Security Issues and Proprietary Software

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Sep 23, 2022

• 3 free Linux security training courses you can take right now

• Enterprise Encryption for Linux

  It's no secret that the IT department has struggled with encryption for Linux devices many years due to a gap in the management and compliance capability available in their current Linux solution sets.

• Reproducible Builds (diffoscope): diffoscope 222 released

  The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope version 222. This version includes the following changes:

  [ Mattia Rizzolo ]
  * Use pep517 and pip to load the requirements. (Closes: #1020091)
  * Remove old Breaks/Replaces in debian/control that have been obsoleted since
    bullseye
  

• What You Miss By Only Checking GitHub

  Too many researchers, entrepreneurs, marketers, open source sustainability activists, and commentators assume that activity on GitHub and data from the GitHub API is a reasonable proxy for activity in and data about open source as a whole. It is not.

  Further: if you're a funder, and you limit your recipients to projects that live on GitHub, you're leaving out quite a lot of the infrastructure you probably want to fund.

  GitHub's a big, easy-to-search resource with an API, so it's an appealing place to start. But pursuing open source sustainability/security/data only through projects on GitHub is an example of the lamppost fallacy. The story goes that a drunk guy says, "I dropped my keys, will you help me look for them?" "OK, sure. Where'd you drop them?" "Under that tree." "So why are you looking for them under this lamppost?" "Well, the light is better here."

  I notice this phenomenon at least a few times a quarter.

• Instagram App Goes Down: Users Report Widespread Technical Problems

  According to uptime-monitoring site Downdetector, complaints about Instagram began to spike just after 12:30 p.m. ET. As of 12:54 p.m., more than 24,000 users had submitted error reports, according to the site, with 86% of those indicating problems accessing the app. The highest number of problem reports about Instagram in the U.S. were from users in New York and L.A., according to Downdetector, although the issues were affecting users worldwide including in Europe, Asia and South America.

• Why Are Prosthetics So Expensive? Researchers Are Working to Change That

  At the beginning of experiments with a highly advanced prosthetic arm, I started interacting with the people I had dreamed for so long of helping. In the quiet moments at the research lab, as the patients and their families filled out consent forms, they presented me with questions — not only about the prosthetic arms, but about living a life that requires a prosthetic arm. “Can we take this one home? How much will it cost?” “What do I do if my insurance doesn’t cover arms anymore? How am I supposed to keep a job?”

  Initially, I didn’t know the answers. Then I did. But I didn’t know how to tell patients the truth: The American medical system makes no real accommodations for the vast majority of amputees. Prosthetic arms and legs, unless they are truly rudimentary, typically cost more than $60,000. They require replacement parts every year that can cost thousands more, and only a small fraction of the cost of limbs and spare parts is covered by insurance.

• The internet's new favorite video game is like 'Guitar Hero' but with trombones

  A new rhythm game called "Trombone Champ" has struck a chord with users online, bringing the kind of much-needed levity to the internet that only a trombone can. Numerous videos have been shared on social media in recent days of avatars blasting their trombones with unbridled joy. And the small developer behind the game is now racing to adapt to the strong demand.

• Lima VM - Linux Virtual Machines On macOS

  Lima is powered by QEMU and is frequently used (via colima) to run containers on macOS. That is, it can be used as an alternative to docker desktop.