News (12)

Red Hat gets hacked

Red Hat warned on Friday that a network attack compromised some servers last week that are involved with both its commercially supported and free versions of Linux. Read more »

OpenSSH gains ASCII visual fingerprints

The OpenBSD project has implemented the ability to view SSH keys as an ASCII visualisation in the latest version of the OpenSSH tool, which was released yesterday. Read more »

Debian and Ubuntu OpenSSL generates useless crypto keys

For almost two years the OpenSSL library used by Linux distribution Debian has been generating useless cryptographic keys — although Debian has issued a patch, experts warn that systems may still be exposed. Read more »

OpenBSD 4.3 released

An update to the popular Unix-like distribution includes new security features, drivers, software packages and bug fixes. Read more »

Apple OS X flaw exposes Keychain password

Apple has confirmed a security glitch that, in many situations, will let someone with physical access to a Macintosh computer gain access to the password of the active user account. Read more »

iPhone Trojan discovered in the wild

The first iPhone Trojan has been seen in the wild, according to security vendors. Read more »

Sun's Solaris 10 at risk of zero-day exploit

update: Solaris 10 is at risk of a zero-day exploit, due to security bugs in its telnet service, Sun Microsystems warned on Tuesday. Read more »

OpenBSD founder makes funding plea

Developers at OpenBSD have admitted that the organisation is running at a loss, and they want to increase annual income to continue funding the development of the project's open-source operating system. Read more »

Mac community must wake up to security

Apple Macintosh users believe they are immune from security problems and need to wake up to the potential of attack -- before they are rudely awoken by a destructive piece of malware. Read more »

OpenBSD: Maintaining the quality mindset

Come October, Theo de Raadt will be joined by five fellow developers for an intense period of takeout food, hikes through the hills in his native Calgary, Canada, beers and long conversations about the future of OpenBSD, the open source operating system for which de Raadt is project head. Read more »

Features (36)

10 common mistakes to avoid when you're installing Linux software

Installing software in Linux is nothing like it used to be, but there are still some pitfalls to watch out for. If you follow this little guide, your Linux life will be made simpler and safer. Read more »

Use FUSE to mount remote ssh directories

Traditional methods for uploading, downloading, or editing remote files predominantly have consisted of using an FTP client. An FTP client works fine for uploading and downloading, but editing remote files is a chore, as you have to download a file, edit it, then upload it again. And privacy with FTP is an issue as well. Read more »

Realise the flexibility of OpenSSH

OpenSSH is one of the most useful tools available. With it, you can access systems remotely and securely, transfer files securely, execute single commands on remote systems, secure normally insecure services, and much more. Read more »

Find and fix weak OpenSSL/OpenSSH keys: Debian-based Linux vulnerability

A recent vulnerability was found in the OpenSSL package as provided by Debian and Debian-based Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu, that broke the effectiveness of the OpenSSL PRNG (Predictable Random Number Generator). Read more »

Log Linux services with runit

Each supervised service is controlled via a run script, similar to an init script for a system service. This run script does one thing: prepares for and starts a service. Read more »

Try IRC with Irssi to communicate via chat

Many IRC networks, particularly the Freenode network, cater to a lot of open source and Linux-based groups. There are many IRC clients available, but one of the most extensible and powerful is the command-line based Irssi. Read more »

Use OpenNTPD for time synchronisation

Traditionally, the time synchronisation application used on Linux systems has been ntpd (network time protocol daemon). However, for quite some time now, the developers behind OpenSSH have created a secure, lean, and easy to configure NTP daemon called OpenNTPD. Read more »

Get more e-mail flexibility with Fetchmail

Most users use GUI e-mail clients such as Thunderbird or Evolution, or even prefer Web-based mail services such as Gmail; however, there are still a significant number of people using text-based e-mail clients such as Mutt or Pine. Read more »

Specify who can log in via OpenSSH

The OpenSSH suite of tools, developed by the OpenBSD Project, includes popular programs that serve many uses. This popularity combined with ssh availability as both server and client on just about every OS makes it no wonder that ssh has been the target of common attacks. Read more »

Synchronise computers with Unison

For individuals with more than one computer, trying to keep files in sync between them can be an exercise in frustration. Typically, tools such as rsync are used to synchronise files from one system to another, but the problem is that it's a one-way sync. Read more »

Video (1)

ASCII, .Net Naming and the ATO -- Club Builder

This week's Club Builder looks at fixing .NET's versioning problems, how ASCII art can help remembering SSH keys, and how the ATO intends to let people running OS X or Linux file tax returns. Read more »

Blog (3)

The future remains yesterday

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Remember when MySQL was blazingly fast and cared little for SQL standards? When MySQL regarded a view as something nice from your window and a trigger was treated as a weaponry component? Those days are set to return with a MySQL fork called Drizzle. Read more »

Quick Tip: Forwarding X11 to OS X

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- Just because you are on a Mac doesn't mean you can't run your Linux applications. Here's how you can bring penguin power to your Mac. Read more »

OS X + NFSv4 == SSHFS + open bitterness

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- Has anyone, who isn't a die-hard Darwin fanatic, ever tried to recompile their kernel in OS X? If you answered yes then you are among a rare breed of user indeed. Read more »

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  • Staff Microsoft prescribes more REST

    Details have begun to emerge about the next versions of Visual Studio and Windows Server this week -- and the message from Redmond is to REST up Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Chris Duckett .NET looks to REST

    With news that REST will play a big part in the next version of the .NET Framework, it is timely to take a look at ADO.NET. Read more »

    -- posted by Chris Duckett

  • Renai LeMay Spellr.us needs a new dictionary

    One of the only Australian start-ups to present at the recent round of conferences in the US was Sydney-based spellr.us, which has launched a Web-based tool to check and monitor websites for spelling mistakes. Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

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