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Security

Submission + - Linux update that looks like a redacted CIA doc (fedoraproject.org)

Submitted by StealthHunter
StealthHunter writes: When did updates start looking like recently unclassified and fully redacted documents? This recent update to the Fedora distribution leaves quite a bit to the imagination to the reader. Security folks may advise "apply security patches in a timely manner" while others may go a step further and say "read about what the patch does and consider the impact to the system before applying it." What is somebody supposed to do with this patch? Fav part: (See also _______)
Android

Submission + - How do users remove CAs from a mobile OS? (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
alostpacket
alostpacket writes: "With all the news recently about Mozilla, Microsoft, Google and Apple removing DigiNotar's and possibly some of Commodo's fraudulent certificates from their respective desktop browsers and operating systems, it seems mobile OSes may be more of a challenge.
While it appears some Android apps have sprung up, some of it is apparently early beta software. There is also an issue for Cyanogenmod. With Mobile OS updates few and far between, Google an Apple apparently have not yet commented on the matter. And, while WP7 and RIM devices do not appear to use DigiNotar, one would likely suspect they are equally prone to slow updates should a CA they do use become compromised.
In the meantime, what are users to do to help protect themselves? What steps are even necessary?"
News

Submission + - Following Exit of CEO, VeriSign CFO Quits Too (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Following news in early August that VeriSign CEO Mark D. McLaughlin would be leaving the company to become CEO at Palo Alto Networks, the company today finds itself faced with another key executive leaving the company. VeriSign today said that Executive Vice President and CFO, Brian Robins, will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

Robins' last day at the company will be Sept. 30, 2011. Mark D. McLaughlin's last day at VeriSign was August 25th 2011, resulting in the company losing two key leaders over a period of about a month.

Some rumors have been speading that the company may be a takeover target or putting itself up for sale. According to report from Bloomberg, "The stock jumped 13 percent this week after the company canceled appearances at two investment conferences, one by Robins, fueling speculation that VeriSign was in talks to be acquired."

Submission + - Dyn.com poisoning everydns.net DNS 2

Submitted by klic
klic writes: Dyn.com (formerly dyndns.org) acquired the free-as-in-beer everydns.net in January 2010. Three months ago, they allegedly announced the discontinuation of DNS service on September 9th to the 100K+ former customers of everydns.net. They are now enforcing that discontinuation by periodically redirecting DNS to their site, and serving a nag page on the web, rather than merely shutting down so the DNS system finds alternate servers. This DNS cache poisoning is messing up email and web service for thousands of sites, and some webmasters are only learning about the discontinuation now, from their frustrated users.

I've never used everydns.net, though I am a VIP customer at dyn.com . Given their heinous behavior, and its affect on many of the websites I use, I may take my future DNS and registration business elsewhere.
Google

Submission + - Google announces Dart programming language (extremetech.com) 1

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "A few days after Google was caught registering a bunch of Dart-related domain names, and the inevitable storm of speculation, it has now emerged that Dart is a new programming language for "structured web programming." The language will be unveiled by Gilad Bracha (co-author of Java) and Lars Bak (creator of Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine) on October 10 at the Goto conference in Aarhus, Denmark.

We can only guess at the language's characteristics and feature set until then, but we can infer a few things: Google has already released one language in recent history — Go — so we can assume that Dart won't be a C-like system-oriented language. With the "structured web programming" moniker, it's also likely to be some kind of interpreted, in-the-browser language — so more like JavaScript or Python, and less like Java or other compiled languages. One of the biggest hints, though, is that both Bracha and Bak have worked extensively with Smalltalk in the past — and an interpreted Smalltalkesque language would fit right into the "structured web programming" mold, too."
Mozilla

Submission + - Mozilla Asks All CAs to Audit Security Systems (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Already having revoked trust in all of the root certificates issued by DigiNotar, Mozilla is taking steps to avoid having to repeat that process with any other certificate authority trusted by Firefox, asking all of the CAs involved in the root program to conduct audits of their PKIs and verify that two-factor authentication and other safeguards are in place to protect against the issuance of rogue certificates.

Mozilla officials have notified all of the CAs involved in the organization's trusted root program for Firefox that they need to perform the audits and other required actions within the next eight days and send the results to Mozilla. The message, also posted to the Mozilla developer security policy group on Google, sends a clear message that Mozilla officials have little interest in seeing a rerun of the DigiNotar episode with another certificate authority.

Submission + - Boost Your WiFi Signal Using Only a Beer Can (discovery.com) 2

Submitted by AmyVernon
AmyVernon writes: This hack is supposed to boost signal strength by at least 2 to 4 bars.
What you need: scissors, a utility knife, some adhesive putty and an empty beer can. The brand doesn't matter for the router, but I suppose it would be cooler looking if it were Asahi or Stella Artois than if it were Budweiser.

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