Ubuntu-Based Alternatives and Snapcraft 2.30

• ​How to install Linux Mint on your Windows PC

  I think Linux Mint isn't just a great desktop, it's a great replacement for Windows. With Windows security problems such as WannaCry, people are starting to explore alternatives to Windows. I got a number of requests about switching out from Windows to the latest and best Linux. For me and many other experienced Linux users that's Linux Mint 18.1. You don't need to be a Linux expert to install Mint on a Windows PC. Here's how to do it.

• Distro watch for Ubuntu lovers: What's ahead in Linux land

  With the death of Unity, Canonical will focus more attention on Ubuntu servers, Ubuntu in the cloud and Ubuntu in the so-called Internet of Things. Even if you give Canonical the benefit of the doubt - that it will continue working on desktop Ubuntu - at the very least, desktop Ubuntu's future looks uncertain. Post Unity, how will the transition to GNOME work? Will existing Unity users be "upgraded" to GNOME with 17.10? Canonical is reportedly plotting out solutions to much of this uncertainty right now, but for users, the uncertainty rules the day.

• Canonical Releases Snapcraft 2.30 Snappy Packaging Tool for Ubuntu Linux OSes

  Canonical's Sergio Schvezov was proud to announce the release and immediate availability of Snapcraft 2.30, a major milestone of the open-source Snappy packaging tool used to package apps in the Snap universal binary format.

An introduction to Linux's EXT4 filesystem

Although written for Linux, the EXT filesystem has its roots in the Minix operating system and the Minix filesystem, which predate Linux by about five years, being first released in 1987. Understanding the EXT4 filesystem is much easier if we look at the history and technical evolution of the EXT filesystem family from its Minix roots.

Security Leftovers

• Check Point Discovers Media Subtitle Vulnerability Impacting Millions

• How does Rakos malware attack embedded Linux systems?

  Rakos attacks embedded Linux systems using methods similar to those used by the Moose worm, where it tries to brute force the login credentials via SSH on vulnerable devices. When a vulnerable device is found, the malware transfers the malicious binary to the target system and downloads the configuration file that lists the command-and-control (C&C) servers. The malicious binary starts a web server to accept commands from remote systems. The C&C connection can be used to update the malicious binary and the configuration file.

• Congressional Rep Pushes His 'Hack Back' Bill By Claiming It Would Have Prevented The WannaCry Ransomware Attack

• Best password management tool.

• Top hacker conference to target voting machines

  When over 25,000 of them descend on Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas at the end of July for DEFCON, the world's largest hacking conference, organizers are planning to have waiting what they call "a village" of different opportunities to test how easily voting machines can be manipulated.

• A wormable code-execution bug has lurked in Samba for 7 years. Patch now!

  The seven-year-old flaw, indexed as CVE-2017-7494, can be reliably exploited with just one line of code to execute malicious code, as long as a few conditions are met. Those requirements include vulnerable computers that (a) make file- and printer-sharing port 445 reachable on the Internet, (b) configure shared files to have write privileges, and (c) use known or guessable server paths for those files. When those conditions are satisfied, remote attackers can upload any code of their choosing and cause the server to execute it, possibly with unfettered root privileges, depending on the vulnerable platform.

• Dated Linux bug might be key to lesser Wanna Cry

  Linux, the widely used free operating system, uses a module called Samba to share files in the same way Windows does. Older versions of Samba — 3.5 through 4.4 — are vulnerable to an attack that is similar to, but smaller than, the one behind Wanna Cry, the ransomware that caused a worldwide panic earlier this month.

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