[ale] China chooses FreeBSD as basis for secure OS

[Lightner, Jeff]

If it is in the source and you have people vetting the source it would
extremely difficult.   I imagine China once they made their "hardened"
version of BSD would be using upstream source rather than ports to do
the updates if any.

 

________________________________

From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
Richard Faulkner
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 1:35 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!
Subject: Re: [ale] China chooses FreeBSD as basis for secure OS

 

Okay...this then brings up an interesting proposition.  Is it possible
to build a tenable backdoor in a distro that would go unnoticed at
source code level?  For security purposes would it be better to develop
(as a state) your own updates rather than take distro updates from
source?  Could this mark a threat to security as we see it?

Please keep in mind that I'm new to Linux and NOT a programmer...more of
a designer.  


-----Original Message-----
From: wolf at wolfhalton.info <wolf at wolfhalton.info
<mailto:%22wolf at wolfhalton.info%22%20%3cwolf at wolfhalton.info%3e> >
Reply-to: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org>
To: mhw at wittsend.com, Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!
<ale at ale.org
<mailto:Atlanta%20Linux%20Enthusiasts%20-%20Yes!%20We%20run%20Linux!%20%
3cale at ale.org%3e> >
Subject: Re: [ale] China chooses FreeBSD as basis for secure OS
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:35:02 -0400

It would at least be a little more of a challenge than Window$

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael H. Warfield <mhw at wittsend.com
<mailto:%22Michael%20H.%20Warfield%22%20%3cmhw at wittsend.com%3e> >
Reply-to: mhw at wittsend.com, Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run
Linux! <ale at ale.org>
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org
<mailto:Atlanta%20Linux%20Enthusiasts%20-%20Yes!%20We%20run%20Linux!%20%
3cale at ale.org%3e> >
Cc: mhw at wittsend.com
Subject: Re: [ale] China chooses FreeBSD as basis for secure OS
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:26:40 -0400

 
On Tue, 2010-10-12 at 15:58 -0400, Chuck Payne wrote: 
> On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 3:13 PM, George Allen <glallen01 at gmail.com>
wrote:
> > Apparently China is moving their entire Dept of Defense to a
hardened
> > version of FreeBSD.
> > http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=1682
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> > See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
> >
 
> Good Choose.
 
I presume you meant choice and I concur.  Give that some reports are
putting the level of Stuxnet infections at over 1 million machines in
Iran and more than 6 million machines in China, anything, other that
Windows, would be a smooth move.  Nobody really knows who is behind the
Stuxnet but I would put it at 99% probability that it's "state
sponsored" and the leading contenders are Israel, the US, and Russia.
Unfortunately, any of those players are more than capable of building
something nasty for FreeBSD or Linux, or even OpenBSD if they really set
their minds to it.
 
Regards,
Mike
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