- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Intro To SELinux
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Came across this video recently <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNoVgDqqJmM> from the Red Hat Summit a couple of years ago, which gives a simplified intro to Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux), which is a set of high-security “mandatory access control” features added to the Linux kernel. There are still some people who get conniptions when they hear that SELinux was originally created by the US National Security Agency. But the code has been through a lot of independent peer review in the time (close to two decades) since then, so rest assured you can have high confidence in it. But it can be a very complex and intimidating piece of software: particularly if you get something wrong and then some service gets denied access to some file or other for mysterious reasons that you cannot fathom. Luckily, there are tools available to help you diagnose such problems. The video talks only about RHEL, but I think those tools are not distro-specific. For a start, SELinux can be set in one of three operating modes: “enabled” (actively blocking/enabling access according to set policy); “disabled” (not active), and “permissive” (where it logs only the actions it would take, without actually blocking any access). The last one is particularly useful for seeing what you would need to fix before you actually enable SELinux, before anything actually breaks. Related to this, each system log message denying access to something also shows a command that you can use to get more detailed information about why that access was blocked, and various things you might do to enable it if that’s what you want. RHEL itself allows you to set two levels of operation of SELinux: “targeted” mode (where a particular critical set of services is controlled by SELinux, while every thing else operates as though it were not there) and “multi-level/multi-category” mode, which is the one that probably justifies the reputation of SELinux for being complex and intimidating, and which is likely only of interest to certain Government employees who don’t like to talk about their job. And which is not addressed in the talk: it only describes “targeted” operation. The video goes step-by-step through a couple of scenarios with using SELinux to control the behaviour of Apache: granting users the ability to set up their own “public_html” directories, and moving a web page created by a staffer into the server area. It shows the mistakes you might make, how they manifest themselves in the logs, and how you correct them. He makes it seem so simple, you feel tempted to actually try SELinux for yourself. Go watch the video.

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Intro To systemd
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Came across this YouTube video recently <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9YmaNuvw5U> from the Red Hat Summit a couple of years ago, which gives a good intro to systemd, with Lennart Poettering as co-presenter. The video explains what a “service” is, and compares how much simpler it is to define a service (usually just a few lines of declarative config) versus the hundreds of lines of shell script it typically takes to set things up under the ancient sysvinit system. Not only that, but it is possible to customize the standard service definitions without having to copy and paste the entire existing definition file: you just create a few lines of additional/overriding definition in a “drop-in” file that you place in /etc, that matches the name of the original service definition. There is even a command, “systemd-delta”, which lets you immediately see all the places where your entire systemwide configuration has been so customized. Lennart mentions that speeding up boot was never a specific design goal, it just naturally came out of the parallelization of service startup. Because systemd lets you think in terms of “services” rather than “processes”, it achieves something that was difficult to ensure before, namely reliable shutdown of a service. Consider Apache, which typically spawns a whole lot of processes, and then if you run CGI scripts, they require additional processes. Nevertheless, shutting down httpd.service with systemd will ensure that all those processes are terminated. Another important feature of systemd is the logging. Here again systemd had a goal of achieving something that was difficult before, namely capturing all log messages from the earliest possible stages of the boot process, including the initrd stage. And also because the systemd journal mechanism has access to kernel information about the processes doing the logging, it can include information in the log entries that those processes cannot forge. Me, I like the fact that the log timestamps are stored in UTC, so you can display them in whatever timezone you wish. There is more, of course: “slices” are how systemd is able to strictly limit the resource usage of services (important to the RHEL-using, Java-suffering audience), and “sockets” are how the functionality of inetd/xinetd is carried over to the systemd world, so that services can be started on demand, instead of having to run all the time. Watch the video to learn more.

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Do not rely on journald to continue logging after a stop+start
by Bryan Baldwin 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

Whilst investigating a problem where services logging to sterr go silent after journald is stopped and started, but not when "restarted", Evgeny Vereshchagin suggests not relying on journald. In spite of its man page, it seems that "restart" isn't quite the same thing as stop+start to journald. Vereshchagin also confirms that is isn't currently possible to prevent a manual stop without also preventing a "restart", and that these shortcomings in using journald should get added to the documentation. https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/6620#issuecomment-322718725

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Mageia 6: is it the rise of Phoenix?
by Peter Reutemann 18 Aug '17

18 Aug '17

'There is no secret that I always preferred distributions with the DEB package format. However, there is an exception. Mageia was the distribution that I ran for quite long time on various laptops. Unfortunately, the issues with outdated packages made me leave this distribution behind some time ago. Just as a reminder, Mageia is an off-spring from the famous Mandriva family that survived when the Mandriva tree crashed. And to fill out the whole forest, OpenMandriva is another off-spring, and my recent test showed that it is far below the mother quality. Coming back to Mageia, it has been a long time since the previous version of this operating system was released. Mageia 5.0 was the “most recent release” for 1.5 years, and 5.1 was merely an update to it. Mageia 6 was released just few weeks ago, in July 2017. It is a good time to check it out now.' -- source: http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2017/08/mageia-6-is-it-rise-of-phoenix.html 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 List The Dependencies Of A Package In Linux
by Peter Reutemann 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

'The other day I was trying to figure out if there is any easy way to find or list the dependencies of a package in Linux. I have been using Linux as my primary OS for few years now, yet I couldn’t how to find the dependencies for a certain package. Fortunately, I found a workaround after a few google searches and wanted to share it with our readers. So, here you go.' -- source: https://www.ostechnix.com/list-dependencies-package-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/

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When The Cookie Meets The Blockchain
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are supposed to allow for completely anonymous financial transactions. However, if you use them at an online shopping site, such places often have enough tracking information in place to link you to a particular currency transaction anyway. <http://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/08/17/when-the-cookie-meets-the-blockchai…>

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Learn the basics of the ZSH shell
by Peter Reutemann 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

'Bash isn't bad. It gets the job done just fine, but have you ever considered what it'd be like if Bash had some extra features to make it more convenient to work with? That's more-or-less what ZSH is. It includes all of the features that you'd expect from Bash, but it also has some really nice additions to make your life easier. Actually, you'll be amazed at how much easier they make working in the command line. ' -- source: https://linuxconfig.org/learn-the-basics-of-the-zsh-shell 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 secure your LAMP server
by Peter Reutemann 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

'The LAMP stack which stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL/MariaDB and PHP/Python/Perl is a very popular combination of free and open-source software used to run millions of websites today. Although many opt for the much efficient LEMP stack based on Nginx instead of Apache, there are still a significant number of users that choose LAMP for their projects. In fact, more than 30% of the active websites today run on top of LAMP. The stack is considered as reliable and very suitable for running high-performance high-availability web applications. In this tutorial we are going to show you how to secure the LAMP stack on your Linux VPS.' -- source: https://www.rosehosting.com/blog/how-to-secure-your-lamp-server/ 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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Email Provider ProtonMail Says It Hacked Back, Then Walks Claim Back
by Peter Reutemann 17 Aug '17

17 Aug '17

'On Wednesday, encrypted email provider ProtonMail claimed it had hacked someone who was impersonating its service in phishing emails, and the company then swiftly deleted the tweet. Early Wednesday morning, the security researcher known as x0rz tweeted out a series of screenshots allegedly showing someone sending emails that directed targets to a fake ProtonMail login screen. "You have an overdue invoice," the message read. In response, ProtonMail said it had taken action. "We also hacked the phishing site so the link is down now," ProtonMail tweeted. Depending on the context and what exactly the retaliating organization did, hacking back can be illegal. Hacking could violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or perhaps even wiretapping legislation. A recently proposed bill would attempt to legalize the practice. ProtonMail swiftly deleted its tweet, but not before x0rz could grab and subsequently tweet a screenshot. x0rz then deleted his own tweet at the request of ProtonMail.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/08/16/2021257/email-provider-protonmail-sa… 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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Review: System76’s Galago Pro solves “just works” Linux’s Goldilocks problem
by Peter Reutemann 16 Aug '17

16 Aug '17

'In recent years, the PC industry has finally spawned a few manufacturers offering up machines with Linux pre-installed to eliminate this issue. By this point, I've tested most of them around Ars: Dell's XPS and Precision lines both have Linux-friendly offerings, and dedicated Linux manufacturers like System76 have long offered decent hardware with Linux pre-installed. In all this testing, I've yet to encounter a driver problem, which is the real benefit of a machine with Linux pre-installed. (Though to be fair, I could say the same for the Lenovo x240 that serves as my daily driver.) Still, finding the perfect Linux laptop has always been and remains something of a Goldilocks problem: this one is too big, this one is too underpowered, this one has too little RAM, this one lacks a big SSD, and so on. Generally speaking, if you want power and storage you're going to end up with something too big to comfortably throw in a bag and carry all day. The Dell Precision 7520 and the System76 Oryx Pro are good examples of this. [...] What Linux users like myself have long wanted is a laptop with roughly the form factor and weight of a Macbook pro, but with the option to get 32GB of RAM or 3TB of storage. This is the mythical unicorn of pre-built Linux machines, a laptop that is both reasonably lightweight and powerful. And that, my fellow Linux users, is refreshingly what System76 has managed to deliver with its new Galago Pro laptop.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/08/review-system76s-galago-pro-solves-… 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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OpenSource.com Test-Drives Linux Distros From 1993 To 2003
by Peter Reutemann 14 Aug '17

14 Aug '17

'A unique trait of open source is that it's never truly EOL (End of Life). The disc images mostly remain online, and their licenses don't expire, so going back and installing an old version of Linux in a virtual machine and getting a precise picture of what progress Linux has made over the years is relatively simple... Whether you're new to Linux, or whether you're such an old hand that most of these screenshots have been more biographical than historical, it's good to be able to look back at how one of the largest open source projects in the world has developed. More importantly, it's exciting to think of where Linux is headed and how we can all be a part of that, starting now, and for years to come. The article looks at seven distros -- Slackware 1.01 (1993), Debian 0.91 (1994), Jurix/S.u.S.E. (1996), SUSE 5.1 (1998), Red Hat 6.0 (1999), Mandrake 8.0 (2001), and Fedora 1 (2003). Click through for some of the highlights.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/08/12/0341251 Cheers, Pete -- 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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Clamping Down On VPNs
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Aug '17

12 Aug '17

“The Listening Post” on Al Jazeera this week <http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2017/08/great-firewall-up…> talks among other things about the attempts by China and other countries to clamp down on their citizens’ access to virtual private networks. While these have many legitimate “non-political” applications (particularly for business), they can also be used to bypass state censorship. China, as you may know, has the most advanced system for restricting access within its borders to sources of content outside them that the state has deemed undesirable. The plan for ensuring that this clampdown on VPNs is done in a way that doesn’t hurt its own business interests is to license VPN providers within the country, and make sure they allow state monitoring, and do not give access to “undesirable” sites. Apple, for one, has acquiesced to China’s demands and removed VPN apps from its Iphone app store within the PRC. However, as one of those interviewed in the piece points out, on the Android side there are 400 different app stores accessible within China, and it would be quite another matter to make sure they all comply with the new law.

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That Reminds Me ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Aug '17

10 Aug '17

... I finally got around to writing up some notes on the tips I presented for accessing the systemd journal at that talk last year <https://github.com/WLUG/meetings/tree/master/2016/2016-06-27>.

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A look at OpenSUSE based Gecko Linux
by Peter Reutemann 10 Aug '17

10 Aug '17

'I was sitting at home writing future articles for Ghacks and I decided on a spur of the moment whim that I wanted to try out a distribution I had never touched before. I’ve tried countless systems over the years, from the typical Ubuntu and Debian based systems, to Arch based systems like Manjaro, even Gentoo based systems like Sabayon. However, I was thinking about it and OpenSUSE used to be one of my favourite distributions to use but I’ve never actually sat down and tried a respin of an OpenSUSE based system; so I started digging around into what some popular ones were...And Gecko Linux caught my eye.' -- source: https://www.ghacks.net/2017/08/06/a-look-at-opensuse-based-gecko-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/

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exa a modern replacement for ls written in rust for Linux/Unix
by Peter Reutemann 09 Aug '17

09 Aug '17

'ls is a command to show files in Linux and Unix-like operating systems. A ls command first appeared in a version of AT&T UNIX as well as in Multics. BSD and GNU Coreutils package provides the ls command with minor syntax changes. There is now third alternative named exa. It is a modern replacement for ls. The exa uses colors for information by default, helping you distinguish between many types of files, such as whether you are the owner, or in the owning group. It also has extra features not present in the original ls, such as viewing the Git status for a directory or recursing into directories with a tree view. The exa command written in Rust, so it’s small, fast, and portable.' -- source: https://www.cyberciti.biz/open-source/command-line-hacks/exa-a-modern-repla… 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 55 Arrives With WebVR on Windows, Performance Panel, and Click-to-Play Flash
by Peter Reutemann 08 Aug '17

08 Aug '17

'Mozilla today made available a new update to Firefox for Windows to introduce support for WebVR, that the company says, will enable desktop VR users to dive into web-based experiences with ease. Firefox 55 also includes performance panel, faster startup when restoring multiple tabs, a quicker way to search across various search engines, and click-to-play Flash by default. From a report: WebVR is an experimental JavaScript API that provides support for virtual reality devices, such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Cardboard. As its name implies, the technology is meant for browsers. If you find a web game or app that supports VR, just click the VR goggles icon visible on the web page to experience it using your VR headset. WebVR supports navigating and controlling VR experiences with handset controllers or your movements in physical space. [...] Firefox 55 also allows users to adjust the number of processes and how much resources they want to allocate to any of them. This setting is at the bottom of the General section in Options. In fact, if your computer has more than 8GB of RAM, Mozilla recommends "bumping up the number of content processes that Firefox uses" because it will make Firefox faster, though at the expense of using more memory. In its own tests on Windows 10, the company found that Firefox uses less memory than Chrome, even with eight content processes running.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/08/08/143246 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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Mozilla’s new file-transfer service isn’t perfect, but it’s drop-dead easy
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '17

07 Aug '17

'Mozilla is testing a new service that makes it dead simple and quick for people to semi-securely share files with anyone on the Internet. Send, as the service is called, allows senders to encrypt any 1-gigabyte or less file and upload it to a Mozilla server. The service then creates a link with a long, complex string of letters in it that's required to download and decrypt the file. Mozilla will automatically delete the encrypted file as soon as it's downloaded or within 24 hours of being uploaded, even if no one has downloaded it.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/08/mozillas-new-file-tr… 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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OpenSSL Support In Debian Unstable Drops TLS 1.0/1.1 Support
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '17

07 Aug '17

'Debian Linux "sid" is deprecating TLS 1.0 Encryption. A new version of OpenSSL has been uploaded to Debian Linux unstable. This version disables the TLS 1.0 and 1.1 protocol. This currently leaves TLS 1.2 as the only supported SSL/TLS protocol version. This will likely break certain things that for whatever reason still don't support TLS 1.2. I strongly suggest that if it's not supported that you add support for it, or get the other side to add support for it. OpenSSL made a release 5 years ago that supported TLS 1.2. The current support of the server side seems to be around 90%. I hope that by the time Buster releases the support for TLS 1.2 will be high enough that I don't need to enable them again. This move caused some concern among Debian users and sysadmins. If you are running Debian Unstable on server tons of stuff is going to broken cryptographically. Not to mention legacy hardware and firmware that still uses TLS 1.0. On the client side (i.e. your users), you need to use the latest version of a browser such as Chrome/Chromium and Firefox. The Older version of Android (e.g. Android v5.x and earlier) do not support TLS 1.2. You need to use minimum iOS 5 for TLS 1.2 support. Same goes with SMTP/mail servers, desktop email clients, FTP clients and more. All of them using old outdated crypto. This move will also affect for Android 4.3 users or stock MS-Windows 7/IE users (which has TLS 1.2 switched off in Internet Options.) Not to mention all the mail servers out there running outdated crypto.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/08/07/1823244 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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GNOME's Text Editor gedit 'No Longer Maintained', Needs New Developers
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'AmiMoJo brings news about gedit, the default text editor for GNOME: In a post to the gedit mailing list, Sébastien Wilmet states that gedit is no longer maintained and asks "any developer interested to take over the maintenance of gedit?" Just in case you were considering it, he warns "BTW while the gedit core is written in C (with a bit of Objective-C for Mac OS X support), some plugins are written in Vala or Python. If you take over gedit maintenance, you'll need to deal with four programming languages (without counting the build system). The Python code is not compiled, so when doing refactorings in gedit core, good luck to port all the plugins (the Python code is also less "greppable" than C). At least with Vala there is a compiler, even if I would not recommend Vala." Sébastien's comments were surrounded by a <rant-on-languages> tag, but they're still crying out for some serious discussion. Any Slashdot readers want to share their own insights on Python, some fond thoughts on gedit, or suggestions for maintaining a great piece of open source software?' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/08/05/025227 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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Red Hat Acquires Data-Cleaning Company Permabit
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'Business software company Red Hat said on Monday that it is acquiring the technology assets of Permabit, a small company that specializes in cleaning up corporate data to make storage more efficient and data access faster. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but a Red Hat spokesman said 16 people from Permabit will be joining that company... While the conventional wisdom is that data storage is cheap, it is not free. And with companies turning to more expensive flash storage, it saves money to remove redundant data, said Richard Fichera, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research... Red Hat, which sells a version of the Linux operating system used by many Fortune 500 companies, also offers its own storage software. And, it wants to become a more formidable challenger in data storage, a goal that can be furthered by buying Permabit's technology, Fichera said. Slashdot reader See Attached points out that this week Red Hat also released RHEL 7.4, which introduces support for Network Bound Disk Encryption (NBDE) and system protection against intrusive USB devices.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/08/05/0453223 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 Kernel Hardeners Grsecurity Sue Open Source's Bruce Perens
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'In late June, noted open-source programmer Bruce Perens [a longtime Slashdot reader] warned that using Grsecurity's Linux kernel security could invite legal trouble. "As a customer, it's my opinion that you would be subject to both contributory infringement and breach of contract by employing this product in conjunction with the Linux kernel under the no-redistribution policy currently employed by Grsecurity," Perens wrote on his blog. The following month, Perens was invited to court. Grsecurity sued the open-source doyen, his web host, and as-yet-unidentified defendants who may have helped him draft that post, for defamation and business interference. Grsecurity offers Linux kernel security patches on a paid-for subscription basis. The software hardens kernel defenses through checks for common errors like memory overflows. Perens, meanwhile, is known for using the Debian Free Software Guidelines to draft the Open Source Definition, with the help of others. Grsecurity used to allow others to redistribute its patches, but the biz ended that practice for stable releases two years ago and for test patches in April this year. It offers its GPLv2 licensed software through a subscription agreement. The agreement says that customers who redistribute the code -- a right under the GPLv2 license -- will no longer be customers and will lose the right to distribute subsequent versions of the software. According to Perens, "GPL version 2 section 6 explicitly prohibits the addition of terms such as this redistribution prohibition." A legal complaint (PDF) filed on behalf of Grsecurity in San Francisco, California, insists the company's software complies with the GPLv2. Grsecurity's agreement, the lawsuit states, only applies to future patches, which have yet to be developed. Perens isn't arguing that the GPLv2 applies to unreleased software. Rather, he asserts the GPLv2, under section 6, specifically forbids the addition of contractual terms.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/04/2233239 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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Browser Extensions Are Undermining Privacy
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '17

06 Aug '17

'pizzutz writes: Chrome's popular Web Developer plugin was briefly hijacked on Wednesday when an attacker gained control of the author's Google account and released a new version (0.49) which injected ads into web pages of more than a million users who downloaded the update. The version was quickly replaced with an uncompromised version (0.5) and all users are urged to update immediately. Lauren Weinstein has a broader warning: While the browser firms work extensively to build top-notch security and privacy controls into the browsers themselves, the unfortunate fact is that these can be undermined by add-ons, some of which are downright crooked, many more of which are sloppily written and poorly maintained. Ironically, some of these add-on extensions and apps claim to be providing more security, while actually undermining the intrinsic security of the browsers themselves. Others (and this is an extremely common scenario) claim to be providing additional search or shopping functionalities, while actually only existing to silently collect and sell user browsing activity data of all sorts. Lauren also warns about sites that "push users very hard to install these privacy-invasive, data sucking extensions" -- and believes requests for permissions aren't a sufficient safeguard for most users. "Expecting them to really understand what these permissions mean is ludicrous. We're the software engineers and computer scientists -- most users aren't either of these. They have busy lives -- they expect our stuff to just work, and not to screw them over."' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/05/2122210 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 Windows console is getting a new, easier to read color scheme
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

“Even with this work, the Windows console is still weak compared to its counterparts in macOS and Linux. In Windows, the operating systems-supplied console windows are closely tied to the command-line applications that use them; it's impossible to create a command-line application that isn't attached to a Windows console window. Linux and macOS offer a separation between the software that's displaying the console apps and the console apps themselves. Those operating systems have a built-in default console, but unlike Windows, they don't have to use it; third-party software can fill the same role. “Attractive, modern terminal applications like iTerm on macOS and Unix stalwarts such as screen (which enables multiple command-line shells to share a single console window) take advantage of this extensibility. Neither kind of application can be readily developed for command-line apps on Windows, and while people have tried to work around Windows' limitations (for example, by hiding the Windows built-in console windows off-screen somewhere), the results are imperfect. We're told that there are plans in store to finally address this weakness of Windows, though what the solution will be is at present unknown.” <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/08/the-windows-console-is-getting-a-ne…>

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Systemd wins top gong for 'lamest vendor' in Pwnie security awards
by Bryan Baldwin 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

The lamest vendor response award went to Systemd supremo Lennart Poettering for his controversial, and perhaps questionable, handling of the following bugs in everyone's favorite init replacement. Nomination Submission: Awarded to the vendor who mis-handled a security vulnerability most spectacularly. SystemD bugs 5998, 6225, 6214, 5144, 6237 Credit: Lennart Poettering Where you are dereferencing null pointers, or writing out of bounds, or not supporting fully qualified domain names, or giving root privileges to any user whose name begins with a number, there's no chance that the CVE number will referenced in either the change log or the commit message. But CVEs aren't really our currency any more, and only the lamest of vendors gets a Pwnie! https://pwnies.com/nominations/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/28/black_hat_pwnie_awards/

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Trust Me, I’m A Random-Number Generator
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Jul '17

30 Jul '17

SK Telecom has created a “quantum random number generator” chip <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/26/sk_telecom_makes_light_of_random_n…>. Seems like slapping the label “quantum” on anything is enough to make people believe you know what you are talking about. Random-number generators are notorious for being easily subverted. And hearing things like “SK Telecom hasn't specified what kind [of quantum noise source they are using]” is not exactly reassuring. You can never be sure your random numbers are truly random. But you try to stack the deck as much in your favour as you can. The Linux kernel mixes in several sources of entropy to feed /dev/random (and from there, /dev/urandom), in the hope that, as long as one of them remains unsubverted (intentionally or otherwise), the output can be trusted. This is also the principle behind the Fortuna PRNG <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortuna_(PRNG)>, which well-known computer security guru Bruce Schneier had a hand in.

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