May 2018 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Firefox Moves Browsers Into Post-Password Future With WebAuthn Tech
by Peter Reutemann 09 May '18

09 May '18

'Today, Mozilla released Firefox 60 for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android, and with it arrives Web Authentication API for desktop browsers. From a report: Firefox 60 supports technology called Web Authentication, or WebAuthn for short, that can be used to grant you access to websites with a physical authentication device like a YubiKey dongle, biometric identity proof using an Android phone's fingerprint reader or the iPhone's Face ID, and some other alternatives to passwords. Passwords are a particular problem on the web. Fake websites can coax you to type in credentials that then can be used to steal money from your bank account or snoop your email -- a problem called phishing. Even if you pick hard-to-guess passwords, never reuse them on multiple sites and always remember them, passwords still aren't that strong a foundation for security these days. We're still a long way away from a post-password future, but WebAuthn is an important step, if nothing else, in making sites more secure.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/05/09/1932232 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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Cloudflare Embraces ARM As Qualcomm Might Leave
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 09 May '18

09 May '18

Seems like Qualcomm might be giving up <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/05/08/arm_server_cpus_why_are_they_going_…> on trying to offer ARM servers for the data centre. But in that same article, one of the comments linked to this item <http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/design/cloudflare-bets-arm-servers-it-ex…> which says that Cloudflare is going all in on using ARM servers to expand its CDN worldwide. I suppose content delivery is a market segment where sheer CPU grunt is less important than I/O throughput, power efficiency etc.

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Chrome 66 Arrives With Autoplaying Content Blocked By Default
by Peter Reutemann 09 May '18

09 May '18

'Google today launched Chrome 66 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. The desktop release includes autoplaying content muted by default, security improvements, and new developer features. You can update to the latest version now using the browser's built-in silent updater or download it directly from google.com/chrome. In our tests, autoplaying content that is muted still plays automatically. Autoplaying content with sound, whether it has visible controls or not, and whether it is set to play on loop or not, simply does not start playing. Note that this is all encompassing -- even autoplaying content you are expecting or is the main focus of the page does not play. YouTube videos, for example, no longer start playing automatically. And in case that's not enough, or if a page somehow circumvents the autoplaying block, you can still mute whole websites.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/04/18/0410202 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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Gimp 2.10.0 release
by Peter Reutemann 09 May '18

09 May '18

'The long-awaited GIMP 2.10.0 is finally here! This is a huge release, which contains the result of 6 long years of work (GIMP 2.8 was released almost exactly 6 years ago!) by a small but dedicated core of contributors. The Changes in short: - Image processing nearly fully ported to GEGL, allowing high bit depth processing, multi-threaded and hardware accelerated pixel processing, and more. - Color management is a core feature now, most widgets and preview areas are color-managed. - Many improved tools, and several new and exciting tools, such as the Warp transform, the Unified transform and the Handle transform tools. - On-canvas preview for all filters ported to GEGL. - Improved digital painting with canvas rotation and flipping, symmetry painting, MyPaint brush support… - Support for several new image formats added (OpenEXR, RGBE, WebP, HGT), as well as improved support for many existing formats (in particular more robust PSD importing). - Metadata viewing and editing for Exif, XMP, IPTC, and DICOM. - Basic HiDPI support: automatic or user-selected icon size. - New themes for GIMP (Light, Gray, Dark, and System) and new symbolic icons meant to somewhat dim the environment and shift the focus towards content (former theme and color icons are still available in Preferences). - And more, better, more, and even more awesome!' -- source: https://www.gimp.org/news/2018/04/27/gimp-2-10-0-released/ 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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Drupal Sites Fall Victims To Cryptojacking Campaigns
by Peter Reutemann 08 May '18

08 May '18

'After the publication of two severe security flaws in the Drupal CMS, cybercrime groups have turned their sights on this web technology in the hopes of finding new ground to plant malware on servers and make money through illegal cryptocurrency mining. [...] Now, as time passes by, more malware campaigns targeting Drupal sites are getting off the ground -- and two of them have been spotted the past week. The most recent of these campaigns has been discovered by US security researcher Troy Mursch. The researcher discovered a group that gained access to Drupal sites and hid a version of the Coinhive in-browser cryptocurrency miner inside a file named "jquery [dot] once [dot] js?v=1.2," loaded on each of the compromised sites. Mursch initially tracked down the infected files to over 100,000 domains, then narrowed down the results to 80,000 domains, and finally confirmed the infection on at least 348 sites where the in-browsing mining operation was actually taking place.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/18/05/07/1636258 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 Considering an HTML5-Based OS Installer
by Peter Reutemann 08 May '18

08 May '18

'Ubuntu's Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator for Life, Mark Shuttleworth, is considering backing a new Ubuntu installer that would be using HTML5 via the Electron Framework. This theoretical installer would re-use the company's existing HTML5 code for managing MAAS installations, integrate with Electron, and also better support their Snap packaging format, according to his proposal. What could possibly go wrong with an HTML5/Electron operating system installer? Mark also announced that Ubuntu 18.10 is codenamed the Cosmic Cuttlefish.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/05/08/1712221 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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You Can Now Run Linux Apps On Chrome OS
by Peter Reutemann 08 May '18

08 May '18

'Google today announced Chrome OS is getting Linux support. "As a result, Chromebooks will soon be able to run Linux apps and execute Linux commands," reports VentureBeat. "A preview of Linux on the Pixelbook will be released first, with support for more devices coming soon." From the report: "Just go to wherever you normally get those apps, whether it's on the websites or through apt-get in the Linux terminal, and seamless get those apps like any other Linux distribution," Chrome OS director of product management Kan Liu told VentureBeat. Support for Linux apps means developers will finally be able to use a Google device to develop for Google's platforms, rather than having to depend on Windows, Mac, or Linux machines. And because Chrome OS doesn't just run Chrome OS-specific apps anymore, developers will be able to create, test, and run any Android or web app for phones, tablets, and laptops all on their Chromebooks. Without having to switch devices, you can run your favorite IDE -- as long as there is a Debian Linux version (for the curious, Google is specifically using Debian Stretch here -- code in your favorite language and launch projects to Google Cloud with the command line. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/18/05/08/216240 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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Meeting topics?
by Peter Reutemann 08 May '18

08 May '18

Hi everyone Any ideas for next week's meeting? Having a go at System76's Pop!_OS? Other ideas? 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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Eight New Meltdown-Like Flaws Found
by Peter Reutemann 06 May '18

06 May '18

'Researchers have found eight new flaws in computer central processing units that resemble the Meltdown and Spectre bugs revealed in January, a German computing magazine reported on Thursday. The magazine, called c't, said it was aware of Intel Corp's plans to patch the flaws, adding that some chips designed by ARM Holdings, a unit of Japan's Softbank, might be affected, while work was continuing to establish whether Advanced Micro Devices chips were vulnerable... The magazine said Google Project Zero, one of the original collective that exposed Meltdown and Spectre in January, had found one of the flaws and that a 90-day embargo on going public with its findings would end on May 7... "Considering what we have seen with Meltdown and Spectre, we should expect a long and painful cycle of updates, possibly even performance or stability issues," said Yuriy Bulygin, chief executive officer of hardware security firm Eclypsium and a former Intel security researcher. "Hopefully, Meltdown and Spectre led to improvements to the complicated process of patching hardware." Neowin now reports that Intel "is expected to release microcode updates in two waves; one in May, and the other in August."' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/18/05/05/1730203 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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Drive-by Rowhammer attack uses GPU to compromise an Android phone
by Peter Reutemann 03 May '18

03 May '18

'Over the past few years, there has been a steady evolution in Rowhammer, the once largely theoretical attack that exploits physical defects in memory chips to tamper with the security of the devices they run on. On Thursday, researchers are unveiling the most practical demonstration yet of Rowhammer's power and reach: an exploit that remotely executes malicious code on Android phones by harnessing their graphical processors.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/05/drive-by-rowhammer-a… 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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