In the Free and Open Source communities we are proud of our 'bazaar' model, where anyone can join in by setting up a project and publishing their programs. Users are free to pick and choose whatever software they want... provided they're happy to compile from source, resolve dependencies manually and give up automatic security and feature updates. In this essay, I introduce 'decentralised' installation systems, such as Autopackage and Zero Install, which aim to provide these missing features.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Hmm... while your solution does sound perhaps a bit more elegant, I still don't see why the system couldn't extract an identifier text file from the archive and then compare it to the archive's contents. Also, just to be clear: comparing the hash to the contents wouldn't do a thing to ensure security all by itself; it would also need to be compared to the hash at the project's website, right? Otherwise anyone could create malware and provide a hash to match it, but make it look like normal software. Furthermore, don't the archive contents have to be re-analyzed every time you want to verify their authenticity? So given that the website needs to be accessed and the hash needs to be recalculated in any case, couldn't we just skip the step with the local copy of the hash?
To rephrase: The hash being stored in the local filesystem does very little to ensure integrity of the program. Only by checking the folder's contents against an online hash of its contents can ensure the program's security, which effectively renders the local copy of the hash useless.
Or am I missing something?
Member since:2005-09-17
Otherwise anyone could create malware and provide a hash to match it, but make it look like normal software.
Yes, just because something is in the shared directory doesn't mean it's safe to run it. One reason why unfriendly names are OK here is that you really don't want users browsing around running things that just look interesting!
Furthermore, don't the archive contents have to be re-analyzed every time you want to verify their authenticity?
No, that's why you have the privileged helper. It checks the digest once and then adds it. So, if you see a directory called:
/shared-directory/sha256=XXXXXXX
then you don't have to calculate the XXXXXXX bit yourself. If it didn't match, it wouldn't have been allowed in.
BTW, you don't need to use the web to check the hash. It may be that Alice and Bob both trust the CD (in which case they get to share the copy on it). Denise doesn't trust the CD, so she checks with the web-site instead (and will share the copy only if it matches).
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.
Member since:
2005-09-17
Why can't the directory name be the program name (as opposed to the URL)--i.e. gimp-2.3-- so it can be installed off of CD? I don't understand what about making the folder a hash makes it more secure than, say, storing the hash information in a separate protected file within the program's folder.
OK, so Alice puts a CD in the drive with 'gimp-2.3.tgz' on it. How can the system know that it's genuine? Anyone could make such a CD. The system can't tell, so it can't share it with Bob.
But, if the CD contains an archive called 'sha256=XYZ.tgz', then it can be put in the shared directory. The system can see that it's correct just by comparing the archive's contents to its name.