Security updates for Friday

Seeking SOS Fund Projects

I’m spending some time over the next few days looking for the next round of projects which might benefit from an SOS Fund security audit.

Strong Incident Response Starts with Careful Preparation

Through working every day with organizations’ incident response (IR) teams, I am confronted with the entire spectrum of operational maturity. However, even in the companies with robust IR functions, the rapidly evolving threat landscape, constantly changing best practices, and surplus of available tools make it easy to overlook important steps during planning. As a result, by the time an incident occurs, it’s too late to improve their foundational procedures.

The Intel Management Engine: an attack on computer users' freedom

Over time, Intel imposed the Management Engine on all Intel computers, removed the ability for computer users and manufacturers to disable it, and extended its control over the computer to nearly 100%. It even has access to the main computer's memory.

What Is WPA3, and When Will I Get It On My Wi-Fi?

WPA2 is a security standard that governs what happens when you connect to a closed Wi-Fi network using a password. WPA2 defines the protocol a router and Wi-Fi client devices use to perform the “handshake” that allows them to securely connect and how they communicate. Unlike the original WPA standard, WPA2 requires implementation of strong AES encryption that is much more difficult to crack. This encryption ensures that a Wi-Fi access point (like a router) and a Wi-Fi client (like a laptop or phone) can communicate wirelessly without their traffic being snooped on.

Some thoughts on Spectre and Meltdown

 

Contrast that with what happened this time around. Google discovered a problem and reported it to Intel, AMD, and ARM on June 1st. Did they then go around contacting all of the operating systems which would need to work on fixes for this? Not even close. FreeBSD was notified the week before Christmas, over six months after the vulnerabilities were discovered. Now, FreeBSD can occasionally respond very quickly to security vulnerabilities, even when they arise at inconvenient times — on November 30th 2009 a vulnerability was reported at 22:12 UTC, and on December 1st I provided a patch at 01:20 UTC, barely over 3 hours later — but that was an extremely simple bug which needed only a few lines of code to fix; the Spectre and Meltdown issues are orders of magnitude more complex.  

Menacing Malware Shows the Dangers of Industrial System Sabotage

 

At the S4 security conference on Thursday, researchers from the industrial control company Schneider Electric, whose equipment Triton targeted, presented deep analysis of the malware—only the third recorded cyberattack against industrial equipment. Hackers [sic] were initially able to introduce malware into the plant because of flaws in its security procedures that allowed access to some of its stations, as well as its safety control network.

25 per cent of hackers don't report bugs due to lack of disclosure policies

 

One of the standout discoveries was that almost 25 per cent of respondents said they were unable to disclose a security flaw because the bug-ridden company in question lacked a vulnerability disclosure policy (VDP).

'Professional' hack [sic] on Norwegian health authority compromises data of three million patients [iophk: "Windows TCO"]

Will U.S. Corporations Ever Take Cybersecurity Seriously?

It’s another month, and another major IT-related security problem has been uncovered. The latest, the security flaws discovered in Intel, AMD, and AMR chips that can allow the bypassing of operating system security protections are a bit different than most vulnerabilities. They are hardware rather than software-based, and their impacts are exceptionally widespread, impacting nearly every Intel processor made since the mid-1990s. Billions of chips in total could be affected.

Spectre Mitigation Updates Available for Testing in Ubuntu Proposed

What is Mirai Okiru? New botnet found targeting billions of ARC-based IoT devices worldwide

ARC-embedded processors are found in a wide range of internet-connected devices including cars, mobiles, TVs and cameras and are reportedly shipped in more than a billion products every year.

Hospital pays $55,000 in bitcoin to hackers [sic] after 'SamSam' ransomware locks systems [iophk: "hospital + Microsoft financing more crime"]

Last Thursday (11 January), staff at Hancock Regional Hospital, Indiana, found their computers had been infected with malware, which was demanding bitcoin to regain access. As reported, the hack [sic] impacted emails and health records, but no patient data is believed stolen.

How to get all the benefits of open source software

Open source software continues its meteoric rise, as more and more large enterprises weave open source code into various areas of their operations, increasingly shunning the big-name, proprietary software vendors.

In fact, according to open source software development company, Sonatype, represented locally by 9TH BIT Consulting, 7,000 new open source software projects kick-off around the world every week, while 70,000 new open source components are released. Accessing this massive ‘hivemind’ of software development expertise is a highly attractive prospect for CIOs and business managers in all industries.

What is open source?

What is open source software and how do vendors make their money? We answer your questions

Open source is the foundation of modern technology. Even if you don't know what it is, chances are you've already used it at least once today. Open source technology helped build Android, Firefox, and even the Apache HTTP server, and without it, the internet as we know it would simply not exist.

The central idea behind open source is a simple one: many hands make light work. In short, the more people you have working on something, the quicker and easier it is to do. As it applies to software development, this means opening projects up to the public to let people freely access, read and modify the source code.

Open Source Initiative Announces New Partnership With Adblock Plus

Adblock Plus, the most popular Internet ad blocker today, joins The Open Source Initiative® (OSI) as corporate sponsors. Since its very first version, Adblock Plus has been an open source project that has developed into a successful business with over 100 million users worldwide. As such, the German company behind it, eyeo GmbH, has decided it is time to give back to the open source community.

Founded in 1998, the OSI protects and promotes open source software, development and communities, championing software freedom in society through education, collaboration, and infrastructure. Adblock Plus is an open source project that aims to rid the Internet of annoying and intrusive online advertising. Its free web browser extensions (add-ons) put users in control by letting them block or filter which ads they want to see.

What if Open-Source Software Can Replace Dozens of Multi-Billion Dollar Companies? That is Exactly What Origin Protocol Wants to do Using Blockchain

Bonitasoft gets cute on AWS for low-code BPM

There has been an undeniable popularisation of so-called ‘low-code’ programming platforms.

This is a strain of technology designed to provide automated blocks of functionality that can be brought together by non-technical staff to perform specific compute and analysis tasks to serve their own business objectives.

Red Hat Certification: for developers too!

Red Hat’s certification program provides validation of IT professionals’ skills and knowledge using our subscription products. Red Hat’s certifications carry credibility in the market because they are all earned by taking one or more hands-on, practical exams that last multiple hours. Like most programs offered by technology vendors, our most familiar certifications are those for system administrators.

LXD Weekly Status #30

The main highlight for this week was the inclusion of the new proxy device in LXD, thanks to the hard work of some University of Texas students!

The rest of the time was spent fixing a number of bugs, working on various bits of kernel work, getting the upcoming clustering work to go through our CI process and preparing for a number of planning meetings that are going on this week.

GitHub Alternative SourceForge Vies for Comeback with Redesigned Site

SourceForge wants to be more than just another GitHub alternative, but an additional repository for developers to utilize to help gain users.

The Clock Is Ticking for Chip Flaw Fixes to Start Working

Cures for the pervasive Meltdown and Spectre chip flaws aren’t working, and hacks may soon be incoming.

Intel: No Financial Meltdown

Yves here. It is telling that the very measured Bruegel website is pretty bothered that Intel looks likely to get away with relatively little in the way of financial consequences as a result of its Spectre and Meltdown security disasters. This is a marked contrast with Volkswagen, where the company paid huge fines and executives went to jail.

However, it was the US that went after a foreign national champion. The US-dominated tech press is still frustratingly given the Intel train wrecks paltry coverage relative to their importance.

CIP related work during the second half of 2017

As you probably know by now, I have been involved in the Civil Infrastructure Project (CIP), a Linux Foundation Initiative formed in 2016, representing Codethink, a founder Member and coordinating the engineering work in two areas within the project: