Linux Foundation Energy member TenneT “open sources” their open source strategy

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July 18, 2019

This post was written by Loek Bakker, Corporate Information Management Office Head at TenneT

TenneT is the first European cross-border electricity transmission system operator (TSO), with activities in the Netherlands and in Germany, providing uninterrupted electricity to over 41 million people. The security of our supply is among the best in Europe, with 99.99% grid availability. With the energy transition, TenneT is contributing to a future in which wind and solar energy are the most important primary sources to produce electricity.

As an LF Energy member, we recognize that open source is the commodity foundation upon which the entire IT industry rests. A recent Synopsis study indicated that 100% of the proprietary software our vendors are using in the energy and utility space have open source inside [1]. Yet, as an industry, we do not manage our software as a community, and we have relative ignorance about what exists within our “black boxes”. The open source model refers to the software development practice that encourages transparent governance and open collaboration to create software for which the original source code (design, code, ingredients) is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. For TenneT, like many other utilities, open source is essential to our strategic success.

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New EvilGnome Backdoor Spies on Linux Users, Steals Their Files

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 17, 2019

A new Linux malware masquerading as a Gnome shell extension and designed to spy on unsuspecting Linux desktop users was discovered by Intezer Labs’ researchers in early July. “EvilGnome’s functionalities include desktop screenshots, file stealing, allowing capturing audio recording from the user’s microphone and the ability to download and execute further modules,” Intezer researchers found.
Source: Bleeping Computer

IBM announces three new open source projects

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 17, 2019

IBM has announced three new open source projects for developers to help them build cloud-native apps faster for Kubernetes. All three projects — Kabanero, Appsody, and Codewind — are hosted on GitHub. Kabanero brings together open source projects Knative, Istio, and Tekton, with new open projects Codewind, Appsody, and Razee into an end-to-end solution for developers to architect, build, deploy, and manage the lifecycle of Kubernetes-based applications.

Source: IBM

Microsoft Open Sources software to guard U.S. voting machines

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 17, 2019

Microsoft is rolling out an open-source software product called ElectionGuard, which it said uses encryption to “enable a new era of secure, verifiable voting.” The company is working with election machine vendors and local governments to deploy the system in a pilot program for the 2020 election. Microsoft would give away software designed to improve the security of American voting machines, even as the tech giant said it had tracked 781 cyberattacks by foreign adversaries targeting political organizations so far this election cycle.

Source: NBC News

Pivotal brings ‘cf push’ experience to Kubernetes

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 17, 2019

Pivotal has introduced the alpha version of PAS on Kubernetes, as well as new products based on PAS features that improve the developer and operator experience when using Kubernetes. The alpha version of PAS on Kubernetes brings the popular “cf push” experience to Kubernetes, making it easier for developers to focus on code, and lets the platform stitch together the required components for software deployment, networking, monitoring, and logging.

Source: Pivotal Blog

Fujitsu and GE Research join LF Edge

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 17, 2019

Fujitsu and GE Research have joined LF Edge as Premier members. Fujitsu and GE Research join a growing roster of 70+ current members, which includes existing Premier members Aricent, Arm, AT&T, Baidu, Dell EMC, Dianomic Inc., Ericsson, HP Inc., HPE, Huawei, IBM, Intel, inwinStack, Juniper Networks, MobiledgeX, Netsia, Nokia Solutions, NTT, OSIsoft, Qualcomm Technologies, Radisys, Red Hat, Samsung Electronics, Seagate Technology, Tencent, WindRiver, Wipro, and ZEDEDA. LF Edge is an umbrella organization within the Linux Foundation that aims to establish an open, interoperable framework for edge computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system.

Source: LF Edge Blog

A new ransomware targeting Linux-based (NAS) devices

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 16, 2019

A new ransomware family has been found targeting Linux-based Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices made by Taiwan-based QNAP Systems and holding users’ important data hostage until a ransom is paid. Dubbed “QNAPCrypt” by Intezer and “eCh0raix” by Anomali, the new ransomware is written in the Go programming language and encrypts files with targeted extensions using AES encryption and appends .encrypt extension to each.
Source: The Hacker News

Aqua Security Launches Microsoft Azure Marketplace Private Offers

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 16, 2019

Aqua Security has announced a new Private Offer for software licensing and procurement directly through Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Software purchased directly from Aqua can easily be installed on Azure while still taking advantage of streamlined deployment through the Azure Marketplace. The Aqua Cloud-Native Security Platform (CSP) now offers full support for the widest range of Microsoft cloud-native technologies including Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Container Instances (ACI) and the Azure Functions serverless compute service.
[Source: Aqua Security]

Epic Games Awards Open Source 3D Creation Tool Blender With $1.2 Million

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 15, 2019

Epic Games has announced that they have donated $1.2 million in cash towards the Blender Project, an open source tool to create 3D graphics animation and even entire games. This award is part of the Epic MegaGrants Initiative which Epic Games has committed $100 million. This program was created to help game developers, students, professionals, and creators. [Source: TheOuterHaven]

Linux May Gain Protection Against Hyper-Threading Attacks

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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July 13, 2019

Oracle security researchers have been working on security feature for Linux kernels that could protect Linux-based systems against attacks that affect Intel’s Hyper-Threading (HT) feature. Multiple side-channel threats the feature’s vulnerable against, including L1TF/Foreshadow and the MDS attacks, have been revealed over the past few months. [Souce: Tom’s Hardware]