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● 12.15.22

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 15/12/2022: Shiny OS and Rust 1.66.0

Posted in News Roundup at 9:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ Reasons to Choose Linux Over the Most Common OS – LinuxTechLab

• A few decades ago, Linux was primarily utilized by technologically advanced users.

=> ↺ The PineTab2 Is a New Linux Tablet, Coming in 2023

• Pine64 is a technology company behind many Linux and ARM projects, such as the Linux-powered PinePhone. Today the group revealed a new tablet with desktop Linux: the PineTab2.

• [...]

• Pine64 went back to the drawing board, and created an updated model, dubbed the PineTab2. It’s still an ARM-powered laptop with a detachable keyboard, built with easy repairs and open software in mind, but nearly everything has been upgraded. It will use a newer Rockchip RK3566 SoC, with a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor, a Mali-G52 M2 CPU, and support for up to 8 GB RAM. Pine64 says the Linux kernel now supports “nearly all core functionality of the chipset.”

• The PineTab2 will have a metal chassis, designed to be opened easily for repairs and modifications. Pine64 said, “most parts are easy to reach and replace in a matter of minutes — the camera modules, the daughter-board, the battery and USB keyboard connector can all be replaced in under 5 minutes.” The screen will be a 10.1-inch IPS display, and along the side will be two USB Type-C ports (one USB 3.0, the other for charging with USB 2.0), a headphone jack, microSD card slot, and micro HDMI. There’s also a 2 MP camera on the front and 5 MP lens on the back, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will be available. The keyboard case will be included with all models.

• Pine64 noted that the final specs may change, and there’s no firm release date for pricing yet. The company said, “we’re currently hoping to bring the PineTab2 to the market sometime after the Chinese New Year, but it is too early to offer a firm date yet. A price point for either of the variants hasn’t been settled on yet either but I can promise that it will be affordable regardless of which version you’ll settle on.”

=> ↺ Pine64’s PineTab2 will be a Linux-friendly tablet with an RK3566 processor – Liliputing

• Pine64 has been producing affordable Linux-friendly laptops, smartphones, and single-board computer for a few years. And now the company is getting ready to launch a Linux-friendly tablet… again.

• The PineTab2 will be a 10.1 inch tablet with a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core ARM Cortex-a55 processor, support for up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and a modular, repairable design. Like most Pine64 hardware, it’s designed to be cheap hardware for Linux developers and enthusiasts who want to flash their choice of operating systems. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but Pine64 says it will begin sending units to developers in the coming month and hopes to begin selling the PineTab2 after Chinese New Year (which means you may be able to pick one up in February, 2023 or later).

Server

=> ↺ OCI based linux | S3hh’s Blog

• Containers are most commonly distributed in two ways: 1. ‘Image based’: lxc and lxd distribute their container images as full images, a simple representation of root filesystem and some configuration info. 2. OCI: based on the original docker format, this has become an open standard for publishing not only container images, but any artifacts.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 Quick overview #shorts – Invidious

• A Quick Overview Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1

=> ↺ 58: An Open Career – Podcasts – TuxDigital

• Bill and Neal hijack the show and turn the tables on Brandon and interview him to get him to tell his story.

=> ↺ Enterprise Linux Security Episode 48 – New Malware, Old Vulnerabilities – Invidious

• While it’s certainly never a good thing to become the victim of a cyber-attack, it can be even more embarrassing if the CVE the threat actor used to get a foothold into your systems was patched a long time ago.

=> ↺ LHS Episode #493: The Weekender C | Linux in the Ham Shack

• It’s time once again for The Weekender. This is our departure into the world of hedonism, random topic excursions, whimsy and (hopefully) knowledge. Thanks for listening and, if you happen to get a chance, feel free to call us or e-mail and send us some feedback. Tell us how we’re doing. We’d love to hear from you.

=> ↺ Linux Action News 271

• Why the next kernel will be “the merge window from hell,” a holiday gift for Wayland users, and how the open source community could do more to take on YouTube.

=> ↺ Best ONENOTE ALTERNATIVES for Linux, Windows and MacOS – Invidious

=> ↺ Arch Linux | Installation Script – Invidious

• In this video, I cover the easiest and fastest way to install Arch Linux. All you have to do is follow these 8 steps, and you can have your arch install complete.

=> ↺ BSD Now 485: FreeBSD Home Assistant

• Tails of the M1 GPU, Getting Home Assistant running in a FreeBSD 13.1 jail, interview with AWK creator Dr. Brian Kernighan, Next steps toward mimmutable, Unix’s (technical) history is mostly old now, and more

=> ↺ Chromium Is Ending Adblock: These Browsers Are Safe – Invidious

• Coming in the next few months manifest v3 will be rolling in and so will the deprecation of good ad block plugins but not all hope is lost if you’re willing to use something that isn’t just base Chromium

=> ↺ Keeping A Positive Attitude Even After Storm Destroys My Backyard – Invidious

• Major weather events have affected me and my channel a number of times in the past. Most notably, two hurricanes caused me some frustration a couple of years ago. Last night (two nights earlier than this video posted) there was a tornado warning and some strong winds damaged my backyard…

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Documentation/process: Add Linux Kernel Contribution Maturity Model

=> ↺ The Linux kernel contribution maturity model [LWN.net]

• Ted Ts’o, in collaboration with the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board, has put together a document called the Linux kernel contribution maturity model to help companies improve their participation in the kernel development process.

=> ↺ Huawei increases average search performance by 715 times with Linux 6.2 – Huawei Central

• In the Linux 6.2 code release, Huawei contributed code from Zheng Lei, which increases the speed of core kernel features by 715 times. The kallsyms_lookup_name () function is used to query the address of a symbol according to its name and can be used to query any symbol in the kernel symbol table.

• Huawei has been one of the top contributors to the Linux kernel community and the company is continuously adding new code to this open-source operating system.

• Below you can check the complete Huawei code contribution that improved the lookup performance for Linux 6.2.

Applications

=> ↺ 15 Best Free and Open Source Linux Application Launchers

• We gave our opinion on the Linux desktop scene with Best Linux Desktop Environments: Strong and Stable, and our follow-up article Linux Desktop Environments: Pantheon, Trinity, LXDE. These desktop environments provide good application launchers. But there’s still a place for a different approach, using a standalone application launcher.

• Application launchers play an integral part in making the Linux desktop a more productive environment to work and play. They represent small utilities which offers the desktop user a convenient access point for application software and can make a real boost to users’ efficiency.

=> ↺ 10 Best Web Browsers for Ubuntu in 2023

• Web Browsers is one of the most widely used application by the millions of users worldwide. There are many reasons behind internet browser such as hassle-free access to wide range of information under one single window, social networking, and online streaming sites with video content in various categories.

• Ubuntu comes pre-loaded with Mozilla Firefox web browser which is one of the best and popular browsers alongside Google’s Chrome web browser. Both have their own set of features which make them different from each other.

=> ↺ Find Files and Directories in Linux from Command Line [Examples]

• Although most file managers bring built-in search features, the find command is one of the best terminal tools for casual users to system administrators. Using its wide range of parameters, you can make it useful for your workflow. It helps you to search for files and directories/folders based on permission, modify date, creation date, size and more. You can also use find with other terminal commands.

• In this article, I will walk you through some of the basics of the find command.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to install Kali Linux Xfce 2022.4 – Invidious

• In this video, I am going to show how to install Kali Linux Xfce 2022.4

=> ↺ How to Install Graylog Server on Ubuntu 22.04 | LinuxCloudVPS Blog

• In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to install the Graylog server on Ubuntu 22.04 OS.

• Graylog is an open-source log management system that collects, analyzes, and sends alerts from large log data. Graylog uses the Elasticsearch search engine and MongoDB database service, which are required for analyzing structured and unstructured logs. In this tutorial, except for the Graylog server, elasticsearch, and MongoDB, we will install Java and Nginx and will configure reverse proxy so you can access Graylog via domain name.

• Installing the Graylog server and setting up all requirements is a very easy process and may take up to 20 minutes. Let’s get started!

=> ↺ How to Check If Crontab Is Working

• Scheduling jobs is a common thing when managing the systems. It could be that you are scheduling automatic backups or sending emails. To schedule the jobs, you use the crontab which stands for cron table. A scheduled job becomes a cron job. The crontab has to be running for you to schedule the jobs and for your scheduled job to get executed.

• In this guide, we learn the different ways of verifying if your crontab is working and how to start it if it’s not running.

=> ↺ How Do I Find My IP Address in Ubuntu

• An IP address identifies any device connected to a network. The IP address is a numerical representation used by devices for communication, such that a package from device A can reach the target destination based on the IP of the given machine. Besides, when connected to the internet, each device has a public IP address unique to that device. So, how can you find your public or private IP address in Ubuntu?

=> ↺ How to Move a File From One Directory to Another in Linux

• When working with files and directories in Linux, you will often need to move files from one location to another. It could be that you want to move a file to a directory in the same or another location. Linux offers two ways of moving files from one directory to another. You can use the command-line option with the “mv” command or the graphical interface to move the files. This guide covers the two options.

=> ↺ How to install Flowblade video editor on KDE Neon – Invidious

• In this video, we are looking at how to install Flowblade video editor on KDE Neon.

=> ↺ What is SSH and How to Install it in Linux?

• In this article, you will learn what the SSH protocol is, how it works, and a short history of this protocol.

=> ↺ Difference Between Flatpak vs Snap on Linux – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you the difference between Flatpak vs Snap on Linux. For those of you who didn’t know, Flatpak and Snap are two technologies that have been developed to make it easier to install and manage applications on Linux-based operating systems. While they both have their strengths and weaknesses, they are often seen as competitors in the world of Linux package management.

=> ↺ How to Display Clocks for Multiple Time Zones in Ubuntu

• Want to add multiple time zones to your Ubuntu desktop? Maybe you’re a freelancer working remotely with people from all over the world and find yourself constantly checking the current time for multiple locations. Or perhaps, you have a friend or relative living overseas and need to keep an eye on their time zone, to avoid calling them at an odd hour.

• Whatever the reason, having an additional clock on your desktop will only streamline your workflow and help you keep track of time. Let’s see how you can add another clock on Ubuntu.

=> ↺ How to Generate SPF Records for Your Domain – TecAdmin

• When you add an SPF record to your domain, it helps indicate whether your email is being spoofed or not. The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) system is a standard that can be used by email administrators to prevent spammers from using their domains in the From field of spam messages. For example, if you send emails from your organization’s email address and someone else attempts to use that same address, your SPF record will help other mail servers know it’s not coming from you. An SPF record for your domain indicates which mail servers are allowed to send mail on behalf of users in your domain and which ones are not. If the SPF records for your domain aren’t accessible to third-party senders, they can’t verify if an incoming message is from a legitimate source.

=> ↺ How to Install CouchDB on AlmaLinux | LinuxHostSupport

• Apache CouchDB is a free yet reliable non-relational or NoSQL database engine. It is written in Erlang language and natively supports data in JSON format. The data can be accessed and queried via the HTTP protocol, making it easier and more scalable than traditional SQL relational databases like MySQL. CouchDB also offers replication capability and provides high availability access. This tutorial will show you how to install CouchDB on AlmaLinux.

=> ↺ How to install 0 A.D. 0.0.26 on a Chromebook

• Today we are looking at how to install 0 A.D. 0.0.26 on a Chromebook.

=> ↺ How to migrate apps from JBoss EAP 7.x to JBoss EAP 8-Beta | Red Hat Developer

• Learn about the changes to JBoss EAP 8.0 and how to migrate an application from JBoss EAP 7.4 to JBoss EAP 8-Beta

Games

=> ↺ Godot Engine – Release candidate: Godot 3.5.2 RC 1

• All contributors are incredibly busy working on Godot 4.0, which is having weekly beta releases (currently beta 8, beta 9 likely tomorrow). Some of us are also doing significant work to prepare a first beta release of Godot 3.6, which will likely the last feature release in the 3.x series (expected to be finalized after the 4.0 release).

• But we’re not forgetting about the current stable branch, Godot 3.5, which had its first stable release in early August, and a first maintenance release in late September.

• Since then, quite a few bugfixes have been queued in the 3.5 branch, so it’s time to wrap up a new 3.5.2 maintenance release. But first, let’s validate that those changes do not introduce regressions with a Release Candidate.

• Please give it a try if you can. It should be as safe to use as 3.5.1-stable is, but we still need a significant number of users to try it out and report how it goes to make sure that the few changes in this update are working as intended and not introducing new regressions.

Desktop Environments/WMs

=> ↺ Xfce 4.18 released with amazing features to blow your mind

• A comprehensive guide of Xfce 4.18 features across core & native apps.

• After almost two years of development, Xfce 4.18 is released on December 15, 2022. Coming as a major release since Xfce 4.16, the development was going on to enhance this lightweight desktop under the development tag 4.17.

• Xfce 4.18 is a significant milestone considering GTK4 updates, initial Wayland support and revamp of core native apps. The volume of updates is massive.

• A huge set of exciting changes makes its way in this release, and I have summarised this article with essential and major Xfce 4.18 features.

=> ↺ Xfce 4.18 desktop is finally here | GamingOnLinux

• There’s plenty of improvement elsewhere like the Application Finder having support for systems with hybrid graphics, the compositor now supports adaptive vsync with GLX, better support for UI scaling, you can now decide what to do when a new display is connected and much much more.

=> ↺ Xfce 4.18 Officially Released | Itsubuntu.com

• Xfce 4.18 Desktop environment is now available for download. It was in development for almost two years. There is plenty of new Xfce features and improvements.

• Let’s have a look at the overview of the major changes you will see on Xfce 4.18. Xfce 4.18 is packed with lots of new features and improvements.

=> ↺ XFCE 4.18 Release Looks Impressive!

• Xfce is one of the best desktop environments out there. It is popular for its simplicity and is a lightweight option.

• Unlike other desktop environments, you do not see regular feature additions to Xfce. So, it is always exciting to wait for an upgrade.

• Xfce 4.18 is the latest release with some useful feature additions and other technical improvements. Let me highlight the same.

=> ↺ Xfce 4.18 Desktop Environment Is Here Better than Ever

• After two years of development, the Xfce 4.18 is finally here, packed with new features and improvements that make it even better.

• Along with the widely used GNOME and KDE Plasma, Xfce is the next most popular desktop environment in the Linux community, forming the “big three” of desktop environments.

• So, each new version is eagerly awaited. But now, user expectations are understandably high because of the nearly two-year gap since the last 4.16 release. And the recently released Xfce 4.18 fully justifies them.

=> ↺ Xfce 4.18 is Out – Here are the Best New Features – OMG! Ubuntu!

• There’s a crackle of excitement in the air as, today, an all-new version of the Xfce desktop environment was released!

• Nearly two years of development have gone in to shaping Xfce 4.18, which formally released on December 15, 2022. It is the stable series follow-up to the Xfce 4.16 release that made its debut during Christmas of 2020 (and that release brought some cool new features with it like —hurrah— fractional scaling support).

• Keen to discover what’s new and improved in the latest version of this lightweight desktop? I certainly was. I dug through code commits, developer tweets, and the odd bug report or two to write-up this run-down on what you’ll find inside.

• Let’s explore!

=> ↺ 4 Alternative Clock Layouts to Try in Xfce 4.18 – OMG! Ubuntu!

• Today’s Xfce 4.18 release includes an improved clock applet that, among other things, now lets you display the date on a different line to the time.

• That is pretty neat, and new preset options included make it simple to switch up the arrangement of the date and time to creation some interesting and dynamic layouts.

• But I’m not here to talk about those.

• See, I like using a custom layout. Custom layouts let you do more. You can set the order and arrangement of the date and time you want; you can insert separators, emoji, or special characters; and you can apply font weights to specific parts of the text for visual emphasis.

• Better yet, in Xfce 4.18 there are new custom values available, including line height, font colours, and transparency. These new values unlock yet more choice and flexibility for time-tweakers to toy with.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ After 18 Years, Gtk Native File Chooser Gets Thumbnail View

• It’s finally here. You can now see the thumbnail in the native file chooser on the GNOME desktop.

• It took almost two decades, and finally, the native Gtk file chooser dialog got the icon and thumbnail views. The necessary code was merged yesterday in Gtk main branch in GitLab.

Distributions and Operating Systems

New Releases

=> ↺ Shiny OS V1 released – Shiny OS

=> ↺ Docs Hub | SCALE 22.12 Bluefin Release Notes

• The progress and specific work is being tracked through tickets opened in Jira. If you have a feature suggestion or bug report, create a Jira account and file a ticket in the TrueNAS or TrueCommand projects. TrueNAS SCALE tickets are also tracked in the TrueNAS Jira Project.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ First Look at Ubuntu 23.04’s Brand-New Desktop Installer Written in Flutter

• The first week of February 2023 marks two years since Canonical announced that the Ubuntu development team is working on a new installer for the Ubuntu Desktop flavor to finally replace the Ubiquity installer.

• The new installer aims to provide a modern implementation of the Ubuntu Desktop installer and uses the Ubuntu Server Installer (subiquity) as a backend and Flutter, an open-source UI software development kit created by Google, for the graphical user interface.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Summit Memories Live On | Ubuntu

• The Ubuntu Summit in Prague was a wonderful and busy few days spent together. There were lots of amazing talks, workshops, and fun times had outside the hotel meeting rooms. If you missed it, go check out the Ubuntu Summit Highlight Reel blog post.

• One of the end results of the Summit is a large collection of photos. There was an excellent professional photographer and videographer but that’s not all – there was the camera in everyone’s pockets!

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Matter is rolling out to Android phones and the Google Home ecosystem

=> ↺ Nothing starts opening up its Android 13 beta for the Phone 1 – The Verge

=> ↺ Nothing’s Android 13 Update Arrives in Limited Form

=> ↺ Nothing OS 1.5 open beta brings Android 13 to Nothing Phone 1

=> ↺ Samsung Galaxy M23 5G gets Android 13 update with One UI 5.0 – SamMobile

=> ↺ Nothing brings first taste of Android 13 to Nothing Phone (1) with Nothing OS 1.5 – NotebookCheck.net News

=> ↺ Here’s a digital driver’s license on Android in Google Wallet

=> ↺ Google on App Defense Alliance’s Android Malware Mitigation

=> ↺ 5 Signs An Android App Might Be Fake

=> ↺ Which Android phones have eSIM support? | Android Central

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Mozilla

=> ↺ A state-by-state look at the long-reads that captivated Pocket users in 2022

• Every year, the top stories that were saved and read by Pocket’s more than 10 million users clue us in to the prevailing mood of the time. In 2020, readers looked for answers in The Atlantic’s exploration of how the pandemic might end. In 2021, The New York Times’ piece on “languishing” captured what we collectively felt when it didn’t.

• This year, the stories people Pocketed are more varied: Many readers saved a guide to improving our lives in small ways, which checks out with the theme of renewal that we saw in overall saves in 2022. A lot of gamers also looked up starter tips for Elden Ring. And curiously, many people seemed to want to make sure that they’re brushing their teeth properly.

=> ↺ New extensions available now on Firefox for Android Nightly | Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog

• As we continue to develop extensions support on Firefox for Android, we’re pleased to announce new additions to our library of featured Android extensions. To access featured extensions on Firefox for Android, tap Settings -> Add-ons.

• Based on currently available APIs, performance evaluations, and listening to requests from the Mozilla community, here are five new extensions now available to Firefox for Android users…

=> ↺ Firefox Nightly: Search persistence, a new migrator and more! – These Weeks in Firefox: Issue 129

=> ↺ Firefox 109 to Introduce New Unified Extensions Button for Managing Your Add-Ons – 9to5Linux

• With the release of Firefox 108 out the door and already hitting the desktops of millions of computer users worldwide, Mozilla has promoted the next major version of its open-source and cross-platform web browser, Firefox 109, to the beta channel for public testing.

• Starting with Firefox 109, which will be the browser’s first release in 2023, Mozilla plans to implement a new Unified Extensions Button in the toolbar that acts as a container for all your installed and enabled add-ons.

• So, instead of seeing lots of icons on the toolbar when installing Firefox add-ons, you’ll now only see the new Unified Extensions Button. Click it and you’ll see all your enabled add-ons in a list.

FSFE

=> ↺ Router Freedom: Belgium on the right way to protect end-users

• The Belgian regulator BIPT has decided to safeguard Router Freedom for all connection types, including optical fiber (FTTx). The FSFE engaged in the public consultation urging policy makers to make this right a reality, and to improve monitoring over ISP practices.

• Since 2018, EU countries have been reforming their telecommunications law, passing new rules concerning network infrastructure and internet devices, including authority over routers and modems. This process has been long and fragmented, leading to diverse outcomes that in some cases benefit end-users, but in others represent a serious threat against the right to choose and use personal routers/modems. In November 2022, the Belgian the telecom regulator BIPT drafted a regulatory framework for consolidating Router Freedom in the country. The FSFE welcomed the bold step and urged the policy maker to translate this right into reality by upscaling monitoring over internet service providers’ (ISP) practices against end-users.

• [...]

• Router Freedom is the right that consumers of any ISP have to be able to choose and use a private modem and router instead of equipment that the ISP provides.

=> ↺ Event: Municipalities Need Free Software – Dortmund is a Reference Municipality – FSFE

• The City of Dortmund, together with Berlin and Munich, is founding the “Open Source Big 3″ and setting up a “Coordination Office for Digital Sovereignty and Open Source”. The Free Software Foundation Europe, the Do-FOSS initiative, and the Offene Kommunen.NRW association will provide information about these current developments in an online event on 11 January 2023.

Programming/Development

Rust

=> ↺ Announcing Rust 1.66.0 | Rust Blog

• The Rust team is happy to announce a new version of Rust, 1.66.0. Rust is a programming language empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software.

=> ↺ This Week In Rust: This Week in Rust 473

Leftovers

=> ↺ Irving Wladawsky-Berger: The History and Current State of Human Progress

• “For hundreds of thousands of years, human history played out without any rapid, marked advance in material living standards,” wrote NY Times journalist Ezra Klein in the introduction to his recent podcast, We Know Shockingly Little About What Makes Humanity Prosper. “And then, suddenly, in just the past few hundred years, everything changed: Humanity achieved a truly mind-boggling amount of progress in the evolutionary blink of an eye. In the early 21st century, we are all living in the world that progress bequeathed. And yet we understand shockingly little about what drives that progress in the first place. That’s important because, at least according to some metrics, progress seems to be slowing down.”

• Klein’s podcast guest was Irish entrepreneur Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of the financial services company Stripe, one of the world’s most profitable and highest valued startups. Collison is very interested in the long history of human progress, and has been a leading advocate for the formation of a new discipline of Progress Studies.

• In the podcast, Klein and Collison discussed a number of topics on the history and current state of human progress. But I’d like to focus my summary of the podcast on three key questions:What is progress?; why is progress slowing down?; and do we need a new discipline of Progress Studies?

Security

=> ↺ Hackers leak personal info allegedly stolen from 5.7M Gemini users

• Gemini crypto exchange announced this week that customers were targeted in phishing campaigns after a threat actor collected their personal information from a third-party vendor.

• The notification comes after multiple posts on hacker forums seen by BleepingComputer offered to sell a database allegedly from Gemini containing phone numbers and email addresses of 5.7 million users.

=> ↺ Syntax errors are the doom of us all, including botnet authors | Ars Technica

• KmsdBot, a cryptomining botnet that could also be used for denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks, broke into systems through weak secure shell credentials. It could remotely control a system, it was hard to reverse-engineer, didn’t stay persistent, and could target multiple architectures. KmsdBot was a complex malware with no easy fix.

• That was the case until researchers at Akamai Security Research witnessed a novel solution: forgetting to put a space between an IP address and a port in a command. And it came from whoever was controlling the botnet.

• [...]

• Researchers at Akamai were taking apart KmsdBot and feeding it commands via netcat when they discovered that it had stopped sending attack commands. That’s when they noticed that an attack on a crypto-focused website was missing a space. Assuming that command went out to every working instance of KmsdBot, most of them crashed and stayed down. Feeding KmsdBot an intentionally bad request would halt it on a local system, allowing for easier recovery and removal.

• Larry Cashdollar, principal security intelligence response engineer at Akamai, told DarkReading that almost all KmsdBot activity his firm was tracking has ceased, though the authors may be trying to reinfect systems again. Using public key authentication for secure shell connections, or at a minimum improving login credentials, is the best defense in the first place, however.

=> ↺ Security updates for Thursday [LWN.net]

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (firefox-esr and git), Slackware (mozilla and xorg), SUSE (apache2-mod_wsgi, capnproto, xorg-x11-server, xwayland, and zabbix), and Ubuntu (emacs24, firefox, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.15, linux-azure-fde, linux-oem-6.0, and xorg-server, xorg-server-hwe-18.04, xwayland).

=> ↺ AWS plugs holes in ECR APIs

• AWS has patched a vulnerability in its Elastic Container Registry (ECR) that was uncovered by Lightspin researcher Gafnit Amiga during an examination of AWS’s ECR APIs.

• The vulnerability “allowed external actors to delete, update, and create ECR Public images, layers, and tags in registries and repositories that belong to other AWS Accounts, by abusing undocumented internal ECR Public API actions”.

=> ↺ CISA Releases Forty-One Industrial Control Systems Advisories | CISA

• CISA has released forty-one (41) Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on 15 December 2022. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS.

=> ↺ Drupal Releases Security Updates to Address Vulnerabilities in H5P and File (Field) Paths | CISA

• Drupal has released security updates to address vulnerabilities affecting H5P and the File (Field) Paths modules for Drupal 7.x. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to access sensitive information and remotely execute code.

• CISA encourages users and administrators to review Drupal’s security advisories SA-CONTRIB-2022-064 and SA-CONTRIB-2022-065 and apply the necessary update.

=> ↺ Supporter spotlight: David A. Wheeler on supply chain security – reproducible-builds.org

• The Reproducible Builds project relies on several projects, supporters and sponsors for financial support, but they are also valued as ambassadors who spread the word about our project and the work that we do.

=> ↺ Windows: Still insecure after all these years | ZDNET

• With every Windows release, Microsoft promises better security. And, sometimes, it makes improvements. But then, well then, we see truly ancient security holes show up yet again.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ #KeepItOn: Who is shutting down the internet in Ukraine?

• Since the start of full-scale invasion of Ukraine, internet shutdowns have become a part of Russian military strategy. By shutting down the internet, Russia’s military prevents local residents from sharing or receiving news about the war, and stops them from communicating with their loved ones. They can’t get information about humanitarian corridors and they can’t fact-check Russian propaganda and disinformation. Meanwhile, Russian soldiers operate with a sense of impunity, as the blackouts shroud their actions and make it extremely difficult for activists, journalists, and others to report war crimes or coordinate resistance.

• Russia’s internet shutdowns in occupied Ukraine are not isolated incidents. They are just one tool in Russia’s arsenal for digital occupation, wielded in pursuit of total informational control. Below, we identify four stages for this occupation, highlighting channels for resistance and global solidarity with Ukraine.

• [...]

• In May 2022, after three days of internet outage Ukrainian officials say was caused by Russian shelling and damaging a fiber optic cable, attackers rerouted internet traffic in Kherson from Ukrainian networks to Russian communication infrastructure. This strategy of rerouting the traffic, which Russia successfully tested in Crimea in 2014, is proving effective for censorship and surveillance in the occupied parts of Ukraine.

• To speed digital occupation, Russia reportedly used intimidation and blackmail to force Ukrainian internet service providers either to join Russian networks or to hand over all their equipment to the invading troops. Some internet providers evidently tried to resist and sabotage this effort by deliberately destroying or disconnecting their equipment, sometimes plunging cities into darkness.

• Russian invaders also worked to shut off mobile communication in Ukraine. Robbed of any means of communication with family and friends, some Ukrainians climbed hilltops to seek a connection. Some were reportedly shot as they tried to catch the signal.

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

=> ↺ Apple Ready to Allow iPhones to Use 3rd-Party App Stores

• There are many differences between Android phones and iPhones, but one glaring difference is that the Apple handheld forces users into its App Store ecosystem. Because of new EU laws, that will soon be changing, as Apple is making changes that will lead to allowing third-party app stores on iPhones and iPads, which will hurt the company’s big app commission.

• Read on to learn how apps in the Google Play Store were made less safe after a revision to the Data Privacy Policy.

Monopolies

Patents

=> ↺ An End of Year Look at the ITC – Patent Progress

• As we close in on the end of the year, it seems like a good time to look at who exactly has been bringing cases before the International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC’s mission includes investigating and making determinations related to unfair foreign trade practices, including patent infringement, that harm U.S. industry.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Copyright consultations are opaque and off-putting: time to apply some (artificial) intelligence – Walled Culture

• One of the reasons that copyright is so unbalanced in favour of companies, especially Big Content, is that the process of bringing in new copyright laws is hard for ordinary members of the public to engage with. Typically, new laws come about after government consultations. Although these are public in the sense that they are not secret, and anyone can take part, their questions and format are at best intimidating, and at worst incomprehensible for ordinary people.

• As a result of this issue, digital rights organisations often try to help members of the public respond to a consultation by preparing explanations of what the questions mean, as well as sample answers that people can use as models when they respond. The problem with this approach is that this means many of the responses look very similar, which leads to claims that they are “spam”, or considered only as one response, disregarding the actual number of citizens that took the time to respond. This allows unscrupulous politicians to dismiss even massive responses from members of the public as being “fake”. As I discuss in Walled Culture the book, this is precisely what happened with the EU Copyright Directive, and this was one of the reasons such a bad law was rammed through despite public opposition.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ Notes on an overheard conversation while bringing the garbage can up from the street

• “Oh! We got another Christmas card!”

• “Cool! Who is it from?”

• “It’s from XXX.”

• “Wait! He mailed it? He actually used a stamp?”

• “Yes.”

Technical

=> ↺ A decimal watch?

• [5-6 minutes read or if you prefer, around 3.5-4 decimal minutes]

• So recently I have been thinking again about time and how we use watches. I have written about this on here a couple of times and also have a fediverse account that is watch and time related.

=> ↺ Self Hosted File Sharing Service

• Is that email attachment too large? Does imessage insist on converting images to crappy MMS messages when you send to non-iPhone people?

• You could always upload the file to Google Drive and just send a link. Or you could host your own file sharing platform, with only a single simple CGI script.

Programming

=> ↺ Transparent Encryption for Emacs with Ccrypt

• I was looking for a lightweight, transparent encryption solution for use with emacs that was not dependent on GnuPG, and came across ccrypt [0]. I think it exemplifies the Unix tradition of doing one thing well, that being encryption/decryption. It is small and compiles easily on most Linux and BSD’s, and comes with an elisp interface. I compiled it from source, then copied the emacs/ps-ccrypt.el and emacs/ps-ccrypt.elc into one of the directories in my load-path, and added the following to my ~/.emacs…

=> ↺ Code Review

• It was claimed that chatgpt produced this code. Regardless of whether that is true, the code is not good.

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=> Techrights

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