Items tagged with Linux
In late October, we were all alerted to the existence of the Dirty COW exploit, which has been lurking in the Linux kernel ever since 2007. Dirty COW gets its name from the fact that the exploit takes advantage of the Linux copy-on-write (COW) function.
At its core, Dirty COW is a privilege escalation exploit that...
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Whether you use Linux at home or manage a Linux server, you'll want to waste no time in making sure your OS is completely up-to-date. An exploit called "Dirty COW" has now been revealed, and while it's not the most dangerous one ever released, the fact that it's been around for nine years is causing some serious alarm...
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Microsoft released a new preview build of Windows 10 Redstone 2, the second major update to Windows 10 that's currently a work in progress (the first was the Anniversary Update, which was codenamed Redstone 1 prior to its release). It's available to Windows Insiders who are subscribed to the program's Fast ring and it...
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A recent discovery has the Linux community buzzing, and it involves a bug in systemd, an init (initialization) system used in many modern Linux distributions to bootstrap the user space and manage all processes. Many regular Linux users might not even understand what systemd is, and that's because it just works, it...
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Are Microsoft and Lenovo conspiring to keep Linux off Signature Edition PCs? Not so says both companies. The issue came to light after one user bought a Lenovo Yoga 900 Signature Edition convertible with the intention of installing Linux on it. However, his efforts were thwarted, as the machine refused to install...
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If you're a Linux fan who's on the hunt for a new notebook, you have plenty of options. As weird as it might sound, even Microsoft's own "Signature" line of machines could prove tempting, as the requirements a notebook needs to obtain that status are very strict. However, as a reddit post highlights, Linux users need...
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If you operate a Web server that runs on Linux, we're here to give you a bit of a prod in case you haven't updated it in a while. A piece of ransomware called FairWare is floating around, and as you'll soon see, its name is ironic as it's anything but "fair".
Reports are coming in of users who have been struck with...
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If you're a Linux fan, then you should know that this week is a very special one. On August 25, 1991 - 25 years ago - Linus Torvalds shot out a simple message to a Minix usergroup which stated that he was working on a Minix replacement. Within, he famously said that his creation wouldn't "be big and professional like GNU".
Not even Linus
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Earlier this month, the Linux Mint developer team released the Xfce edition of Linux Mint 18 'Sarah', which followed the main release at the end of June. But now it's time for some Plasma action, with a beta release of the upcoming Linux Mint 18 KDE edition.
It's worth noting that all three Linux Mint 18 editions...
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It seems like we have had to report on some major new hack or threat every week as of late. Black-Hat Hackers are becoming more sophisticated, while their wares are becoming more diverse and complicated. One of the latest pieces of malware, the nasty Rex Linux Trojan, packs in DDoS attacks, ransomware, and a Bitcoin...
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It's been clear for a good while that Linux (and Unix) can prove to be a great fit for a countless number of use cases. From mobile devices to smartwatches, IoT devices, and so forth; Linux can extend far beyond the desktop and data center. But, in some cases, it's not light enough, or not fine-tuned enough. It's...
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Today's a bad day security. First it was discovered that Microsoft accidentally leaked what amounts to a golden key for Secure Boot system, and now we find out there's a rather serious vulnerability in the TCP implementation in all Linux systems since version 3.6 of the Linux kernel was deployed four years ago. Is...
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The first release candidate of the 4.8 Linux kernel has just been unleashed, which means its stable release is not too far behind. This particular version packs a serious wallop, so let's dive right in.
For starters, there's some serious graphics love in 4.8, which includes initial NVIDIA Pascal support. That...
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If you're a Linux user who happens to dual-boot with Windows, you should exercise extreme caution when upgrading to the just-released Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Not long after Microsoft's latest release, reports began to hit the Web concerning issues of hard drives having their data deleted. The issue has proven...
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We learned a couple of weeks ago that Microsoft and Canonical would be teaming up to bring some Linux goodness to Windows 10, and a mere week later, we saw the functionality hit the 14316 Insider Preview build. With that build now in the hands of tinkerers, some neat features are now being discovered.
After...
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Earlier this week, we reported on a sleek, low-end tablet running Ubuntu Linux — a world first according to Canonical. But while that was definitely exciting news in the Linux world, today’s announcement from Microsoft and Canonical is quite Earth-shattering. The two companies announced today that they have partnered...
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Wondering where the love for Linux is from big box OEMs? Look no further than Dell and its XPS 13 Developer Edition laptops. Also known as "Project Sputnik," Dell came up with the idea of offering developers a powerful and thin XPS notebook running Linux and launched its first models over three years ago. Now in its...
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If you operate a Linux-based computer system, especially a server, here's something you will want to make sure you do if you haven't done so in the past week: update. Last week, researchers at Google and Red Hat jointly announced a severe vulnerability that plagues glibc, aka: GNU C Library, which virtually every...
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Debian Linux Founder Ian Murdock Found Dead In Apparent Suicide Following Multiple Police Encounters
The open source community has lost a giant contributor this past Monday. His name is Ian Murdock, founder of the Debian Project, which he created while attending Purdue University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in computer science in 1996. Sadly, Murdock is dead at 42, having seemingly taken his own life just...
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You never know what a new year will bring. Sometimes the thought is scary, like the unwarranted Y2K panic that had people preparing for the end of the world. And this year? The turn of the calendar caused Facebook to wig out and send notifications to several users congratulating them on "46 years of friendship" on the...
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Want to feel like the ultimate hacker, like those in the 1995 cinema classic Hackers? Quick: find the nearest Linux PC, boot to the GRUB2 bootloader, and hit Backspace 28 - and only 28 - times. Yes, really.
Hector Marco & Ismael Ripoll, who are researchers for the Cybersecurity Group at the Polytechnic University...
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Where Linux is concerned, no one's opinions are weighed quite as heavily as Linus Torvald's, so when he makes a bold claim, it's worth paying attention. At LinuxCon Europe this week, the Linux creator partook in a fireside chat with Intel's Chief Linux and Open Source Technologist Dirk Hohndel, and from the...
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