LinuxSecurity: “The NTP time synchronisation service shipped with NetBSD and many
other systems is vulnerable to a buffer-overflow attack. This
vulnerability may lead to arbitrary code execution as the user running
the NTP daemon, usually root.”

Salon: “Are you under 30? If so, jokes former National
Security Advisor Anthony Lake in his book “Six Nightmares,”
chances are you have enough technical know-how to be a
cyber-threat. And if you don’t, says Lake, you can find everything
you need, including cyber-attack tools and their instruction
manuals, on the Internet. Armed with these tools, “millions of
computer-savvy individuals could wreak havoc against the United
States.”

From Network Magazine: “Some people out there aren’t just
annoyed by spam, they’re enraged by it.
Some, in fact, take it upon themselves to
thwart junk e-mail and those who
propagate it (whether willingly or
inadvertently). These spam-busters are
willing to endure the loss of innocent
lives-that is, legitimate e-mail that
gets blocked along with the spam-to shut
down as many spamming operations as they
can.”

“It’s been coming in through the proverbial grapevine that SourceXChange has been closed by its’
parent Collab.net. In the closed doors page they’ve got, Collab notes that they are focusing on a
code development environment they’ve been working on – it’s a lot like what SourceXChange was
doing, but installing for people looking for collabrative development tools.” Read the discussion at Slashdot.

Information Security Magazine: “When it comes to Web-server security, many systems
admins automatically assume Microsoft’s Internet
Information Server (IIS) is the devil, while the
open-source Apache is God. Diehard Unix admins
swear up and down that they’ll never go with IIS
because it’s a breach waiting to happen and Apache
is so secure. Well, guess again.”

A column at osOpinion argues that Microsoft’s Xbox strategy might actually be good for Linux. “If Microsoft keeps screwing around with this post-PC nonsense, it is going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy …

If Microsoft takes its eye off the PC ball and the post-PC world happens, then Microsoft will become so overwhelmed trying to dominate
all the various platforms, that the whole creaking heap will slide down the hill into Lake Sammamish.

So all you Linux advocates, I know this may be hard. But for the sake of your preferred platform, grit your teeth, paste on a big smile, and
get out there and support the Xbox.”

LinuxSecurity: “Guardian Digital, the Open Source security company, has today announced immediate availability of EnGarde Secure Linux, a comprehensive suite of Open
Source tools that provide a secure and stable foundation for building a secure Internet presence.”

Slashdotters have their own laundry list of Linux appearances at the sparsely (some say) attended Spring Comdex.

– By Dan Berkes –

Chicago — In more ways than one, this year’s spring Comdex was no big deal. And when it came to Linux at this year’s midwestern high-tech extravaganza, the sounds of advocacy were a little more muted than usual.Chicago’s McCormick Center is a huge place. So huge, in fact, that there were several other conventions going on at the same time. Comdex wasn’t the largest of them, not by a long shot. That honor went to the affair across the hall, the annual Waste Management Expo.

Trash knows nothing of a recession. The “garbage people,” as one of the Comdex booth babes called them, wandered through an industrial exhibition landscape three times the size of the technology show. Conference organizers reportedly had to turn away exhibitors due to a lack of floor space.

Last year at this time, the tech stock market was taking its first nosedive. The participants at spring Comdex 2000 almost resembled the passengers of the Titanic just after hitting the iceberg: They knew something had happened, but they didn’t know what or how bad.

Reality set in this year: Less than two-thirds of the exhibit floor space was filled, with portable curtains used in an attempt to hide all of that vacant real estate. The largest exhibitor at this year’s show was Mercedes-Benz, on hand to show off their new standard on-board computers.

Even on this smaller scale, the conference was still packed with geeks crashing into each other as, like moths drawn to a burning flame, they bounced from one flashy booth display to the next. The numerous small companies at this year’s event, however, offered some of the most compelling products, from booths with almost no flash. While certainly Windows-centric with code closed so tight it was waterproof, the software that turned any game into a 3D display was a sure crowd pleaser.

The hard part was finding anything worthwhile to write about Linux. For other reporters, the hard part seemed to be finding anything worthwhile to write about, period. Above the show floor, the media contingent gathered in a special lounge set aside for our use. Called the “snake pit” by veteran Comdex employees, we occasionally stared up from our laptops and put down those complimentary sandwiches to compare notes.

This show, said one veteran reporter, was a dog, a complete waste of time for everyone involved. This verdict was met with murmurs of agreement from the surrounding tables.

The Open Source community was a small subset of this slimmed down show. Shoved all the way to the back of the exhibit hall, with some of the cornerstones of the community (GNOME, BSD, Free Software Foundation) relegated to an out of the way corner. On the brighter side, Corel was on hand to spread the Linux gospel with its interactive display and a classroom offering hands-on Linux refresher courses.

Corel was up to something else, with its representatives visiting the snake pit to talk in hushed tones with a flock of reporters from a major news network. It probably won’t be a secret for very much longer.

Other bright Linux moments were covered here: The near-launch of the Agenda VR3 handheld; the impressive display of embedded Linux computing power at the heart of OEone’s operating environment; and the release of a software patch from Rackspace designed to halt some effects of a nasty cracking tool.

In addition to the Linux theme park section of the show, the penguin was represented in other areas of the show. South Korea sponsored a large section of booths to represent technology offered by its companies, including a manufacturer of embedded Linux chipsets.

Other companies were overheard discussing Linux, much the way that someone might discuss the presence of electricity: Of course it’s there, but it’s not the focus of what they wanted to present. The operating system has finally reached the point of being transparent.

Just to be sure we didn’t miss any possible Linux coverage, we even spent Thursday morning canvassing the Waste Expo. The verdict: No Linux yet, but most company representatives wouldn’t be surprised to see it in their workforce within the next two to three years. There were one or two solutions based on SCO UNIX, by the way.

As more companies eliminate the show from their public appearance schedule, some of the more fancy positioning of booths into trade show neighborhoods and communities may fall by the wayside. Another possibility is that smaller companies and one-person enterprises could fill the void, making for a more diverse exhibition.

Perhaps Comdex and Waste Expo should team up to combine their shows and offer an entirely new exhibition. On the other hand, maybe not. It could be dangerous having garbage disposal tools in such close proximity to the technology industry’s premier marketing event.

NewsForge editors read and respond to comments posted on our discussion page.

An anonymous reader tells about a story at The Register: “It seems that Napster will never be allowed to bend over backwards quite far enough to appease the entertainment behemoths who want to see it shut down permanently. In February we reported that the embattled company would introduce a copy protection scheme with digital rights management outfit — and Bertelsmann subsidiary — Digital World Services to use copy protection in P2P swapping, to inhibit burning MP3s to CDs.”