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BBS Pioneer Ward Christensen Has Died
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Ward Christensen, co-inventor of the first computer-based Bulletin Board System, and creator of XMODEM, the first file-transfer protocol designed to work over noisy phone lines (both in the late 1970s), has passed away at the age of 78. He never made a big deal out of his pioneering achievements, and always kept a modest profile in his personal life. <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/ward-christensen-bbs-inventor-and-a…>

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If I Buy Something, Do I Own It?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Oct '24

12 Oct '24

For some reason, it was never considered deceptive for shops to advertise themselves as “selling” CDs and tapes and videocassettes and DVDs and video games; if you bothered to ask, you discovered that what you were buying was a “licence” to use the product, not ownership of the product as such. Well, that’s changing, at least in some places. The US state of California has now decreed that not mentioning this distinction between “licence” and “ownership” constitutes false advertising, so vendors had better make it clear <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/10/steam-now-reminds-you-that-it-really…>. In case customers get upset at discovering something they should have realized before, the article ends with the reassuring words: So long as Steam lasts forever, however, this new language should not be that alarming.

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Thousands of Linux systems infected by stealthy malware since 2021
by Peter Reutemann 04 Oct '24

04 Oct '24

'Thousands of machines running Linux have been infected by a malware strain that’s notable for its stealth, the number of misconfigurations it can exploit, and the breadth of malicious activities it can perform, researchers reported Thursday. The malware has been circulating since at least 2021. It gets installed by exploiting more than 20,000 common misconfigurations, a capability that may make millions of machines connected to the Internet potential targets, researchers from Aqua Security said. It can also exploit CVE-2023-33426, a vulnerability with a severity rating of 10 out of 10 that was patched last year in Apache RocketMQ, a messaging and streaming platform that’s found on many Linux machines. Perfctl storm The researchers are calling the malware Perfctl, the name of a malicious component that surreptitiously mines cryptocurrency. The unknown developers of the malware gave the process a name that combines the perf Linux monitoring tool and ctl, an abbreviation commonly used with command line tools. A signature characteristic of Perfctl is its use of process and file names that are identical or similar to those commonly found in Linux environments. The naming convention is one of the many ways the malware attempts to escape notice of infected users. Perfctl further cloaks itself using a host of other tricks. One is that it installs many of its components as rootkits, a special class of malware that hides its presence from the operating system and administrative tools. Other stealth mechanisms include: - Stopping activities that are easy to detect when a new user logs in - Using a Unix socket over TOR for external communications - Deleting its installation binary after execution and running as a background service thereafter - Manipulating the Linux process pcap_loop through a technique known as hooking to prevent admin tools from recording the malicious traffic - Suppressing mesg errors to avoid any visible warnings during execution. The malware is designed to ensure persistence, meaning the ability to remain on the infected machine after reboots or attempts to delete core components. Two such techniques are (1) modifying the ~/.profile script, which sets up the environment during user login so the malware loads ahead of legitimate workloads expected to run on the server and (2) copying itself from memory to multiple disk locations. The hooking of pcap_loop can also provide persistence by allowing malicious activities to continue even after primary payloads are detected and removed. Besides running using the machine resources to mine cryptocurrency, Perfctl also turns the machine into a profit-making proxy that paying customers use to relay their Internet traffic. Aqua Security researchers have also observed the malware serving as a backdoor to install other families of malware.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/10/persistent-stealthy-linux-malware-… Cheers, Peter

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Mozilla Thunderbird Lands On Android With New Beta Release
by Peter Reutemann 02 Oct '24

02 Oct '24

'The popular open-source email client, Mozilla Thunderbird, has just launched a beta version of its Android app. This release, version 8.0b1, is available as a pre-release with a range of new features and improvements. Here are some notable features, improvements and bug fixes in Thunderbird for Android 8.0b1 (beta) version: 1. Thunderbird for Android Branding: This beta release introduces the official Thunderbird for Android branding, moving away from its previous identity as K-9 Mail. 2. Updated Design: Users will immediately notice the updated design language, with a Material 3 navigation drawer and a refreshed colour scheme.It's important to 3. Migration Made Easy: For those already using K-9 Mail or a previous Thunderbird for Android build, migrating settings to the new version is now a seamless process. 4. Under the Hood Improvements: This beta release incorporates the Glean SDK for improved data collection and analysis. Additionally, the groundwork for supporting financial contributions through Google Play subscriptions has been laid. 5. Enhanced Security and Privacy: When encrypting email subjects, the app now uses "[…]" for the outer subject, bolstering privacy. 6. Simplified Settings: The "Move/copy destination folders" and "Folders to search" settings have been removed for a cleaner user experience. 7. Focus on Stability and Performance: Significant refactoring has been done to critical areas such as the message list, accounts, and folders, improving maintainability and performance. Numerous bug fixes also address crashes and other issues. 8. Open Source and Community Driven: Thunderbird for Android remains committed to open-source development, welcoming contributions from the community. The project uses the Apache License, Version 2.0. 9. Known Issues: Be mindful that the settings import feature may display apps that don't yet support it, leading to unsuccessful imports.' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/thunderbird-lands-on-android-with-new-beta-release/ Cheers, Peter

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Mozilla's massive lapse in judgement causes clash with uBlock Origin developer
by Peter Reutemann 02 Oct '24

02 Oct '24

'Software developers who publish their products on third-party stores face all kinds of problems sometimes. From rejected apps or extensions to removed products or unjustified claims about them. Raymond "gorhill" Hill, maker of the world's most popular content blocker uBlock Origin received two emails from Mozilla recently about his Firefox add-on uBlock Origin Lite. Good to know: uBlock Origin Lite is a Manifest V3-compatible version of the content blocker. It is less powerful, but since Google is disabling Manifest V2 support in Chrome, it is what will remain from uBlock Origin for Chromium-based browsers. Mozilla says that it has reviewed the extension and found violations. The following claims were made: - The extension is not asking for consent for data collecting. - The extension contains "minified, concatenated or otherwise machine-generated code". - There is no privacy policy. As a consequence, Mozilla disabled the extension on the Firefox Add-ons Store. Hill refuted all three claims that Mozilla made on the GitHub repository stating that the extension is not collecting any data, that there is no minified code in uBlock Origin Lite, and that there is a privacy policy. He admitted further that he does not "have the time or motivation to spend time on this nonsense" and won't react to the allegations made or appeal the decision.' -- source: https://www.ghacks.net/2024/10/01/mozillas-massive-lapse-in-judgement-cause… Cheers, Peter

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I'm using Windows at the moment: what's keeping me back
by Ben Cottrell 01 Oct '24

01 Oct '24

Hi, I'm using Windows 11 on my Lenovo ThinkBook 16p Gen 2, with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, and an AMD Ryzen 5600H (with integrated Radeon graphics). In the past I've distro hopped, and here were my experiences. I've stuck with Windows because NVIDIA has still not fully committed to supporting the standards needed for Wayland. OpenSUSE Tumbleweed: The first distro that properly worked with UEFI secure booting, in terms of enrolling keys. NVIDIA's drivers would not be loaded by the kernel unless the keys were enrolled. Ubuntu: Good default GTK theme. Good beginner distro. Installing NVIDIA drivers is a little easier than OpenSUSE. NixOS: Cutting edge, and allowed me to run certain applications to run with GPU acceleration. Easy to rollback system wide changes, but I couldn't really grasp their config language. I'm not sure if the issue is down to an insufficient allocation of staff by NVIDIA, or if there's a conflict of interest with Microsoft. Cheers, Ben

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How to display network traffic in the terminal?
by Peter Reutemann 01 Oct '24

01 Oct '24

Was just wondering that myself and came across the following askubuntu Q&A: https://askubuntu.com/questions/257263/how-to-display-network-traffic-in-th… Tools mentioned: bmon slurm tcptrack iftop nethogs speedometer iptraf Quite a few that I hadn't heard of. :-) Cheers, Peter

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Critical Unauthenticated RCE Flaw Impacts All GNU/Linux Systems
by Peter Reutemann 27 Sep '24

27 Sep '24

'"Looks like there's a storm brewing, and it's not good news," writes ancient Slashdot reader jd. "Whether or not the bugs are classically security defects or not, this is extremely bad PR for the Linux and Open Source community. It's not clear from the article whether this affects other Open Source projects, such as FreeBSD." From a report: A critical unauthenticated Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability has been discovered, impacting all GNU/Linux systems. As per agreements with developers, the flaw, which has existed for over a decade, will be fully disclosed in less than two weeks. Despite the severity of the issue, no Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identifiers have been assigned yet, although experts suggest there should be at least three to six. Leading Linux distributors such as Canonical and RedHat have confirmed the flaw's severity, rating it 9.9 out of 10. This indicates the potential for catastrophic damage if exploited. However, despite this acknowledgment, no working fix is still available. Developers remain embroiled in debates over whether some aspects of the vulnerability impact security.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/09/25/2150210 Cheers, Peter

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Tor Project Merges With Tails
by Peter Reutemann 27 Sep '24

27 Sep '24

'The Tor Project: Today the Tor Project, a global non-profit developing tools for online privacy and anonymity, and Tails, a portable operating system that uses Tor to protect users from digital surveillance, have joined forces and merged operations. Incorporating Tails into the Tor Project's structure allows for easier collaboration, better sustainability, reduced overhead, and expanded training and outreach programs to counter a larger number of digital threats. In short, coming together will strengthen both organizations' ability to protect people worldwide from surveillance and censorship. Countering the threat of global mass surveillance and censorship to a free Internet, Tor and Tails provide essential tools to help people around the world stay safe online. By joining forces, these two privacy advocates will pool their resources to focus on what matters most: ensuring that activists, journalists, other at-risk and everyday users will have access to improved digital security tools. In late 2023, Tails approached the Tor Project with the idea of merging operations. Tails had outgrown its existing structure. Rather than expanding Tails's operational capacity on their own and putting more stress on Tails workers, merging with the Tor Project, with its larger and established operational framework, offered a solution. By joining forces, the Tails team can now focus on their core mission of maintaining and improving Tails OS, exploring more and complementary use cases while benefiting from the larger organizational structure of The Tor Project. This solution is a natural outcome of the Tor Project and Tails' shared history of collaboration and solidarity. 15 years ago, Tails' first release was announced on a Tor mailing list, Tor and Tails developers have been collaborating closely since 2015, and more recently Tails has been a sub-grantee of Tor. For Tails, it felt obvious that if they were to approach a bigger organization with the possibility of merging, it would be the Tor Project.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/09/26/1431201 Cheers, Peter

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NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules
by Peter Reutemann 26 Sep '24

26 Sep '24

'The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the federal body that sets technology standards for governmental agencies, standards organizations, and private companies, has proposed barring some of the most vexing and nonsensical password requirements. Chief among them: mandatory resets, required or restricted use of certain characters, and the use of security questions. Choosing strong passwords and storing them safely is one of the most challenging parts of a good cybersecurity regimen. More challenging still is complying with password rules imposed by employers, federal agencies, and providers of online services. Frequently, the rules—ostensibly to enhance security hygiene—actually undermine it. And yet, the nameless rulemakers impose the requirements anyway. [...] 1. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL require passwords to be a minimum of eight characters in length and SHOULD require passwords to be a minimum of 15 characters in length. 2. Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD permit a maximum password length of at least 64 characters. 3. Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD accept all printing ASCII [RFC20] characters and the space character in passwords. 4. Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD accept Unicode [ISO/ISC 10646] characters in passwords. Each Unicode code point SHALL be counted as a single character when evaluating password length. 5. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT impose other composition rules (e.g., requiring mixtures of different character types) for passwords. 6. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT require users to change passwords periodically. However, verifiers SHALL force a change if there is evidence of compromise of the authenticator. 7. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT permit the subscriber to store a hint that is accessible to an unauthenticated claimant. 8. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT prompt subscribers to use knowledge-based authentication (KBA) (e.g., “What was the name of your first pet?”) or security questions when choosing passwords. 9. Verifiers SHALL verify the entire submitted password (i.e., not truncate it).' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/09/nist-proposes-barring-some-of-the-… Cheers, Peter

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