Tokolosh - Slashdot User

Submission + - FreeBSD and its Code of Conduct Anniversary (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Tokolosh on Thursday February 11, 2021 @04:38PM

Tokolosh writes: On February 13, 2018 the FreeBSD Foundation posted its Code of Conduct (https://web.archive.org/web/20180213113526/https://www.freebsd.org/internal/code-of-conduct.html). This included a system for reporting offenders, plus a Code of Conduct Committee to review charges and issue sanctions. The resulting story on Slashdot on February 17 triggered 859 comments (https://yro.slashdot.org/story/18/02/17/0826206/freebsds-new-code-of-conduct). Needless to say, it was controversial.

In 2020 a survey indicated that some 35% of the FreeBSD developer community was dissatisfied with their 2018 Code of Conduct, 34% were neutral, and only 30% satisfied. So they set out to adopt a new CoC. A second survey asked which code of conduct should FreeBSD adopt? 4% favoured keeping the 2018 code of conduct, 33% favoured the Go-derived code of conduct, 63% favoured the LLVM-derived code of conduct. The LLVM Project code was thus adopted (https://www.freebsd.org/internal/code-of-conduct/).

My pragmatic question back in 2018 was, will this CoC lead to a better FreeBSD, more engagement, a larger, more productive community, and more market share for FreeBSD? In other words, does the CoC give FreeBSD an evolutionary advantage? If a different or no CoC had been imposed, would the FreeBSD of today be different? If so, in what way? The answer is not clear, so I am submitting this story to gather input.

Submission + - Raytheon Wins U.S. Civilian Cyber Contract Worth $1 billion (reuters.com)

Submitted by Tokolosh on Monday September 28, 2015 @11:21PM

Tokolosh writes: Raytheon is a company well-known in military-industrial and political circles, but not so much for software, networking and cybersecurity.

That has not stopped the DHS awarding it a $1 billion, five year contract to help more than 100 civilian agencies manage their computer security.

Raytheon said DHS selected it to be the prime contractor and systems integrator for the agency's Network Security Deployment (NSD) division, and its National Cybersecurity Protection System (NCPS). The contract runs for five years, but some orders could be extended for up to an additional 24 months, it said.

Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services, said the company had invested over $3.5 billion in recent years to expand its cybersecurity capabilities. He said cybersecurity incidents had increased an average of 66 percent a year worldwide between 2009 and 2014.

As you might expect, Raytheon spends heavily on political contributions and lobbying. (https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000175)

$3.5 billion investment for a $1 billion contract?

Submission + - Cryptographers Brace for Quantum Revolution (scientificamerican.com)

Submitted by Tokolosh on Wednesday September 09, 2015 @09:57AM

Tokolosh writes: An article in Scientific American discusses the actions needed to address the looming advent of quantum computing and its ability to crack current encryption schemes.

Interesting tidbits from the article: "I’m genuinely worried we’re not going to be ready in time,” says Michele Mosca, co-founder of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo..." and "Intelligence agencies have also taken notice. On August 11, the US National Security Agency (NSA) revealed its intention to transition to quantum-resistant protocols when it released security recommendations to its vendors and clients."

Another concern is "intercept now, decrypt later", which presumably refers to the giant facility in Utah.

Is this a real concern? What are the further implications for the foundations of our society — banking, communications, DRM, blockchain applications?

Submission + - Cisco to acquire OpenDNS (opendns.com)

Submitted by Tokolosh on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @10:44AM

Tokolosh writes: Both Cisco and OpenDNS announced today that the former is to acquire the latter.

From the Cisco announcement: "To build on Cisco’s advanced threat protection capabilities, we plan to continue to innovate a cloud delivered Security platform integrating OpenDNS’ key capabilities to accelerate that work. Over time, we will look to unite our cloud-delivered solutions, enhancing Cisco’s advanced threat protection capabilities across the full attack continuum—before, during and after an attack."

With Cisco well-embedded with the US security apparatus (NSA, CIA, FBI, etc.) is it time to seek out alternatives to OpenDNS?

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