Canonical Announces Partnership with Eurotech, the Big Four to End Support of TLS 1.0 and 1.1, Sony Using Blockchain for DRM, NETWAYS Web Services Launches IaaS OpenStack, Grey Hat Patching MikroTik Routers and Paul Allen Dies at 65
News briefs for October 16, 2018.
Canonical announced a partnership with Eurotech to help organizations advance in the IoT realm. In connection with this partnership, Canonical "has published a Snap for the Eclipse Kura project—the popular, open-source Java-based IoT edge framework. Having Kura available as a Snap—the universal Linux application packaging format—will enable a wider availability of Linux users across multiple distributions to take advantage of the framework and ensure it is supported on more hardware. Snap support will also extend on Eurotech's commercially supported version; the Everywhere Software Framework (ESF)."
Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla all announce the end of support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 standards starting in 2020, ZDNet reports. Chrome and Firefox already support TLS 1.3, and Microsoft and Apple will soon follow suit.
Sony announced it's planning to use the blockchain for digital rights management (DRM). According to the story on Engadget, the company plans to begin with the Sony Global Education written educational materials. This blockchain system is "built on Sony's pre-existing DRM tools, which keep track of the distribution of copyrighted materials, but will have advantages that come with blockchain's inherent security."
NETWAYS Web Services launches IaaS OpenStack. According to the press release, "the Open Source experts from 'NETWAYS Web Services' (NWS) add with OpenStack a customizable, fully managed Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) to their platform." Customers can choose between SSD or Ceph based packages, and in addition to OpenStack, the platform offers "a diverse selection of Open Source applications for various purposes". If you're interested, you can try NWS OpenStack 30 days for free. For more information and to get started, go here.
A grey-hat hacker is breaking into MikroTik routers and patching them so they can't be compromised by cryptojackers or other attackers. According to ZDNet, the hacker, who goes by Alexey, is a system administrator and claims to have disinfected more then 100,000 MikroTik routers. He told ZDNet that he added firewall rules to block access to the routers from outside the local network, and then "in the comments, I wrote information about the vulnerability and left the address of the @router_os Telegram channel, where it was possible for them to ask questions." Evidently, a few folks have said "thanks", but many are outraged.
Paul Allen—"co-founder of Microsoft and noted technologist, philanthropist, community builder, conservationist, musician and supporter of the arts"—passed away yesterday. See the statements released on behalf of the Allen Family, Vulcan Inc. and the Paul G. Allen network at the Vulcan Inc. website.
Jill Franklin is an editorial professional with more than 17 years experience in technical and scientific publishing, both print and digital. As Executive Editor of Linux Journal, she wrangles writers, develops content, manages projects, meets deadlines and makes sentences sparkle. She also was Managing Editor for TUX and Embedded Linux Journal, and the book Linux in the Workplace. Before entering the Linux and open-source realm, she was Managing Editor of several scientific and scholarly journals, including Veterinary Pathology, The Journal of Mammalogy, Toxicologic Pathology and The Journal of Scientific Exploration. In a previous life, she taught English literature and composition, managed a bookstore and tended bar. When she’s not bugging writers about deadlines or editing copy, she throws pots, gardens and reads.
