- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Chrome and Edge Rise In Popularity. Firefox, Opera, and Safari Drop.
by Peter Reutemann 04 Aug '20

04 Aug '20

'July's statistics from web analytics firm Net Applications showed continuing changes in the most frequently-used web browsers. Softpedia reports: Last month, Google Chrome increased its market share from 70.19% to 71.00%, while Microsoft Edge jumped from 8.07% to 8.46%... The migration to the Chromium engine allowed Microsoft to turn Edge into a cross-platform browser, and this is one of the reasons that contributed to the growth of the new app. Edge is now available not only on Windows 10, but also on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and even macOS. At the same time, Microsoft is also working on a Linux version of the browser, and a preview build is expected by the end of the year. But what made Microsoft Edge the second most-used desktop browser out there so fast after the switch to Chromium is definitely Microsoft offering it as the default browser in Windows 10. But what about Firefox? And Opera, and Apple's Safari? Computerworld reports: A decade ago, Mozilla's browser may have dreamed of upsetting the then-order of things, taking its April 2010 share of 25.1% and parlaying it into victory over IE — down to 61.2% by then... But that was Firefox's peak. At the end of July, Firefox stood at 7.3%, down three-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month... Firefox let its second-place spot (far, far behind Chrome) slip away in March, when Edge snatched it. That did not change in July. The gap between the two more than doubled, in fact, to 1.2 points. On almost every browser share metric, Firefox is in trouble... Since the end of January, Firefox has been stuck in the 7s; for the eight months before that, it was mired in the 8s; and between May 2018 and March 2019, Firefox floundered in the 9s. The trend is crystal clear... Elsewhere in Net Applications' numbers, Apple's Safari plunged to 3%, a loss of six-tenths of a point, its lowest mark since late 2008. Opera software's Opera also took a dive, ending July at 0.8%, a decline of three-tenths of a point. Those numbers have to be frightening to both those browsers' makers.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/08/03/028217 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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Package management mistake borking some Ubuntu machines running WireGuard
by Eric Light 04 Aug '20

04 Aug '20

Morning folks! For those who watch WireGuard, Jason Donenfeld is giving the Canonical kernel team a damn roasting after they bungled a Provides statement in about half of their Linux kernel manifests... which borks certain systems running WireGuard. For example, systems with the linux-image-oem kernel will try to install the linux-image-gke kernel (meant for the Google Kubernetes Engine), in order to receive the wireguard-modules package, leading to Proper Breakage. Donenfeld: "I'll note that this is at least the third time Canonical has forgotten the "Provides:" line for kernel packages. I'd highly recommend they put some time into double checking their procedures. [...] Usually things go quite a bit better with the WireGuard side of things, but this seems pretty par for the course with _Ubuntu_ and Canonical's kernel team. We've had perpetual issues over the last 6 months with getting Canonical to release high quality packages in a timely manner. A pretty large portion of my time is spent dealing with these bugs and Ubuntu in general." Looks like Canonical's kernel packaging team are already working on it, after Jason Donenfeld escalated a bug report earlier this morning. E -------------------------------------------- Q: Why is this email five sentences or less? A: http://five.sentenc.es

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Red Hat Security Update Renders Systems Unbootable
by Peter Reutemann 04 Aug '20

04 Aug '20

'A recently released Red Hat update for the BootHole Vulnerability (firehose link) is causing systems to become unbootable. It is widely reported that updates to the shim, grub2 and kernel packages in RHEL and CentOS 7 and 8 are leaving various systems that use secure boot unbootable. Current recommendations are to avoid updating your system until the issue is resolved, or at least avoid updating the shim, grub2 and kernel packages. Update, shared by PAjamian: Red Hat is now recommending that users do not apply grub2, fwupd, fwupdate or shim updates until new packages are available.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/07/31/158212 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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O/T: Waikato-based laptop repairer
by David McNab 01 Aug '20

01 Aug '20

Hi all, Apologies for being slightly off-topic. Does anyone know of a computer repairer in/around Hamilton, who can do board-level troubleshooting and repair on laptops, without having to "send it to Auckland"? I've got a Gigabyte i7 laptop which became unable to charge its battery a couple of years ago. I was able to run it plugged into the mains since then. But just now, it won't even start up at all. I'd like someone to do some quick tests to determine if it's a feasible repair and, if so, give a cost estimate. Oh, but it was running Ubuntu, so not completely off-topic ;) All suggestions appreciated Cheers David

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Allowing PBL'ed IP addresses in Postfix
by David McNab 31 Jul '20

31 Jul '20

Hi, Has anyone had experience with configuring Postfix to allow inbound client SMTP connections from NZ-based IP addresses that have been Policy Block Listed (PBL'ed) by their ISP? Spark have PBL'ed most or all of their home and small business fibre/*DSL connection IP addresses. 2degrees have PBL'ed most/all of their cellular data IP addresses. I'm trying to support a user to send email from their cellphone email client. Cheers David

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Bug In Grub2 Breaks Secure Boot (Yawn)
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 30 Jul '20

30 Jul '20

Seems a vulnerability has been found in everyone’s favourite bootloader <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/07/new-flaw-neuters-sec…> which allows a bypass of the “Secure Boot” mechanism in modern UEFI-based machines. But given that so many other bypasses already exist, nobody seems especially worried about this. For example, the article references an attempt by Microsoft to revoke the certification of (an obsolete version of) a secure bootloader from Kaspersky Lab with a vulnerability in it; the revocation caused so many headaches for users that it had to be rolled back.

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NoiseTorch
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jul '20

28 Jul '20

Hi everyone Angus mentioned NoiseTorch at last night's meeting as a way of avoiding noise from being recorded when using microphones: 'NoiseTorch is an easy to use open source application for Linux with PulseAudio. It creates a virtual microphone that suppresses noise, in any application. Use whichever conferencing or VOIP application you like and simply select the NoiseTorch Virtual Microphone as input to torch the sound of your mechanical keyboard, computer fans, trains and the likes.' -- source: https://github.com/lawl/NoiseTorch 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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Hackers Stole GitHub and GitLab OAuth Tokens From Git Analytics Firm Waydev
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jul '20

28 Jul '20

'Waydev, an analytics platform used by software companies, has disclosed a security breach that occurred earlier this month. From a report: The company says that hackers broke into its platform and stole GitHub and GitLab OAuth tokens from its internal database. Waydev, a San Francisco-based company, runs a platform that can be used to track software engineers' work output by analyzing Git-based codebases. To do this, Waydev runs a special app listed on the GitHub and GitLab app stores. When users install the app, Waydev receives an OAuth token that it can use to access its customers' GitHub or GitLab projects. Waydev stores this token in its database and uses it on a daily basis to generate analytical reports for its customers. Waydev CEO and co-founder Alex Circei told ZDNet today in a phone call that hackers used a blind SQL injection vulnerability to gain access to its database, from where they stole GitHub and GitLab OAuth tokens. The hackers then used some of these tokens to pivot to other companies' codebases and gain access to their source code projects.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/07/27/1918237 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 suggestions?
by Peter Reutemann 26 Jul '20

26 Jul '20

Hi everyone For our first in-person meeting after the lockdown on July 27th, any ideas for topics? 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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World’s Fastest Computer Is ARM
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Jul '20

26 Jul '20

Looking at the June Top500 list <https://top500.org/lists/top500/list/2020/06/>, the current number 1, Japan’s Fugaku, uses over 7 million A64FX cores and close to 5 petabytes of RAM. Numbers 2 and 3 are based on IBM’s POWER architecture, while number 4 is a Chinese RISC-based machine, which might have some resemblance to the DEC Alpha <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunway_(processor)>, or MIPS, or not. It’s not until 5th place does x86 make an appearance.

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Popular Chinese-Made Drone Is Found To Have Security Weakness
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '20

24 Jul '20

'Cybersecurity researchers revealed on Thursday a newfound vulnerability in an app that controls the world's most popular consumer drones, threatening to intensify the growing tensions between China and the United States. From a report: In two reports, the researchers contended that an app on Google's Android operating system that powers drones made by China-based Da Jiang Innovations, or DJI, collects large amounts of personal information that could be exploited by the Beijing government. Hundreds of thousands of customers across the world use the app to pilot their rotor-powered, camera-mounted aircraft. The world's largest maker of commercial drones, DJI has found itself increasingly in the cross hairs of the United States government, as have other successful Chinese companies. The Pentagon has banned the use of its drones, and in January the Interior Department decided to continue grounding its fleet of the company's drones over security fears. DJI said the decision was about politics, not software vulnerabilities. For months, U.S. government officials have stepped up warnings about the Chinese government's potentially exploiting weaknesses in tech products to force companies there to give up information about American users. Chinese companies must comply with any government request to turn over data, according to American officials. "Every Chinese technology company is required by Chinese law to provide information they obtain, or information stored on their networks, to Chinese authorities if requested to do so," said William R. Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. "All Americans should be concerned that their images, biometrics, locational and other data stored on Chinese apps must be turned over to China's state security apparatus." The drone vulnerability, said American officials, is the kind of security hole that worries Washington.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/07/23/1437214 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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Fawkes: Protecting Privacy against Unauthorized Deep Learning Models
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 23 Jul '20

23 Jul '20

This paper <http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/%7Eravenben/publications/abstracts/fawkes-use…>, presented at USENIX Security 2020, discusses techniques for allowing you to continue to share images of yourself online while making them resistant to automated exploitation by “deep-learning” facial-recognition software. The researchers found that they could make subtle distortions to facial images, imperceptible to the human eye, that would severely confuse recognition services from major providers like Microsoft and Amazon. (Found from Bruce Schneier <https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/07/fawkes_digital_.html>.)

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We test Mozilla’s new Wireguard-based $5/mo VPN service
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jul '20

23 Jul '20

'Mozilla, the open source company best known for the Firefox Web browser, made its VPN service generally available in the United States this month. The cross-platform VPN is based on Wireguard and delivered in partnership with well-known and especially techie-friendly VPN provider Mullvad. Mullvad itself was, to the best of our knowledge, the first publicly available VPN provider to offer Wireguard support back in 2017. The Mozilla VPN service costs $4.95 per month and offers server endpoints in 30-plus countries. It currently has VPN clients available for Windows 10, Android, and iOS—but users of other operating systems, such as MacOS and Linux, are going to have to wait. Mozilla says that support for MacOS and Linux is coming soon—but unfortunately, even if you're an advanced user who understands Wireguard configs, you can't just roll your own connection now. The service authenticates via Firefox cloud account. When you sign up for a Mozilla VPN subscription, you'll be asked to create a Firefox account if you don't already have one. The Firefox account is an SSO (Single Sign On) service which uses oauth2, much like a Google account—but it's not tied to a Google account, so even if you sign up using a Gmail address tied to an Android device, that device won't be automatically logged in. Aside from the Firefox-based oauth2 integration, Mozilla's VPN appears to effectively be a Mullvad VPN, with a different client application and different billing entity. It is a bit less expensive through Mozilla, though—Mullvad costs €5 per month. This makes Mozilla's offering about $0.80 per month cheaper, at current exchange rates.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/07/we-test-mozillas-new-wireguard-base… 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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Lambton Property Management Privacy Breach
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Jul '20

22 Jul '20

A whole bunch of tenants who have had dealings with Lambton Property Management have had their confidential personal details compromised, according to TVNZ <https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/thousands-kiwis-could-have-had-…>, <https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/second-researcher-gains-access-…>. Neither of those articles gives much detail about the nature of the breach, but going to the source <https://cybernews.com/security/new-zealand-property-management-company-leak…> confirms it’s another instance of the all-too-frequent situation of an improperly-secured public cloud area.

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Fwd: [NZLUG] Free intro course
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jul '20

22 Jul '20

Apologies for cross-posting... Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: DL Neil <...> Date: Wed, Jul 22, 2020 at 4:47 PM Subject: [NZLUG] Free intro course To: NZ Linux Users Group <nzlug(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz> Video-based course providing a basic introduction to Linux. Video 1. What are Linux, open source software, and a distribution? Video 2. Introduction to the shell Video 3. Kernel and user spaces Video 4. Orientation to the graphical user interface Video 5. File management in Linux Video 6. The file system hierarchy Video 7. Editing files using Vim Video 8. Organizing users and groups Video 9. File permissions Video 10. Managing software Video 11. Configuring networking Video 12. Controlling system startup processes Video 13. Introduction to containers Video 14. Overview of cockpit Video 15. Learning more about Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 https://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/rh024-red-hat-linux-technical-o… -- Regards, =dn _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -- 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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Incognito Mode Detection Still Works in Chrome Despite Promise To Fix
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jul '20

22 Jul '20

'Websites are still capable of detecting when a visitor is using Chrome's incognito (private browsing) mode, despite Google's efforts last year to disrupt the practice. From a report: It is still possible to detect incognito mode in Chrome, and all the other Chromium-based browsers, such as Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, and Brave, all of which share the core of Chrome's codebase. Furthermore, developers have taken the scripts shared last year and have expanded support to non-Chrome browsers, such as Firefox and Safari, allowing sites to block users in incognito mode across the board. Currently, there is no deadline for a new Chrome update to block incognito mode detections, however, today, Google might be interested more than ever in fixing this issue' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/20/06/04/1857211 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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SUSE Releases Major Linux Update
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jul '20

22 Jul '20

'SUSE has released the next versions of its flagship operating system, SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) 15 Service Pack 2 and its latest infrastructure management program, SUSE Manager 4.1. ZDNet reports: SLE 15 SP2 is available on the x86-64, Arm, IBM POWER, IBM Z, and LinuxONE hardware architectures. This new Linux server edition is based on the Linux 5.3 kernel. This new kernel release includes upstream features such as utilization clamping support in the task scheduler, and power-efficient userspace waiting. Other new and noteworthy features include: - Support for migration from openSUSE Leap to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). With this, you can try the free, community openSUSE Linux distro, and then, if you find it's a good choice for your business, upgrade to SLES. - Extended Package Search. By using the new Zypper, SUSE's command line package manager, command option -- zypper search-packages -- sysadmins can now search across all SUSE repositories, even unenabled ones. This makes it easier for administrators to find required software packages. - SLE Software Development Kit (SDK) is now integrated into SLE. Development packages are packaged alongside regular packages. - Python 3: SLE 15 offers full support for Python 3 development. SLE still supports Python 2 for the time being. - 389 Directory Server replaces OpenLDAP as the LDAP directory service. - Repository Mirroring Tool (RMT) replaces Subscription Management Tool (SMT). RMT allows mirroring SUSE repositories and custom repositories. You can then register systems directly with RMT. In environments with tightened security, RMT can also proxy other RMT servers. - Better business continuity with improved SLE Live Patching. SUSE claims Live Patching increases system uptime by up to 12 months. SLE Live Patching is also now available for IBM Z and LinuxONE mainframe architectures. As for SUSE Manager 4.1, this is an improved open-source infrastructure management and automation solution that lowers costs, identifies risk, enhances availability, and reduces complexity in edge, cloud, and data center environments. With SUSE Manager you can keep servers, VMs, containers, and clusters secure, healthy, compliant, and low maintenance whether in private, public, or hybrid cloud. That's especially important these days thanks to coronavirus pandemic IT staff disruptions. SUSE Manager 4.1 can also be used with the Salt DevOps program. Its vertical-market brother, SUSE Manager for Retail 4.1, is optimized and tailored specifically for retail. This release comes with enhancements for small store operations, enhanced offline capabilities and image management over Wi-Fi, and enhanced virtual machine management and monitoring capabilities. Simultaneously it can scale retail environments to tens of thousands of end-point devices and help modernize point-of-service rollouts.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/07/21/2152237 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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Microsoft Brings Procmon To Linux
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

'ProcMon for Linux is Microsoft's newest open-source Linux software. ProcMon is a rewritten and re-imagined version of its Processor Monitor found on Windows within their Sysinternals suite. From a report: Microsoft explains, "The Procmon is a Linux reimagining of the classic Procmon tool from the Sysinternals suite of tools for Windows. Procmon provides a convenient and efficient way for Linux developers to trace the syscall activity on the system."' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/07/20/205232 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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Source Code of Covid Tracker Ireland App Goes Global With Linux Project
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

'The Linux Foundation Public Health initiative has chosen the Covid Tracker Ireland app as one of its first two open-source Covid-19 projects. From a report: Since its launch, more than 1.3m people have downloaded the Covid Tracker Ireland app, which was developed to help track the future spread of the coronavirus. Now, the app has been chosen as one of the first two open-source contact-tracing projects by the newly established Linux Foundation Public Health (LFPH) initiative. Nearform, the Waterford-based company that developed the app with the HSE, has been made one of the initiative's seven premium members, along with Cisco, Doc.ai, Geometer, IBM, Tencent and VMware. Under the project name 'Covid Green', the source code of the Irish app is being made available for other public health authorities and their developers across the world to use and customise. As part of the agreement, Nearform will manage the source code repository on GitHub. In its announcement, the LFPH pointed to the "extraordinarily high" adoption rate of the Covid Tracker Ireland app.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/07/20/168224 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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BadPower Attack Corrupts Fast Chargers To Melt or Set Your Device on Fire
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

'Chinese security researchers said they can alter the firmware of fast chargers to cause damage to connected (charging) systems, such as melt the components, or even set devices on fire. Iwastheone shares a report: The technique, named BadPower, was detailed last week in a report published by Xuanwu Lab, a research unit of Chinese tech giant Tencent. According to researchers, BadPower works by corrupting the firmware of fast chargers -- a new type of charger that was developed in the past few years to speed up charging times. A fast charger looks like any typical charger but works using special firmware. This firmware "talks" to a connected device and negotiates a charging speed, based on the device's capabilities. If a fast-charging feature is not supported, the fast charger delivers the standard 5V, but if the device can handle bigger inputs, the fast charger can deliver up to 12V, 20V, or even more, for faster charging speeds. The BadPower technique works by altering the default charging parameters to deliver more voltage than the receiving device can handle, which degrades and damages the receiver's components, as they heat up, bend, melt, or even burn.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/07/20/1624200 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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Could Pine64's Cheap Linux Smartphone Replace Your PC?
by Peter Reutemann 20 Jul '20

20 Jul '20

'TechRadar reports on Pine64's new "PinePhone Convergence Package" handset, calling it "a Linux desktop you can keep in your pocket" that can be used as a PC when plugged into an external display and a keyboard. The device costs just $199 and is aimed primarily at Linux enthusiasts. The PinePhone Linux smartphone is based on the Alpine Linux-based PostmarketOS that can be used both in smartphone and desktop modes... The main component that transforms the PinePhone into a PC-like device is its USB-C docking bar that features an HDMI display output, two USB Type-A connectors, and a 10/100Mb Ethernet port. The idea of using a smartphone with an external display and keyboard to run certain applications has not gained much traction neither with HP's Elite x3 Windows Phone 10 handset nor with Samsung's smartphones with its DeX software. Perhaps, since Linux community is generally more inclined to experiment with their gadgets (and their time), Pine64's PinePhone Convergence has a better chance to be actually used as a desktop by its owners. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/07/19/2252214 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 VPN' Launches in Six Countries
by Peter Reutemann 20 Jul '20

20 Jul '20

'"Starting today, there's a VPN on the market from a company you trust," Mozilla announced Wednesday. Mozilla VPN is now officially available for Windows and Android in six countries: the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand, and it'll be coming to even more countries later this year, reports the Verge: The service is available for $4.99 a month, and, like other VPNs, it's designed to make your web-browsing more private and secure. As part of the move, the service is being rebranded from Firefox Private Network to Mozilla VPN, a change that was announced last month. Mozilla argues that its VPN service has a couple of advantages over its many competitors. It says it should offer a faster browsing experience in many cases because it's based on a protocol with less than a third of the lines of code of an average VPN service provider. The company is also banking on the reputation it's built up with its privacy-focused browser, and it adds that it only collects the information it needs to run a service and doesn't keep user data logs. The VPN's launch follows beta trials in the US, which also included tests of a VPN built directly into the Firefox browser. Last month, Mozilla announced that it would be testing asking users to pay $2.99 a month for unlimited usage of the extension, which is designed to mask your traffic within the browser rather than at a system-wide level.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/07/19/0437230 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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VPN With 'Strict No-Logs Policy' Exposed Millions of User Log Files
by Peter Reutemann 19 Jul '20

19 Jul '20

'An unprotected database belonging to the VPN service UFO VPN was exposed online for more than two weeks. Contained within the database were more than 20 million logs including user passwords stored in plain text. User of both UFO VPN free and paid services are affected by the data breach which was discovered by the security research team at Comparitech. Despite the Hong Kong-based VPN provider claiming to have a "strict no-logs policy" and that any data collected is anonymized, Comparitech says that "based on the contents of the database, users' information does not appear to be anonymous at all." A total of 894GB of data was exposed, and the API access records and user logs included: Account passwords in plain text; VPN session secrets and tokens; IP addresses of both user devices and the VPN servers they connected to; Connection timestamps; Geo-tags; Device and OS characteristics; and URLs that appear to be domains from which advertisements are injected into free users' web browsers. Comparitech notes that this runs counter to UFO VPN's privacy policy.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/07/17/2338230 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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LibreOffice Ructions
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

From <https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/16/libreoffice_ecosystem_beyond_utterly…>: Michael Meeks: “Words fail me to express how beyond-utterly-broken the existing TDF / desktop model is for the ecosystem around selling desktop LibreOffice.” As you may know, LibreOffice is overseen by The Document Foundation, which is a charity registered in Germany. And it currently has about €1.5 million in the bank. However, owing to peculiarities of German law (or maybe just the way they are interpreting it), none of that money is actually allowed to be spent on software development.

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The Pros & Cons Of Virtual Meetings
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Jul '20

17 Jul '20

<https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/16/virtual_internet_governance_meeting_…>: The move to virtual meetings among internet governance bodies has had mixed results ... “Previously, physical intergovernmental meetings were represented by a select few per economy that could afford to travel to these closed-door meetings. Economies with smaller travel budgets and small delegations tend to be at a disadvantage in terms of getting their views adequately represented.” But smaller nations may have another problem: unreliable internet access. ... “In addition, virtual meetings do not lend themselves well to effective ‘corridor chats’, where many private conversations and negotiations take place at the sidelines of the meeting. ...” “Remote participants in a virtual meeting generally come with pre-baked positions that sometimes become intractable due to the lack of opportunities for proper engagement ... [resulting in] the inability to reach a compromise in an effective and efficient manner.”

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