February 2020 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Smithsonian Releases 2.8 Million Images And 3D Models Into The Public Domain
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 27 Feb '20

27 Feb '20

Just came across this news report <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200225/14150743985/smithsonian-releases…> about the Smithsonian Institution making a whole bunch of stuff available for free download and reuse under a Creative Commons CC0 licence. More info on their home page <https://www.si.edu/OpenAccess>. I had a quick look at one or two 3D models from <https://3d.si.edu/cc0>, and I see OBJ, glTF (OpenGL Transfer Format) and GLB (binary version of glTF) options available. These are all open formats, well-supported in non-proprietary software.

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Ars takes the new Opera R2020 browser for a spin
by Peter Reutemann 27 Feb '20

27 Feb '20

'Conclusion We've been briefly excited by lesser-known browsers many times in the last 20 years, only to eventually gravitate back to the most comfortable of the big, common options. But the tide may be turning for lesser-known options like Opera. Using the same Chromium open source browser upstream as Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge do, there aren't likely to be many compatibility surprises—at least for Windows and Mac users. The Good - Opera feels both fast and familiar (enough) for anyone accustomed to Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox - First-rate Linux installation and update experience - The stand-out features feel immediately useful—Snapshot, VPN, Workspaces, pinned Messengers, and My Flow all fit very neatly and obviously into our existing workflows - Chromium upstream base means sites render familiarly and accurately to Chrome or Edge users - Battery saver feature makes bloated sites feel less bloated and wasteful, even on a desktop The Bad - Unit and currency conversion is still a little wonky and limited - DRM is completely non-functional on Linux The Ugly - Many Linux users won't care about broken DRM for philosophical reasons—but they won't use a non-Libre browser, for the same philosophical reasons' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/02/browser-review-opera-r2020-and-oper… 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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Flaw in Billions of Wi-Fi Devices Left Communications Open To Eavesdropping
by Peter Reutemann 27 Feb '20

27 Feb '20

'Billions of devices -- many of them already patched -- are affected by a Wi-Fi vulnerability that allows nearby attackers to decrypt sensitive data sent over the air, researchers said on Wednesday at the RSA security conference. From a report: The vulnerability exists in Wi-Fi chips made by Cypress Semiconductor and Broadcom, the latter a chipmaker Cypress acquired in 2016. The affected devices include iPhones, iPads, Macs, Amazon Echos and Kindles, Android devices, Raspberry Pi 3's, and Wi-Fi routers from Asus and Huawei. Eset, the security company that discovered the vulnerability, said the flaw primarily affects Cyperess' and Broadcom's FullMAC WLAN chips, which are used in billions of devices. Eset has named the vulnerability Kr00k, and it is tracked as CVE-2019-15126. Manufacturers have made patches available for most or all of the affected devices, but it's not clear how many devices have installed the patches. Of greatest concern are vulnerable wireless routers, which often go unpatched indefinitely. "This results in scenarios where client devices that are unaffected (either patched or using different Wi-Fi chips not vulnerable to Kr00k) can be connected to an access point (often times beyond an individual's control) that is vulnerable," Eset researchers wrote in a research paper published on Wednesday. "The attack surface is greatly increased, since an adversary can decrypt data that was transmitted by a vulnerable access point to a specific client (which may or may not be vulnerable itself)."' -- source: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/20/02/26/165207 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 for Mac and Linux To Get a New Security Sandbox System
by Peter Reutemann 26 Feb '20

26 Feb '20

'Mozilla will add a new security sandbox system to Firefox on Linux and Firefox on Mac. The new technology, named RLBox, works by separating third-party libraries from an app's native code. From a report: This process is called "sandboxing," and is a widely used technique that can prevent malicious code from escaping from within an app and executing at the OS level. RLBox is an innovative project because it takes sandboxing to the next level. Instead of isolating the app from the underlying operating system, RLBox separates an app's internal components -- namely its third-party libraries -- from the app's core engine. This technique prevents bugs and exploits found inside a third-party library from impacting another project that uses the same library.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/02/25/2028214 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 To Enable DNS-over-HTTPS by Default To US Users
by Peter Reutemann 26 Feb '20

26 Feb '20

'Mozilla will bring its new DNS-over-HTTPS security feature to all Firefox users in the U.S. by default in the coming weeks, the browser maker has confirmed. From a report: It follows a year-long effort to test the new security feature, which aims to make browsing the web more secure and private. Whenever you visit a website -- even if it's HTTPS enabled -- the DNS query that converts the web address into an IP address that computers can read is usually unencrypted. DNS-over-HTTPS, or DoH, encrypts the request so that it can't be intercepted or hijacked in order to send a user to a malicious site. These unencrypted DNS queries can also be used to snoop on which websites a user visits. DoH works at the app-level, and is baked into Firefox. The feature relies on sending DNS queries to third-party providers -- such as Cloudflare and NextDNS -- both of which will have their DoH offering baked into Firefox and will process DoH queries.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/02/25/1210223 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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PayPal Accounts Are Getting Abused En-masse For Unauthorized Payments
by Peter Reutemann 26 Feb '20

26 Feb '20

'Hackers have found a bug in PayPal's Google Pay integration and are now using it to carry out unauthorized transactions via PayPal accounts. From a report: Since last Friday, users have reported seeing mysterious transactions pop up in their PayPal history as originating from their Google Pay account. Issues have been reported on numerous platforms, such as PayPal's forums, Reddit, Twitter, and Google Pay's Russian and German support forums. Victims reported that hackers abused Google Pay accounts to buy products using linked PayPal accounts. According to screenshots and various testimonies, most of the illegal transactions are taking place at US stores, and especially at Target stores across New York. Most of the victims appear to be German users.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/02/25/1213209 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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Open Source Licences: What, Which & Why
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 25 Feb '20

25 Feb '20

A good overview <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/02/how-to-choose-an-open-source-licens…> for anybody having anything to do with Open Source, not just those trying to decide what licence to choose for their own projects. Basic recommendation: stick to something approved by the Open Source Initiative, and above all avoid making up a licence of your own.

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EU Commission To Staff: Switch To Signal Messaging App
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '20

25 Feb '20

'The European Commission has told its staff to start using Signal, an end-to-end-encrypted messaging app, in a push to increase the security of its communications. From a report: The instruction appeared on internal messaging boards in early February, notifying employees that "Signal has been selected as the recommended application for public instant messaging." The app is favored by privacy activists because of its end-to-end encryption and open-source technology. "It's like Facebook's WhatsApp and Apple's iMessage but it's based on an encryption protocol that's very innovative," said Bart Preneel, cryptography expert at the University of Leuven. "Because it's open-source, you can check what's happening under the hood," he added. Signal was developed in 2013 by privacy activists. It is supported by a nonprofit foundation that has the backing of WhatsApp founder Brian Acton, who had left the company in 2017 after clashing with Facebook's leadership.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/02/24/1430211 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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Apple To Release First ARM Mac Without Intel Processor in Next 18 Months, Predicts Kuo
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '20

25 Feb '20

Since we were talking about ARM chips at last night's meeting, this seems an interesting bit of news: 'Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a new analyst note today and the most interesting part of his forecast is that Apple will release its first Mac with an ARM processor in the first half of 2021. From a report: Kuo is predicting that one of Apple's new products to be released within the next 12-18 months will be a Mac with an in-house processor, instead of using an Intel CPU. There have been growing reports over the last couple of years about Apple making the switch to a custom-designed ARM processor for its Macs and today's report gives a concrete timeframe for when to expect that launch, which has actually held true since Kuo's prediction back in 2018. Since the coronavirus outbreak, Kuo highlights that Apple has been "more aggressive" with its funding for research, development, and production of 5nm process chips that are expected to show up in the first Macs with ARM CPUs. That's because 5nm chips will be integral to iPhone, iPad later this year, as well as Macs come 2021.' -- source: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/20/02/24/184242 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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Tablet converted from Win10 to Linux
by Ian Stewart 25 Feb '20

25 Feb '20

Hi Guys, A correction to my story at last nights meeting about converting a tablet from running Win10 to running Debian LXDE. In looking back at the notes I made during this installation, the tablet was an ACER Switch 10 - Model SW5-012. It's CPU is an Intel Atom Processor Z3735F, 4x core, 64-bit, 1.33GHz. Last night I thought its CPU was an ARM chip. However it seems that this CPU has a similarity to ARM in that it needs to initially boot images written in 32-bit code in order to start booting the 64 bit Linux. Although I didn't succeed, in theory I could have installed a 64-bit Ubuntu LXDE 19.10 version, and got it to boot by putting 32 bit images into the /boot partition. That is according to this<https://www.instructables.com/id/Linux-Kiosk-Tablet-From-Acer-Aspire-Switch…> document. Instead I used the debian-live-10.2.0-i386-lxde.iso image and booted it from a USB stick to do an installation to the tablets MMC drive. At the moment the Debian Live team only produce i386 and AMD64 iso's. They do not produce an ARM iso. So the installation approach I took with this tablet, wouldn't work with Mike's PINEBook Pro (ARM) laptop. cheers, Ian.

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