BSD: WireGuard in pfSense and PulseAudio in FreeBSD

• WireGuard Is Now Available For pfSense - Phoronix

  The domination of the open-source WireGuard secure VPN tunnel not only on Linux systems but BSDs too... WireGuard is now available on pfSense, the FreeBSD-based firewall/router focused software platform.  Netgate announced today that WireGuard is now available for pfSense. Following FreeBSD mainlining WireGuard support at the end of November, initial support for WireGuard has been brought to pfSense Community Edition 2.5 snapshots. 

  

• PulseAudio Lands Much Better Support For FreeBSD - Audio Now Plays Correctly - Phoronix

  While 2021 may be the year that some desktop Linux distributions begin using PipeWire by default as the next-generation replacement to the likes of PulseAudio and JACK, for upstream PulseAudio this week it's finally seeing better/restored support for FreeBSD. PulseAudio has merged a set of patches long available via FreeBSD Ports and the like to improve the BSD audio experience. 

Security Leftovers

 

• Check Point uncovers live Linux attack, urges users to take action [Ed: This is not a "Linux" issue, this is an unpatched software issue for software that's not even Linux but installed on top of GNU/Linux]

  The researchers have spotted an ongoing attack campaign exploiting recently-discovered vulnerabilities in Linux systems to create a botnet, a collection of machines infected with malware that can be controlled remotely. The attacks involve a new malware variant called 'FreakOut', capable of conducting port scanning, information gathering, network sniffing, DDoS and flooding.

• BC Security’s Empire/Starkiller & Kali Linux

  We have always worked to support the information security community as a whole, and over the years experimented with different ideas (some with a greater success than others). One of the key components to Kali is the tools included (either pre-installed or installed via apt). Joining together Infosec professional/hobbyist and tool authors, today we are announcing another partnership: Kali has partnered with BC Security. BC Security is the team who is currently maintaining the most active fork of Empire. In August 2019, the original maintainers archived the project, but with Open-source projects (as long as they don’t break software licenses) other groups can take someone else’s code and improve upon it. This is exactly what BC Security did, forking the project, to keep the flame of PowerShell Empire alive.

• Introduction to Tengine Web Server |

  This error and more specifically its footer “Powered by Tengine” stirred up my interest and so I started looking for more information about this unknown to me web server. [....] The Sysguard and Consistent hash modules impressed me as very useful because they would allow advanced load balancing. To get an idea of Tengine’s capabilities, imagine you wish the web server to return a 503 error or a custom page when your free memory is below 100M or CPU load is above 20? With the Sysguard module this can be easily done with a configuration like this:

Open Hardware: Arduino, EasyOS for the Pi. and More

• Arduino Blog » This Arduino-based speed bag counts your punches

  Creator DuctTapeMechanic loves sports and electronics, so for a recent project he decided to combine his two passions by hacking a speed bag to keep track of his punches. As shown in the video below, the first step was to get it physically set up, modding an old metal bed frame into a support structure. He also added a recessed NPN capacitive sensor to pick up when the bag hits the back of the platform. The sensor sends “hit” signals to an Arduino Uno via a PC817 optocoupler. The board then counts punches and displays the number of hits on an LCD screen mounted just above eye level.

• Arduino MKR inspired MKR Windy board is equipped with STM32WL LoRa SoC

  We recently wrote about MKR SharkyPro BLE, Zigbee, OpenThread development board based on STM32WB55 MCU and following Arduino MKR form factor, but it turns out Midatronics has also launched a similar-looking board with LoRa connectivity. MKR Windy board features the company’s Windy STM32WL module with an uFL connector and following the same Arduino MKR layout.

• EasyOS Dunfell 2.6 released for the Raspberry Pi4

  EasyOS, compiled for an aarch64 (64-bit ARM) CPU, with 5.10.4 Linux kernel, compiled entirely from source in a port of the Dunfell release of OpenEmbedded, is available for the Raspberry Pi4. Version number is 2.6, but this is the first release for the Pi. EasyOS for the Pi4 might be a bit beta-quality in places, but overall quite a nice experience. The "beta bits" I will of course keep working on -- as there is an "update" icon on the desktop, it will be easy-peasy to update. Write the image to a good-quality and fast microSD-card (Class 10) or USB-stick (example: SanDisk Ultra), at least 8GB so that you have plenty of space for anything in the future. Though, a minimum of 2GB will work. As to the host board, even a Pi3B with 1GB RAM will work, or rather "just work" -- I recommend at least a Pi4 with 2GB RAM -- I have the 8GB RAM board.

• Managing Edge IoT Linux Devices Closely, Remotely, Securely

  With the recent shift from Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) to Linux-based embedded systems, there has been a boom in the IoT industry in creativity and expandability and opened doors to a whole new level of automation. Unlike the previous generation of IoT devices which followed the “program once, use forever” concept, with the new developments in the IoT industry, mainly the devices based on Linux operating systems that demand more and more flexibility, accessibility, and control. It has been challenging to address all these points at once when it comes to remote monitoring and control of these devices; especially if one produces thousands of those smart devices to be sold worldwide. The ability to manage these connected devices (Raspberry Pi, Jetson Nano, or any SOM/SBC that runs a flavor of Linux such as Yocto based, Ubuntu or Debian, etc.) through a single platform, be it just one device, a dozen, or maybe a couple thousand would prove to be immensely productive when considering both the time and cost it’d otherwise take to manage them individually.