provides a rich AJAX-based Web interface and supports multiple native clients through the use of standard protocols such as CalDAV, CardDAV, and GroupDAV, as well as Microsoft ActiveSync. In this tutorial we'll install on Debian 8, a new version will be available soon.' -- source: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/how-to-install-sogo-on-debian-8/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

4 6

OpenVPN And systemd Service Templates
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

The OpenVPN package on Debian comes with some systemd .service files to make VPN connections easier to manage. These (all located in /lib/systemd/system/) are named openvpn-client(a).service openvpn-server(a).service openvpn.service openvpn(a).service Note the @-signs in the names of three of them: these indicate “template” services, each of which can be “instantiated” any number of times, to create multiple service “instances”. There seem to be two alternative ways of defining your OpenVPN services here: the first two .service files let you define and manage client-end and server-end connections individually, and require you to start and stop them separately, while the latter two don’t bother distinguishing between client-end and server-end (this is purely up to the respective OpenVPN configurations), they are all defined by instantiating “openvpn(a).service”. The non-template file, “openvpn.service”, can then be used to start and stop all these instances at once. (It could be that the first two represent an older way of managing connections, while the latter two are a newer, unified, more flexible way. But hey...) To illustrate how template instantiations work, I have been setting up a VPN link between a virtual private server at Rimu Hosting and the Internet router machine in my office. The VPS (with the fixed IP address) is the server end, while my office end is the client. On the server, I create a config file named /etc/openvpn/server/office.conf that appropriately defines the server end of the connection. The name “office” now automatically becomes the name of the instance: to start this, I just type systemctl start openvpn-server(a)office and systemd automatically fills in the name “office” in place of the “%i” placeholder in the contents of the openvpn-server(a).service template file, and executes the appropriate openvpn command. (One of the occurrences of %i is in the name of the config file.) At the client end, I create a config file named /etc/openvpn/client/vps.conf that appropriately defines the client end of the connection. Here the instance name is “vps”, so the systemd command to launch openvpn at the client end is systemctl start openvpn-client(a)vps and as before, instances of “%i” in the template are replaced with the instance name, “vps”. (As before, %i is also used to produce the name of the config file.) Of course, manually starting and stopping OpenVPN instances may be fine for testing, but for production use you want this to happen automatically at boot time. Just change the systemctl “start” commands to “enable”, and it’s done.

1 0

Intel Versus AMD
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

Comparing current high-end CPU offerings from the two x86 vendors <https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2017/09/intel-core-i9-7960x-review/>, it’s clear AMD has bounced back from many years in the “also-ran” back row with its “Ryzen” and “Threadripper” offerings: The difference is that AMD bet on a massively multicore future for consumers and prosumers, designing an architecture with dramatic scaling in mind, when Intel was still umming and ahhing whether to bring six-core chips to the mainstream. So if you make heavy use of multithreaded software, for example 3D rendering, video encoding, or large software builds, then AMD currently has a significant price/performance edge. Interesting that one of the benchmarks is “Blenchmark”, which involves using Blender to render a 3D BMW car model, while another builds Google’s Chromium browser from source.

1 0

How Bulletproof Hosting Works
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

“Bulletproof” hosting providers tout their ability to stay online in spite of the efforts of law enforcement to shut them down. Here is a report <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/05/bulletproof_hosting/> into some research detailing how they manage to keep operating: One service cited by the work is a cloud proxy network that abuses the services of legitimate providers including AWS and TenCent. The product ... typically costs $250/month/domain and maintains operations by cycling through an enormous number of providers – 230 in just nine days, according to the researchers. ... Another provider ...is still in business despite being raided three times ... Operating out of political hotspots gives some BPH operations another shield against takedown attempts.

1 0

How Do Sysadmins Manage Patches?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

The infamous Equifax breach (which has compromised the personal information belonging to 140 million Americans) was down to a vulnerability in an application library which had already been discovered and a patch issued months before, but the patch was never applied at the company. Why does this sort of thing keep happening? Here is a research survey <https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/10/04/avoid-an-equifax-like-breach-help-…> being undertaken to try to better understand the real-world constraints under which companies operate, with a view to making the software update process more effective (i.e. more likely to be followed).

1 0

HP Shared ArcSight Source Code With Russians
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

Bruce Schneier repeats a point that should be well-known about security and Open Source, but which some still have trouble grasping: This is one of the areas where open-source software has a security edge. If everyone has access to the source code -- and security doesn't depend on its secrecy -- then there's no advantage in getting a copy. As long as companies rely on obscurity for their security, these sorts of attacks are possible and profitable. <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/10/hp_shared_arcsi.html>

1 0

Return Of The Algorithm Monster: YouTube Auto-Promoted Conspiracy Theory Videos
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Oct '17

06 Oct '17

During the [Wall Street Journal]'s Tuesday test, searches for hot-topic terms like "Las Vegas shooting" and "NFL anthem protest," along with the term "9/11," each brought up top-five video posts, specifically listed in the site's "Top News" box, whose titles and content were loaded with debunked and misleading content. The fifth result for "Las Vegas shooting" was titled "Proof Las Vegas Shooting Was a FALSE FLAG attack—Shooter on 4th Floor" and claimed that multiple shooters had been involved, in spite of Vegas officials stating otherwise. <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/10/return-of-the-algorithm-monster-yout…>

1 0

“Your Account eStatement For February”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 Oct '17

05 Oct '17

It took me a few seconds to parse this one. Dear Customer Attached is your provisional statement with the new charges. For your security it has been encrypted. This means that you will need a decoder to view your statement. Before you can view your statement, you must Download the attachment and install the decoder. Read that far, and initially thought “for crying out loud, another bloody piece of Windows-only software”. Then a few seconds later, it dawned on me that, while it claimed to come from the right bank, the from-address <JOhnEdwarD011(a)gaea.ocn.ne.jp> couldn’t be that of any bank. It wasn’t until after I’d filed it as a scam that I noticed the most glaring thing: “February”??

1 0

World’s First 14TB Drive
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Oct '17

04 Oct '17

Western Digital has announced a drive using shingled media recording to push the capacity up to 14TB <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/03/wdc_14tb_disk_drive_hs14/>. Unfortunately, this recording technique complicates (and slows down) writing, so it is meant for applications where data is read a lot, and updated less frequently.

1 0

Timeshift A System Restore Utility Tool Review
by Peter Reutemann 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

'TimeShift is a system restore tool for Linux. It provides functionality that is quite similar to the System Restore feature in Windows or the Time Machine tool in MacOS. TimeShift protects your system by making incremental snapshots of the file system manually or at regular automated intervals. These snapshots can then be restored at a later point to undo all changes to the system and restore it to the previous state. Snapshots are made using rsync and hard-links and the tool shares common files amongst snapshots in order to save disk space' -- source: http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/timeshift-a-system-restore-utility-tool-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

3 3

Quote Of The Week From UK Home Sec Amber Rudd
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

"I don't need to understand how encryption works to understand how it's helping – end-to-end encryption – the criminals. I will engage with the security services to find the best way to combat that." <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/03/amber_rudd_still_does_not_understan…>

1 0

Asciinema – Record Terminal Sessions And Share Them On The Web
by Peter Reutemann 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

'I already know about recording the Terminal activities using “script” command in Unix-like systems. Today, I found out yet another similar utility called “asciinema” that can used to record Terminal sessions. Forget about the heavy screen-recording tools and/or apps. Asciinema is a fast, light-weight and open source Terminal recording tool. Unlike “script” command, Asciinema not just records our Terminal activities, but also helps us to share them on the web if necessary. You can share the recordings by copying its URL and sending it to a friend or posting it on a social network. It supports Linux, Mac OS X and *BSD.' -- source: https://www.ostechnix.com/asciinema-record-terminal-sessions-share-web/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Android users rejoice! Linux kernel LTS releases are now good for 6 years
by Peter Reutemann 02 Oct '17

02 Oct '17

'A major change in the maintenance lifecycle of Linux kernels is coming. During a Linaro Connect 2017 presentation on Android's Project Treble, Googler Iliyan Malchev announced that Linux LTS (Long Term Support) kernels were switching from a two-year lifecycle to a whopping six years of support. The free and open source Linux kernel powers most of the devices around us. It's not only present in computers and servers, it also powers most of the ARM devices on earth, so it's present in Android devices, the Internet of things, and almost anything else you can call "smart." Major new versions of the Linux kernel arrive about every 70 days. Not everyone wants to upend their existing system every 70 days to upgrade to the new kernel, though, so to help with this, the Linux kernel has traditionally had a "Long Term Support (LTS)" kernel, which is supported for two years. Rather than do a major kernel bump, devices can keep running an LTS kernel and regularly get bug and security fixes, which aren't as disruptive as full releases.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/android-users-rejoice-linux-kernel-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

An Ordinary User’s Adventures In Linux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Sep '17

30 Sep '17

I helped an elderly friend set up his new PC yesterday. His previous machine, over a decade old, was running Windows XP. I had set up an Ubuntu dual-boot a few years back, and he liked playing the games. But then the Linux boot stopped working--there was a message to the effect “hd0 out of disk”, which sounded like a GRUB problem (“hd0” being a GRUB disk name, not a Linux disk name). I booted up SystemRescueCD, and found that disk space was ample. I did an fsck on the Linux volume, and found no filesystem problems. I ran a badblocks scan, and it reported several bad sectors, though oddly they only seemed to be in the Windows partition (if I interpreted the numbers correctly). Naturally I searched online, but the hits I found for that error message didn’t seem very helpful. Reinstalling GRUB didn’t help, so I concluded there were likely other hardware problems, so time for a new machine. He got an entry-level dual-core AMD box from PBTech--their own house build, in a CoolerMaster case--for well under a grand. Nothing fancy, but good enough for his needs--mainly Web browsing, e-mail, a little bit of word processing, and those games. The PBTech box came without an OS. He could have got Windows 10 for it, but considering he would be facing a learning curve coming from XP regardless, I suggested going 100% Linux for all his daily needs, to see if that would work. He could always spend the $160-odd extra on Windows later if need be. So I set it up with Linux Mint, since that seems to be everybody’s favourite :). He was already using Firefox on Windows, so moving all his Web bookmarks across was easy. The Mint install put an icon for Thunderbird on the desktop by default, so I decided to try that for e-mail. Getting his address book across from Outlook Express was fairly straightforward, once I figured out how to map the exported CSV field names correctly. The mail messages were slightly more fiddly, but I found this extension <https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/> which directly loads Microsoft’s .dbx files, and that seemed to work OK. Then he wanted to play CDs. When we put in an audio CD, it came up with options to run Banshee (media player) or Brasero (disc burner). The Banshee media player wouldn’t play the CD directly, it insisted on ripping it to the hard drive first. This was not really what he wanted. I had a look round, and found KsCD, which will indeed play audio CDs without trying to rip them to audio files first. As far as I know, this is the only GUI Linux app that can do so. So, day 1 ended on a reasonably successful note. He was already noticing how much faster the new machine was. So we’ll see how it goes from here...

5 13

Well, That’s One Way For A Site To Make Money ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Sep '17

30 Sep '17

Would you let a website run a Bitcoin miner in your browser? <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170928/11262538304/showtime-wont-explai…>

1 0

Java Security Plagued By Crappy Docs, Complex APIs, Bad Advice
by rowan schischka 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

>Does a system of assigning point scores to people make things better ... or worse? Gamifying an internet forum/social media; My experience with stackoverflow is it really rewards people who have a lot of spare time. The problem of measuring work is, the work will be moulded by your method of measurement. Any point/scoring/KPI system results in cheating & corner cutting in some way.

1 0

Java Security Plagued By Crappy Docs, Complex APIs, Bad Advice
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

... researchers from Virginia Tech contend more care needs to be taken when copying code from accepted Stack Overflow answers, at least in the context of Java. ... they found that many of the answers endorsed by the Stack Overflow community led to insecure code. For example, accepted answers often recommended the use of MD5 and SHA-1 crypto algorithms – despite the fact that they're insecure and should not be used. ... They also observed that in some instances, the higher social reputation of Stack Overflow respondents led to incorrect answers being accepted over more correct fixes offered by individuals with lesser reputation scores. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/29/java_security_plagued_stack_overflo…>

2 2

Internet Explorer Bug Leaks Whatever You Type In the Address Bar
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'The latest version of Internet Explorer has a bug that leaks the addresses, search terms, or any other text typed into the address bar. The flaw was disclosed Tuesday by security researcher Manual Caballero. Ars Technica reports: The bug allows any currently visited website to view any text entered into the address bar as soon as the user hits enter. The technique can expose sensitive information a user didn't intend to be viewed by remote websites, including the Web address the user is about to visit. The hack can also expose search queries, since IE allows them to be typed into the address bar and then retrieved from Bing or other search services. The proof-of-concept makes it transparent that the attacking website is viewing the entered text. The hack, however can easily be modified to make the information theft completely stealthy. A proof-of-concept site shows the exploit in action.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/09/28/0245228 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

System76 Pop!_OS Beta Ubuntu-based Linux Distribution Now Available To Download
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'Next month, a new era of Ubuntu begins. Unity is dead, and GNOME 3 takes over as the default desktop environment. While this change was for the best, it was still shocking for many. For a company like System76, for instance, that sells computers pre-loaded with Ubuntu, this was problematic. Why? Well, the company essentially lost control of the overall user experience by relying on vanilla Ubuntu. It was being forced to follow Canonical's path. To solve this, and regain some control, System76 has been developing its own operating system called 'Pop!_OS.' No, it is not reinventing the wheel here -- it will still use Ubuntu as a base, and GNOME will be the desktop environment. The company is customizing the operating system, however, with things like fonts, themes, and icons, to create something truly unique. This could lead to an improved user experience. Today, the first official beta of the operating system becomes available for download.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/09/28/190247 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

The World's First Blockchain Smartphone Is In Development
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'A company called Sirin Labs is developing an open-source smartphone that runs on a fee-less blockchain. "The Finney -- named in honor of bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney -- will be the only smartphone in the world that's fully secure and safe enough to hold cryptographic coins," reports Engadget. The company is launching a crowdsale event this October (date to be confirmed) to support the phone's development. >From the report: According to Sirin, all Finney devices (there's an all-in-one PC coming, too) will form an independent blockchain network powered by IOTA's Tangle technology. The network will operate without centralized backbones or mining centers cluttering up the transaction process, using the SRN token as its default currency (only SRN token holders will be able to purchase the device). And it'll all run on a Sirin operating system specially designed to support blockchain applications such as crypto wallets and secure exchange access. The phone comes with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a device with a $1,000 price tag, including a 256GB internal memory and 16MP camera, plus a hefty suite of security measures. ' -- source: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/17/09/27/0749240 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Mozilla's 'Firefox Quantum' Browser Challenges Chrome In Speed
by Peter Reutemann 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

'The next version of Firefox, aptly named Firefox Quantum, is getting a big speed boost. "The idea, of course, is that the upcoming version 57 is a quantum leap over predecessors -- or, in the words of Mozilla CEO Chris Beard, a 'big bang,'" reports CNET. While Mozilla stopped short of declaring victory over Chrome, Nick Nguyen, vice president of Firefox product, said Firefox Quantum's page-load speed "is often perceivably faster" while using 30 percent less memory. From the report: The new Firefox revamp includes lots of under-the-covers improvements, like Quantum Flow, which stamps out dozens of performance bugs, and Quantum CSS, aka Stylo, which speeds up website formatting. More obvious from the outside is a new interface called Photon that wipes out Firefox's rounded tabs and adds a "page action" menu into the address bar. It also builds in the Pocket bookmarking service Mozilla acquired and uses it to recommend sites you might be interested in. A screenshot tool generates a website link so you can easily share what you see by email or Twitter. Mozilla even simplified the Firefox logo, a fox wrapping itself around the globe. More improvements are in the pipeline for later Firefox versions, too, including Quantum Render, which should speed up Firefox's ability to paint web pages onto your screen. ' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/09/27/0727226 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Distrowatch opinion piece about DRM in browsers
by Ian Young 27 Sep '17

27 Sep '17

Some may not have seen an opinion piece in this week's Distrowatch Weekly. Link on front page to article by one Jesse Smith who does most of the reviews on DW. The W3C, encrypted media and software freedom ~ Ian Y

3 2

Manjaro Linux Discontinues 32-bit Support
by Peter Reutemann 26 Sep '17

26 Sep '17

'Recently, Philip, the lead developer of Manjaro Linux, announced that the project would be dropping support for the 32-bit architecture. He said that the reason for the move was “due to the decreasing popularity of i686 among the developers and the community”. While Manjaro 17.0.3 is the last release to have a 32-bit ISO, current 32-bit installs will receive a short window of continued support. During September and October, 32-bit package will continue to be updated. However, starting in November, packages will be limited to 64-bit. After that period, 32-bit installs of Manjaro will essentially be unsupported.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/manjaro-drops-32-bit-support/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Krita 3.3 Digital Painting App Promises Better HiDPI Support on Linux & Windows
by Peter Reutemann 26 Sep '17

26 Sep '17

'In the release announcement, Krita devs reveal the fact that they were forced to bump the version number from 3.2.x to 3.3.x because the upcoming Krita 3.3 release will be introducing some important changes for Windows platforms, such as support for the Windows 8 event API, thus supporting the n-trig pen in Surface laptops. "Alvin Wong has implemented support for the Windows 8 event API, which means that Krita now supports the n-trig pen in the Surface line of laptops (and similar laptops from Dell, HP and Acer) natively. This is still very new, so you have to enable this in the tablet settings," said the devs.' -- source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/krita-3-3-digital-painting-app-promises-bett… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Clear Linux Project Announces the Next Generation of Intel's Clear Containers
by Peter Reutemann 26 Sep '17

26 Sep '17

Since I mentioned Clear Linux at last night's meeting... 'Rewritten in the Go language, Intel Clear Containers 3.0 introduces support for leveraging code used for namespace-based containers and better integrates into the container ecosystem, allowing support for Docker container engine and Kubernetes. It also improves the compatibility with the POSIX family of standards. "Today’s release presents a generational and architectural shift to utilize virtcontainers, a modular and hypervisor agnostic library for hardware virtualized containers. Clear Containers 3.0 is written in Go language and boasts an OCI compatible runtime implementation (cc-runtime) that works both on top of virtcontainers, and as a platform for deployment," said Amy L Leeland, Technical Program Manager, Intel Corporation. Additionally, this release ships with a new agent based on the libcontainer library that has been designed from the offset to let users apply filters and policies, such as the well-known SELinux and seccomp security facilities found in the Linux kernel, inside the Clear Containers guests.' -- source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/clear-linux-project-announces-the-next-gener… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Tiny PocketBeagle is the RPi Zero of the BeagleBone world
by Peter Reutemann 25 Sep '17

25 Sep '17

'BeagleBoard.org’s tiny $25 PocketBeagle is a BeagleBone SBC clone, based on Octavo’s OSD3358-SM SiP module and offering micro-USB, microSD, and 72 I/O pins. BeagleBoard.org has released its smallest BeagleBone variant yet. The COM-like, 56 x 35 x 5mm PocketBeagle is a USB key-fob SBC built on the Octavo Systems OSD335x-SM System-In-Package (SiP) module that was announced earlier this week. Octavo’s 21 x 21mm SiP module, which packs a 1GHz Texas Instruments Sitara AM3358 SoC and nearly all the functions of a BeagleBone Black SBC into a BGA form factor, is 40 percent smaller than the original 27 x 27mm OSD335x.' -- source: http://linuxgizmos.com/tiny-pocketbeagle-is-the-rpi-zero-of-the-beaglebone-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Richard Stallman vs. Canonical's CEO: 'Will Microsoft Love Linux to Death?'
by Peter Reutemann 25 Sep '17

25 Sep '17

' TechRepublic got different answers about Microsoft's new enthusiasm for Linux from Canonical's founder and CEO Mark Shuttleworth, and from Richard Stallman. Stallman "believes that Microsoft's decision to build a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) amounts to an attempt to extinguish software that users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve." "It certainly looks that way. But it won't be so easy to extinguish us, because our reasons for using and advancing free software are not limited to practical convenience," he said. "We want freedom. As a way to use computers in freedom, Windows is a non-starter..." Stallman remains adamant that the WSL can only help entrench the dominance of proprietary software like Windows, and undermine the use of free software. "That doesn't advance the cause of free software, not one bit," he says... "The aim of the free software movement is to free users from freedom-denying proprietary programs and systems, such as Windows. Making a non-free system, such Windows or MacOS or iOS or ChromeOS or Android, more convenient is a step backward in the campaign for freedom..." For Shuttleworth, Windows' embrace of GNU/Linux is a net positive for open-source software as a whole. "It's not like Microsoft is stealing our toys, it's more that we're sharing them with Microsoft in order to give everyone the best possible experience," he says. "WSL provides users who are well versed in the Windows environment with greater choice and flexibility, while also opening up a whole new potential user base for the open source platform..." Today Shuttleworth takes Microsoft's newfound enthusiasm for GNU/Linux at face value, and says the company has a different ethos to that of the 1990s, a fresh perspective that benefits Microsoft as much as it does open-source software. "Microsoft is a different company now, with a much more balanced view of open and competitive platforms on multiple fronts," he says. "They do a tremendous amount of engineering specifically to accommodate open platforms like Ubuntu on Azure and Hyper-V, and this work is being done in that spirit." The article also points out that Microsoft "does seem to be laying the groundwork for WSL to extend what's possible using a single GNU/Linux distro today, for instance, letting the user chain together commands from different GNU/Linux distros with those from Windows."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/09/24/2132218 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

2 1

ARM TrustZone Hacked By Abusing Power Management
by Peter Reutemann 24 Sep '17

24 Sep '17

'Many CPUs these days have DVFS (Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling), which allows the CPU's clockspeed and voltage to vary dynamically depending on whether the CPU is idling or not. By turning the voltage up and down with one thread, researchers were able to flip bits in another thread. By flipping bits when the second thread was verifying the TrustZone key, the researchers were granted permission. If number 'A' is a product of two large prime numbers, you can flip a few bits in 'A' to get a number that is a product of many smaller numbers, and more easily factorable. "As the first work to show the security ramifications of energy management mechanisms," the researchers reported at Usenix, "we urge the community to re-examine these security-oblivious designs."' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/09/23/2113243 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Sublime Text 3.0 is Here! See, How to Install it on Linux
by Peter Reutemann 22 Sep '17

22 Sep '17

Not an open-source editor, but still a favorite of a lot of people... 'The stable version of Sublime Text 3.0 has been released with major changes seen in almost every aspect of version 2.0. According to the release statement, “virtually every aspect of the editor has been improved in some way, and even a list of the major changes would be too long.”' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/sublime-text-3-linux/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

The CCleaner Malware Fiasco Targeted at Least 20 Specific Tech Firms
by Peter Reutemann 21 Sep '17

21 Sep '17

'Hundreds of thousands of computers getting penetrated by a corrupted version of an ultra-common piece of security software was never going to end well. But now it's becoming clear exactly how bad the results of the recent CCleaner malware outbreak may be. Researchers now believe that the hackers behind it were bent not only on mass infections, but on targeted espionage that tried to gain access to the networks of at least 20 tech firms. Earlier this week, security firms Morphisec and Cisco revealed that CCleaner, a piece of security software distributed by Czech company Avast, had been hijacked by hackers and loaded with a backdoor that evaded the company's security checks. It wound up installed on more than 700,000 computers. On Wednesday, researchers at Cisco's Talos security division revealed that they've now analyzed the hackers' "command-and-control" server to which those malicious versions of CCleaner connected. On that server, they found evidence that the hackers had attempted to filter their collection of backdoored victim machines to find computers inside the networks of 20 tech firms, including Intel, Google, Microsoft, Akamai, Samsung, Sony, VMware, HTC, Linksys, D-Link and Cisco itself. In about half of those cases, says Talos research manager Craig Williams, the hackers successfully found a machine they'd compromised within the company's network, and used their backdoor to infect it with another piece of malware intended to serve as a deeper foothold, one that Cisco now believes was likely intended for industrial espionage.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/09/21/1350214 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Security Researchers Warn that Third-Party GO Keyboard App is Spying on Millions of Android Users
by Peter Reutemann 21 Sep '17

21 Sep '17

'Security researchers from Adguard have issued a warning that the popular GO Keyboard app is spying on users. Produced by Chinese developers GOMO Dev Team, GO Keyboard was found to be transmitting personal information about users back to remote servers, as well as "using a prohibited technique to download dangerous executable code." Adguard made the discovery while conducting research into the traffic consumption and unwanted behavior of various Android keyboards. The AdGuard for Android app makes it possible to see exactly what traffic an app is generating, and it showed that GO Keyboard was making worrying connections, making use of trackers, and sharing personal information. Adguard notes that there are two versions of the keyboard in Google Play which it claims have more than 200 million users in tot' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/09/21/1959218 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Firefox For iOS Gets Tracking Protection, Firefox Focus For Android Gets Tabs
by Peter Reutemann 21 Sep '17

21 Sep '17

'Mozilla today released Firefox 9.0 for iOS and updated Firefox Focus for Android. The iOS browser is getting tracking protection, improved sync, and iOS 11 compatibility. The Android privacy browser is getting tabs. You can download the former from Apple's App Store and the latter from Google Play. This is the first time Firefox has offered tracking protection on iOS, and Nick Nguyen, vice president of product at Mozilla, notes that it's finally possible "thanks to changes by Apple to enable the option for 3rd party browsers." This essentially means iPhone and iPad users with Firefox and iOS 11 will have automatic ad and content blocking in Private Browsing mode, and the option to turn it on in regular browsing. This is the same feature that's available in Firefox for Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as the same ad blocking technology used in Firefox Focus for Android and iOS' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/09/21/1953205 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

ISO Rejects NSA Encryption Algorithms
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 21 Sep '17

21 Sep '17

From <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/09/iso_rejects_nsa.html>: The ISO has decided not to approve two NSA-designed block encryption algorithms: Speck and Simon. It's because the NSA is not trusted to put security ahead of surveillance ... I don't trust the NSA, either. I should point out that SELinux was created by the NSA, too. The difference being that that has been subjected to years of careful independent scrutiny.

1 0

FSF Europe Calls For Taxpayer-Funded Software To Be Licensed For Free Re-use
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 21 Sep '17

21 Sep '17

There are many things one can say about the US, but they have once nice law, at least at the Federal level--anything that might be copyrightable, that is created with taxpayer funds, is automatically in the public domain. For example, this is why everybody gets to have free use of all that stunning imagery from NASA. It also applies to US-Government-developed software as well. I have often wondered why other governments do not follow the same rule. Here in NZ, as in the UK, there is this weird concept of “Crown copyright”, which means that we, as taxpayers, do not get the use of material developed with our own money, we have to pay for it yet again. The European branch of the Free Software Foundation is calling for software developed with European taxpayer money to be made freely available in the same way <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170914/09163238207/free-software-founda…>.

3 4

GNOME Partners With Purism On Librem 5 Linux-based Privacy-focused Smartphone
by Peter Reutemann 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

'The Librem 5 smartphone by Purism has a long and difficult road ahead of it. Competing against the likes of Apple and Google on the mobile market has proven to be a death sentence for many platforms -- including Microsoft with its failed Windows 10 Mobile. Luckily, Purism has found itself a new partner on this project -- one of the most important organizations in the Linux community -- The GNOME Foundation. The GNOME Foundation explains, 'The Librem 5 is a hardware platform the Foundation is interested in advancing as a GNOME/GTK phone device. The GNOME Foundation is committed to partnering with Purism to create hackfests, tools, emulators, and build awareness that surround moving GNOME/GTK onto the Librem 5 phone. As part of the collaboration, if the campaign is successful the GNOME Foundation plans to enhance GNOME shell and general performance of the system with Purism to enable features on the Librem 5.'' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/09/20/1723246 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

Hi everyone I might give a quick run down on some security tools next week, depending how much time I have over the weekend (never used any of these apart from ClamAV): - ClamAV - Sophos scanner - Chkrootkit - Rkhunter - Lynis Might show off the Pencil Project as well. A volunteer for demoing NixOS? https://nixos.org/ "completely declarative approach to configuration management" "atomic upgrades and rollbacks" Any other cool software that you'd like to demo for a few minutes? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Apache bug leaks contents of server memory for all to see—Patch now
by Peter Reutemann 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

'There's a bug in the widely used Apache Web Server that causes servers to leak pieces of arbitrary memory in a way that could expose passwords or other secrets, a freelance journalist has disclosed. The vulnerability can be triggered by querying a server with what's known as an OPTIONS request. Like the better-known GET and POST requests, OPTIONS is a type of HTTP method that allows users to determine which HTTP requests are supported by the server. Normally, a server will respond with GET, POST, OPTIONS, and any other supported methods. Under certain conditions, however, responses from Apache Web Server include the data stored in computer memory. Patches are available here and here.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/09/apache-bug-leaks-con… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

1 0

Breaking Your Bubble
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

A class project at Princeton <http://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/09/19/breaking-your-bubble/>: In the first step, students measured their filter bubble. More specifically, for homework, at three different time points each week, they scrolled through their feeds until they found five political posts (ads included). Then, they coded these posts as either liberal, neutral, or conservative. Students also kept track of how many posts they had to scroll through to get to five posts as a measure of how much political content was in their feed. ... In the second step, the students developed and implemented a procedure to break their bubble. Their goal was to achieve a “balanced diet” of liberal, neutral, and conservative political content that matched the baseline distribution of what is being shared on Facebook ... Followup <http://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/09/19/what-our-students-found-when-they-t…>: So, were students able to break their bubble? Initially, we expected that because the News Feed algorithm is complicated, it might be hard for students to break out of their bubbles. But we were wrong. The class was able to move to a more balanced diet pretty quickly.

1 0

Speaking Of DRM ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 20 Sep '17

20 Sep '17

... HP has released <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170914/11491238210/hp-brings-back-obnox…> firmware updates for several of its OfficeJet Pro range that block their ability to work with third-party ink cartridges.

1 0

Pencil Project
by Peter Reutemann 19 Sep '17

19 Sep '17

So far, I've always used Dia for creating diagrams. However, last night, I came across the "Pencil Project", a cross-platform tool for wire frames. And I think, I may have found a new favorite! Copy/paste of some of the features: 'Easy GUI Prototyping Pencil provides various built-in shapes collection for drawing different types of user interface ranging from desktop to mobile platforms. Starting from 2.0.2, Pencil is shipped with Android and iOS UI stencils pre-installed. This makes it even easier to start protyping apps with a simple installation. Popular drawing features are also implemented in Pencil to simplify the drawing operations. Built-in Shape Collections Starting from 2.0.2 Pencil has even more shape collections included by default. The list of built-in collections now includes general-purpose shapes, flowchart elements, desktop/web UI shapes, Android and iOS GUI shapes. There are also many other collections created by the community and are distributed freely on the Internet. You can easily grab a collection and install it into Pencil with a simple drag-and-drop operation. Diagram Drawing Support Pencil now supports connectors which can be used to "wire" shapes together in a diagram. A collection of flowchart shapes are also available for drawing diagrams. Exporting to Different Output Formats Pencil supports outputing the drawing document into different types of formats. You can have your drawing exported as a set of rasterized PNG files or as a web page that can be delivered to the viewers. Pencil also supports exporting documents into popular formats including OpenOffice/LibreOffice text documents, Inkscape SVG and Adobe PDF. Inter-page linking Elements in a drawing can be linked to a specific page in the same document. This helps user define the UI flow when creating application or website mockups. Linkings defined in a document are converted into HTML hyper-links when the document is exported into web format. This process creates an interactive version of the mockup in which viewers can see a simulated flow when clicking on the UI elements.' -- source: http://pencil.evolus.vn/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Quote Of The Week
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Sep '17

19 Sep '17

“These days we hear a lot about luring the young away from happy, fulfilling careers and into the world of programming.” Verity Stob, who else? <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/19/programming_in_the_middle_ages/>

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Install Ring, a FOSS VOIP Skype alternative
by Peter Reutemann 19 Sep '17

19 Sep '17

'If you ask just about any Linux user, they'll agree that Skype is pretty terrible. There's not a whole lot to like there, especially since the Linux client is just a poorly maintained wrapper for the web app. There have been several attempts to create a free and open source alternative to Skype, but none have been as polished or complete as Ring. ' -- source: https://linuxconfig.org/install-ring-a-foss-voip-skype-alternative -- screenshots: https://ring.cx/en#screenshots Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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EFF resigns from W3C - An open letter to the W3C Director, CEO, team and membership
by Peter Reutemann 19 Sep '17

19 Sep '17

'In 2013, EFF was disappointed to learn that the W3C had taken on the project of standardizing “Encrypted Media Extensions,” an API whose sole function was to provide a first-class role for DRM within the Web browser ecosystem. By doing so, the organization offered the use of its patent pool, its staff support, and its moral authority to the idea that browsers can and should be designed to cede control over key aspects from users to remote parties. [...] We believe they will regret that choice. Today, the W3C bequeaths an legally unauditable attack-surface to browsers used by billions of people. They give media companies the power to sue or intimidate away those who might re-purpose video for people with disabilities. They side against the archivists who are scrambling to preserve the public record of our era. The W3C process has been abused by companies that made their fortunes by upsetting the established order, and now, thanks to EME, they’ll be able to ensure no one ever subjects them to the same innovative pressures. [...] We will defend those who are put in harm's way for blowing the whistle on defects in EME implementations. It is a tragedy that we will be doing that without our friends at the W3C, and with the world believing that the pioneers and creators of the web no longer care about these matters. Effective today, EFF is resigning from the W3C.' -- source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/open-letter-w3c-director-ceo-team-and… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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A Telemarketer Called My Elevator
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Sep '17

19 Sep '17

Guy steps into lift, gets spiel from emergency intercom inviting him to “press 1” on nonexistent keypad to sign up. <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/a-telemarketer-called-my-elevator/> Me, I blame VoIP ...

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Will Linux Innovation Be Driven By Microsoft?
by Peter Reutemann 18 Sep '17

18 Sep '17

'Adobe's VP of Mobile (and a former intellectual property lawyer) sees "a very possible future where Microsoft doesn't merely accept a peaceful coexistence with Linux, but instead enthusiastically embraces it as a key to its future," noting Microsoft's many Linux kernel developers and arguing it's already innovating around Linux -- especially in the cloud. An anonymous reader quotes InfoWorld: Even seemingly pedestrian work -- like making Docker containers work for Windows, not merely Linux -- is a big deal for enterprises that don't want open source politics infesting their IT. Or how about Hyper-V containers, which marry the high density of containers to the isolation of traditional VMs? That's a really big deal... Microsoft has started hiring Linux kernel developers like Matthew Wilcox, Paul Shilovsky, and (in mid-2016) Stephen Hemminger... Microsoft now employs 12 Linux kernel contributors. As for what these engineers are doing, Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman says, "Microsoft now has developers contributing to various core areas of the kernel (memory management, core data structures, networking infrastructure), the CIFS filesystem, and of course many contributions to make Linux work better on its Hyper-V systems." In sum, the Linux Foundation's Jim Zemlin declares, "It is accurate to say they are a core contributor," with the likelihood that Hemminger's and others' contributions will move Microsoft out of the kernel contribution basement into the upper echelons. The article concludes that "Pigs, in other words, do fly. Microsoft, while maintaining its commitment to Windows, has made the necessary steps to not merely run on Linux but to help shape the future of Linux."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/09/16/2335251 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Ad Industry “Deeply Concerned” About Safari’s New Ad-Tracking Restrictions
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Sep '17

17 Sep '17

Some have called for the total abolition of access to third-party cookies altogether. Apple’s new version of Safari doesn’t go this far, only imposing a 24-hour limit on their usability. But this is already enough to get the ad agencies up in arms. <https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/ad-industry-deeply-concerned-ab…>

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'Bashware' Attacks Exploit Windows 10's Subsystem for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '17

17 Sep '17

'While many people welcomed the arrival of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) in Windows 10, it has been found to be a potential security issue. A new technique known as a Bashware has been discovered by security researchers that makes it possible for malware to use the Linux shell to bypass security software. While administrator access is needed to execute a Bashware attack, this is fairly easily obtained, and the technique can be used to disguise malicious operations from antivirus software and other security tools. Researchers from Check Point Research point out that the danger stems from the fact that "existing security solutions are still not adapted to monitor processes of Linux executables running on Windows."' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/09/16/041251 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Uber’s “Greyball” Regulator-Evading System
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Sep '17

16 Sep '17

We reported back in May that the Justice Department had commenced a criminal investigation into Uber's use of a software tool that helped drivers evade picking up local officials in places where the service had not been approved. ... The Greyball software employs a dozen data points on a new user in a given market, including whether a rider's Uber app is opened repeatedly in or around municipal offices, which credit card is linked to the account, and any publicly available information about the new user on social media. If the data suggests the new user is a regulator in a market where Uber is not permitted, the company would present that user with false information about where Uber rides are. <https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/heres-a-real-life-slimy-example…>

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Quantum Computers Calculate Minimum-Energy State of Three Simple Molecules
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Sep '17

16 Sep '17

From <https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/quantum-computers-reach-deeper-find…>: Every time we discuss quantum computers, the headline tends to be that someone, somewhere is going to use the quantum to break your encryption and steal your student loan. If only that were true. But it is probably more realistic to think about quantum computers being used to solve quantum problems. ... However, for lithium hydride and beryllium hydride, the solutions are less accurate. The researchers believe that the falling accuracy is not due to the simplifications but hap[p]ens because the qubits do not stay sufficiently coherent during the calculation. In other words, quantum computers are the modern-day equivalent of analog computers, not digital ones: just like in the early days of mechanical- and electronic-based analog machines, they can give answers more quickly, but with less accuracy than, a digital one.

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Azure Confidential Computing Will Keep Data Secret, Even From Microsoft
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Sep '17

15 Sep '17

From <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/azure-confidential-computing-will-k…>: The SGX mode uses processor features to carve out a TEE within a regular process—no virtual machines necessary. The processor itself will encrypt and decrypt data from memory, such that the data is only decrypted when it's within the processor itself. With this mode, even Hyper-V's security isn't important; the only thing that an application has to trust is the processor and its implementation of SGX. With SGX enclaves, nobody—not even Microsoft—can see the data in the TEE. So we only have to trust Intel...

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The Big List Of Naughty Strings
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Sep '17

15 Sep '17

The Big List of Naughty Strings is an evolving list of strings which have a high probability of causing issues when used as user-input data. This is intended for use in helping both automated and manual QA testing; useful for whenever your QA engineer walks into a bar. <https://github.com/minimaxir/big-list-of-naughty-strings> The “walks into a bar” reference is to this <http://www.sempf.net/post/On-Testing1>: QA Engineer walks into a bar. Orders a beer. Orders 0 beers. Orders 999999999 beers. Orders a lizard. Orders -1 beers. Orders a sfdeljknesv. Because that’s what testing is all about...

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Python Explosion Blamed On Pandas
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Sep '17

15 Sep '17

Not content to bait developers by declaring that Python is the fastest-growing major programming language, coding community site Stack Overflow has revealed the reason for its metastasis. ... Programmers love pandas. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/14/python_explosion_blamed_on_pandas/>

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The Community bash Style Guide
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Sep '17

15 Sep '17

A collection of dos and don’ts for writing bash scripts: <https://github.com/azet/community_bash_style_guide>. Some tips are not bash-specific, but are about external commands usable with any shell: e.g. awk, sed, grep, pgrep, xargs. Also some builtins should be available with any POSIX-compliant shell, e.g. getopts, printf. Most surprising bit of information: that someone has written a “ctypes” (foreign-function interface) addon for bash <https://github.com/taviso/ctypes.sh>.

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Yellow Rebrands, Celebrates Turnaround
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

The former Yellow Pages Group is getting over a rough patch by finding new business opportunities: Its work with SMEs, however, was the focus [acting CEO] Linton said, with companies able to use Yellow to set up a basic website, through to advertising, adding on e-commerce solutions, booking widgets and other add-on products for an additional regular cost. Yellow is also one of New Zealand's largest resellers of Google Adwords - helping boost customer profile online. ... “Almost 50 per cent of small businesses have no digital presence so you can't even find them on Google.” <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11922410>

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Free Software, Open Access, And Open Science Groups Join Fight Against EU Copyright Directive's Terrible Ideas
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

>From an item by the always-excellent Glyn Moody <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170912/08434938194/free-software-open-a…>: The problem they identified is that widely-used version control systems (VCS) like GitHub seem to meet the definition of "information society services" laid down by the proposed EU Copyright Directive, and as such would be required to filter all uploads to block copyright infringements. Moreover, as the white paper points out, developer Web sites would not only be held responsible for any material uploaded by users without permission of the copyright holders, but would also seem liable for illegitimate distributions of derivative works in violation of the applicable license. At which I can hear groups affiliated with Big Content™ responding “Yeah? So?”. Sites like YouTube are full of user-generated content, too (what is YouTube most famous for showing? Cat videos!), but that hasn’t stopped them being forced into granting special privileges to major film studios and the like <https://www.techdirt.com/search-g.php?num=20&q=youtube+dmca&search=Search>. If software is not the same as videos, pictures or music, why should the same principles of copyright apply to it?

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Backdoor Found In WordPress Plugin With More Than 200, 000 Installations
by Peter Reutemann 14 Sep '17

14 Sep '17

'According to Bleeping Computer, a WordPress plug that goes by the name Display Widgets has been used to install a backdoor on WordPress sites across the internet for the past two and a half months. While the WordPress.org team removed the plugin from the official WordPress Plugins repository, the plugin managed to be installed on more than 200,000 sites at the time of its removal. The good news is that the backdoor code was only found between Display Widgets version 2.6.1 (released June 30) and version 2.6.3 (released September 2), so it's unlikely everyone who installed the plugin is affected. WordPress.org staff members reportedly removed the plugin three times before for similar violations. Bleeping Computer has compiled a history of events in its report, put together with data aggregated from three different investigations by David Law, White Fir Design, and Wordfence. The report adds: The original Display Widgets is a plugin that allowed WordPress site owners to control which, how, and when WordPress widgets appear on their sites. Stephanie Wells of Strategy11 developed the plugin, but after switching her focus to a premium version of the plugin, she decided to sell the open source version to a new developer who would have had the time to cater to its userbase. A month after buying the plugin in May, its new owner released a first new version -- v2.6.0 -- on June 21' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/09/13/2152234 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Software In Use At Animation College
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

Seeing their ads in various places prompted me to check out their site. There is a list of software that they use in their Bachelor of Animation degree here <http://www.animationcollege.co.nz/bachelor-of-animation/bachelor-faq/>, but it’s just a table of product logos, no names. Interesting to see one open-source product in that list, namely Audacity. Also note that “GitKraken”, which appears to be a GUI for the Git version-control system. I wonder how they use it in studio workflows? Purely to keep track of a linear sequence of revisions of assets? Because I can’t imagine that branching and merging would work very well with binary (e.g. still-image, audio, video) files. The faux-chemical symbols are all Adobe products, I believe; but I can’t find anything at Adobe’s site that has the “An” logo. My best guess for the product denoted by “xN” is this company <http://www.realityvirtual.co/>. And that purple one that looks like a purple pixelated landslide, I can’t identify at all.

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Hacking Voice Assistant Systems With Inaudible Voice Commands
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

Turns out that all the major voice assistants -- Siri, Google Now, Samsung S Voice, Huawei HiVoice, Cortana and Alexa -- listen at audio frequencies the human ear can't hear. Which means somebody could send commands to your device that you have no idea about. <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/09/hacking_voice_a.html>

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AT HOP: Pitfalls In Electronic Transaction Systems
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

There seems to be a subtle issue with topping up the balance on AT HOP cards used by Auckland Transport: you actually have to use the card somewhere within 60 days of the topup, otherwise the deposit will get taken out again. It appears this has to do with the terminals having to be refreshed daily with their own copies of details about valid cards, and these uploads only include active cards. But try explaining that to the customers... <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11921624>

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Researchers Catch Microsoft Zero-Day Used To Install Government Spyware
by Peter Reutemann 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

'Government hackers were using a previously-unknown vulnerability in Microsoft's .NET Framework, a development platform for building apps, to hack targets and infect them with spyware, according to security firm FireEye. The firm revealed the espionage campaign on Tuesday, on the same day Microsoft patched the vulnerability. According to FireEye, the bug, which until today was a zero-day, was being used by a customer of FinFisher, a company that sells surveillance and hacking technologies to governments around the world. The hackers sent a malicious Word RTF document to a "Russian speaker," according to Ben Read, FireEye's manager of cyber espionage research. The document was programmed to take advantage of the recently-patched vulnerability to install FinSpy, spyware designed by FinFisher. The spyware masqueraded as an image file called "left.jpg," according to FireEye.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/09/12/2022235 For Windows, there seems to be Detekt (written in Python) which can detect some versions of FinSpy apparently: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/archive/index.php/t-66896.html Maybe we should finally look at demoing some security tools at the next meeting? - ClamAV - Sophos scanner - Chkrootkit - Rkhunter - Lynis - ... (other suggestions?) In other words, I'd need volunteers to do a short show and tell. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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The Only Safe Email is Text-Only Email
by Peter Reutemann 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

'Sergey Bratus, Research Associate Professor of Computer Science, Dartmouth College, and Anna Shubina, Post-doctoral Associate in Computer Science, Dartmouth College write: The real issue is that today's web-based email systems are electronic minefields filled with demands and enticements to click and engage in an increasingly responsive and interactive online experience. It's not just Gmail, Yahoo mail and similar services: Desktop-computer-based email programs like Outlook display messages in the same unsafe way. Simply put, safe email is plain-text email -- showing only the plain words of the message exactly as they arrived, without embedded links or images. Webmail is convenient for advertisers (and lets you write good-looking emails with images and nice fonts), but carries with it unnecessary -- and serious -- danger, because a webpage (or an email) can easily show one thing but do another. Returning email to its origins in plain text may seem radical, but it provides radically better security. Even the federal government's top cybersecurity experts have come to the startling, but important, conclusion that any person, organization or government serious about web security should return to plain-text email (PDF).' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/09/12/0436206 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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BlueBorne Vulnerabilities Impact Over 5 Billion Bluetooth-Enabled Devices
by Peter Reutemann 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

'Security researchers have discovered eight vulnerabilities -- codenamed collectively as BlueBorne -- in the Bluetooth implementations used by over 5.3 billion devices. Researchers say the vulnerabilities are undetectable and unstoppable by traditional security solutions. No user interaction is needed for an attacker to use the BleuBorne flaws, nor does the attacker need to pair with a target device. They affect the Bluetooth implementations in Android, iOS, Microsoft, and Linux, impacting almost all Bluetooth device types, from smartphones to laptops, and from IoT devices to smart cars. Furthermore, the vulnerabilities can be concocted into a self-spreading BlueTooth worm that could wreak havoc inside a company's network or even across the world. "These vulnerabilities are the most serious Bluetooth vulnerabilities identified to date," an Armis spokesperson told Bleeping Computer via email. "Previously identified flaws found in Bluetooth were primarily at the protocol level," he added. "These new vulnerabilities are at the implementation level, bypassing the various authentication mechanisms, and enabling a complete takeover of the target device." Consumers are recommended to disable Bluetooth unless you need to use it, but then turn it off immediately. When a patch or update is issued and installed on your device, you should be able to turn Bluetooth back on and leave it on safely. The BlueBorne Android App on the Google Play Store will be able to determine if a user's Android device is vulnerable. A technical report on the BlueBorne flaws is available here (PDF).' -- source: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/17/09/12/2030213 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Re: [wlug] Tesla Remotely Extends The Range Of Some Cars To Help With Hurricane Irma
by Eric Light 13 Sep '17

13 Sep '17

Let's keep it on the list, thanks gb. noun: snark; 1. snide and sharply critical comments. I called out your behaviour for what it was, and I would have done so in-person too. I'm not singling you out, either - I did the same with someone else in July. The entire community suffers when that type of behaviour goes unaddressed - and it's the community's job to speak up if we want to protect the high standards we've enjoyed for the last fifteen years. E -------------------------------------------- Q: Why is this email five sentences or less? A: http://five.sentenc.es On Wed, 13 Sep 2017, at 10:59, gb wrote: > On the contrary, I was merely pointing out that insulting people on a > public forum is not something you would do to their faces. > > On Tue, 2017-09-12 at 15:02 +1200, Eric Light wrote: > > Did.... You actually just threaten me? > > > > E > > > > -------------------------------------------- > > Q: Why is this email five sentences or less? > > A: http://five.sentenc.es > > > > On Tue, 12 Sep 2017, at 14:39, gb wrote: > > > > > > "snark" ... "being a dick" ... would you like to say that to my face? > > > > > > > > > On Tue, 2017-09-12 at 14:04 +1200, Eric Light wrote: > > > > Is that snark really necessary, gb? I'm not sure about the rest of us, > > > > but I'm in this group for interesting news, tips, guidance, etc. > > > > > > > > The diversity of information here is one of the reasons that I've been > > > > on the list for almost a decade. I'm sure a full 30% of Peter's posts > > > > aren't Linux-specific, for example. That only adds to the benefit that > > > > we get as a group. > > > > > > > > Lawrence's post is fascinating, and could be the starting point for an > > > > interesting discussion if we could go ahead and not be dicks - either to > > > > the poster, or about the content. > > > > > > > > E > > > > > > > > -------------------------------------------- > > > > Q: Why is this email five sentences or less? > > > > A: http://five.sentenc.es > > > > > > > > On Tue, 12 Sep 2017, at 12:51, gb wrote: > > > > > Well that's got zero to do with linux, or Waikato ... unless someone > > > > > owns a Tesla in Waikato? (I doubt it). > > > > > > > > > > I've got some cool anecdotes on crappy things banks do with our money > > > > > supply, shall I share them here too? > > > > > > > > > > On Tue, 2017-09-12 at 12:02 +1200, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote: > > > > > > Tesla sometimes sells cars with more hardware battery capacity than > > > > > > is initially available for use by customers, offering the > > > > > > additional capacity as a subsequent software update. > > > > > > > > > > > > ... > > > > > > > > > > > > But last week, Tesla decided to temporarily make this extra > > > > > > capacity available even to Floridians who hadn't paid for the > > > > > > upgrade to ensure they had enough range to get out of Florida ahead > > > > > > of Hurricane Irma. > > > > > > > > > > > > ... > > > > > > > > > > > > Presumably, their vehicles will get a downgrade once hurricane > > > > > > season is over. > > > > > > > > > > > > <https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/09/tesla-remotely-extends-the-range-of-so…> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > > > > > Unsubscribe: https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > > > > Unsubscribe: https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > > > Unsubscribe: https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > > > > > > > > > > . > > _______________________________________________ > > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > Unsubscribe: https://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > > .

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“Mr Inkscape” Explains How To Pronounce His Name
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Sep '17

12 Sep '17

In the comments to an article on an “Inkscape hackfest” from earlier this year, I asked, and he answered <http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/inkscape-hackfest-planned-for-late…>.

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