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Australian Gov Drupal
by Daniel J Jitnah 30 Sep '14

30 Sep '14

Might be of interest to many who have not seen it before! http://agov.com.au/about Cheers Daniel.

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Was: bash "Shell Shock" vulnerability
by Douglas Ray 26 Sep '14

26 Sep '14

On 26/09/14 1:21 PM, Trent W. Buck wrote: > Douglas, please cite the CVE when discussing vulnerabilities: > > https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2014-7169 > Dear Trent, The CVE was in seclists link I quoted, with substantially more detail: > More details, and an http exploit, are in > http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2014/q3/650 Cheers, Douglas

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Drupal success with Federal Gov.
by Daniel J Jitnah 17 Sep '14

17 Sep '14

Just saw this ... nice news .. "Web developer Acquia has won a federal government contract to build up to 450 websites using the open source Drupal software. The resulting CMS will be known as govCMS. Drupal is one of the three big open source CMS products in widespread use, the others being Wordpress and Joomla." (Source: http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/open-source/65421-drupal-agency-acqu…)

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Augmented Android 3-5pm Sat 13th Sept ALSO (Volunteers needed for )Sustainable House Day, 2014 Sunday Sept 14th
by David E Payne 12 Sep '14

12 Sep '14

> "What: > Augmented Android > Development work on Android/Google Glass and Android ports > on embedded > platforms > > Time: > Sat Sept 13th is a free to the public event so come and > have a play/hack with Google Glass 3-~5pm > > Why: > > - Get help to setup the Eclipse/Android > Studio environment > - Test your Android app/website with > Google Glass > - Discuss development options for your > project > - Get involved with existing ones > - Be where it's at > > > Location: > Connected Community Hackerspace > 5 Kent Lane Hawthorn > http://www.hackmelbourne.org/ > <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hackmelbourne.org%2F&sa=D&sntz…> > > Hope to see you there! > > Cheers, > > > Nemo " > > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > > Volunteers needed for Sustainable House Day > > View this email in your browser > (http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f988b65ecd42bb1a0778c21bc&id=83c88d83a9…) > > We have two unfilled volunteer spots for Sunday's > Sustainable House > Day in Carlton (http://sustainablehouseday.com/item/craig-perry-and-peter-danns-house/) > . > > We need volunteers for the following two time slots: > * Sunday 14th September 11am - 2pm > * Sunday 14th September 2pm - 5pm > > Volunteers will be enlisted to help homeowners manage > attendees during > the course of the day, helping with sign-in, orientation and > possibly > leading tours and providing information on sustainable > building and > design. The duties will be site specific, depending on > the individual > needs of the homeowners and the volunteers' areas of > expertise. > > ATA staff will also be tabling at each house, providing > information on > sustainable building and living, ways to cut your energy use > and > promoting ATA membership and our publications, ReNew > (http://www.renew.org.au) and Sanctuary magazines > (http://www.sanctuarymagazine.org.au) . > > If you can help out please email Katy on katy(a)ata.org.au > (mailto:katy.daily@ata.org.au) > . > > And, if you can't volunteer but would like to attend > Sustainable House > Day, visit sustainablehouseday.com to plan your tour. > You can win > fabulous prizes (including subscription to Sanctuary > magazine and an > hour long consultation from the ATA). Details and > prizes are > described at sustainablehouseday.com/attend-to-win/ > > ====================================================== > ** (https://www.facebook.com/AlternativeTechnologyAssociation) > ** (https://www.twitter.com/ata_aus/) > ** (http://www.ata.org.au) > Copyright © 2014 Alternative Technology Association, All > rights reserved. > > Our mailing address is: > Alternative Technology Association > Level 1, 39 Little Collins St > Melbourne, Victoria 3000 > Australia

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Melb Uni's annual 3d-printing-showcase-2014-september-12th-13th-830am-4pm
by David E Payne 12 Sep '14

12 Sep '14

Melb Uni's annual 3d Printing Showcase is on 2014 September Fri 12th & Sat 13th 830am-4pm Free bookings via https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/3d-printing-showcase-2014-september-12th-13… Dav* - the USA now calls September 11th "Patriot Day". That's when Anglophone crass media treat the lives & well-being of USA citizens as hundreds of times more important than that of Chile citizens. In other words, like every other country & every other day;- only even more so!

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Where is Keech House? (Sun 7th sustainable house day)
by Douglas Ray 01 Sep '14

01 Sep '14

sustainablehouseday.com shows Richard Keech's house googlemapped as a church in Essendon ("Presbyterian Church of Vic."), and no address. Can anyone help? ta, Douglas

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Re: [luv-talk] Secure and Bug Free ?
by David E Payne 31 Aug '14

31 Aug '14

On Sat, 30/8/14, Rohan McLeod <rhn(a)jeack.com.au> wrote: Subject: [luv-talk] Secure and Bug Free ? To: luv-talk(a)luv.asn.au Received: Saturday, 30 August, 2014, 9:26 AM SNIP "... control and from there to fly-by-wire and then fly-by-fiber networks; (removing hundreds of kilo-meters of fire prone complex, heavy wiring in the process); ..." DP: I once heard somebody referring to the fact that while mechanical, electrical OR optical control wires/fibres are often severed by bullets or shrapnel, leading to a plane crash, because a <insert name of the military jet> had a boron fuselage the whole thing could transmit optical packet signals which would still get through as long as there was any continuous skin between the communicants. SNIP "... anyway the assumption is that the compiler may introduce bugs, security holes. " DP: Many LUVees will have read or heard of Ken Thompson's infamous Turing Award Lecture This link enables downloading a PDF http://dl.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=1283940&type=pdf&ip=202.45.117.50 . or if you prefer select it yourself eg. from http://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/thompson_4588371.cfm Given Ken's explanation & the layers of software inside hardware, (was there EVER a X86 desktop microprocessor if that means where hardware executed X-86 instructions?), I suspect confidence that no one CAN spy on one's computer(s) is rarely justified! " ... Apparently the resulting RT OS has very little functionality, which is remedied by supplying that functionality via Linux VM's ..." DP: The RT OS runs on a VM which runs on Linux or have I misunderstood? (I REALLY don't think embedded system gurus will regard that as hard real time any-more, at least on a normal Linux kernel.) "... Apparently the OS is available as open-source and binary for ARM and x86 CPU's, but not in the above secure form at: http://sel4.systems " DP: To paraphrase (yes this time I will in a teasing fashion), Ken in the above lecture: simply examining the source code & compiling it yourself won't guarantee that the resulting software won't have intentionally programmed effects you don't want but someone else does. Not that I'm suggesting NICTA would would destroy your purity of essence with nasty spyware additives; - no sir! On a related note, Genode released a new framework last Thursday. "Genode is an offspring of the L4 community" whatever that means. Somebody decided to fork off & do their own project? http://genode.org/about/index

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Secure and Bug Free ?
by Rohan McLeod 30 Aug '14

30 Aug '14

Assembled Cognoscenti; I thought the following tale in which Linux turned out to be the insecure element; might be of amusement. In a conversation with a gentleman at the Nicta "TechShowCsae2014" yesterday; http://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/nicta-tech-showcase-2014-tickets-12119157727… he was explaining his group's interest in secure and bug-free software; in the context of 'mission-critical' applications; particularly OS's. I thought 'mission-critical' had something to do with the military and large corporation's; but it turned out they are primarily looking at the OS's in vehicles and air-craft. Apparently there have been recent cases of the "OS's' of cars being cracked remotely; via the wireless immobilizing system and the brakes etc. being operated remotely ! Regardless; the story seemed to be that as aircraft move from mechanical to electrical control and from there to fly-by-wire and then fly-by-fiber networks; (removing hundreds of kilo-meters of fire prone complex, heavy wiring in the process); a huge requirement for secure and bug-free OS's arose. Since sequential bug removal is not a practical option :-) What he seemed to be claiming was his group had written a RT OS in C; and then compiled it for ARM processors. Where things seemed to become interesting was 1/ the C code was apparently subject to some kind of mathematical analysis which 'somehow' checked the code's logical integrity against the specification ? (Is this possible ?) 2/ the machine code from the compiler was then checked against the specification ? - I have no idea what this means !; anyway the assumption is that the compiler may introduce bugs, security holes. Apparently the resulting RT OS has very little functionality, which is remedied by supplying that functionality via Linux VM's Anyway to get to the end of the tale; where Linux turned out to be the insecure element !; they are employing 'Red-Teams' (Tiger-teams ?) of hackers to 'crack' the Linux VM's. This is not just pie-in-the sky stuff either; they had a quad-copter with such an add-on OS; as proof of concept. Apparently the OS is available as open-source and binary for ARM and x86 CPU's, but not in the above secure form at: http://sel4.systems regards Rohan McLeod

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Should have told their lawyers to take an icy cold shower?
by David E Payne 30 Aug '14

30 Aug '14

Not long after a tragedy surely destined to inspire tasteless limericks (here ... pick your own media outlet) https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ice-bucket-challenge-cofounder-corey-griffin-drow… the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association applied for a trademark on the term "Ice Bucket Challenge" despite it's earlier use by other charities. Maybe they doubted they could patent the "process" due to such prior art as the sauna. They've now characterised their reasons in a way which reminds me of the Free Software Foundation arguments for the greater restrictions of GNU Public Licences compared to other licences such as MIT. I have mixed feelings about the GPL but this trademark application just offends and annoys me. Maybe more businesses (including non-profits), when their lawyers suggest they can (& therefore should?) do something like this, ought to "Just Say No". (I was going to follow THAT phrase with "TM Nancy Raygun" but I think making false claims of trademark is illegal. Unlike applying for one you aren't entitled to;- Microsoft's trademarks on "Windows" & other generic terms being other examples IMNSHO).

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Secure and Bug Free ?
by Rohan McLeod 29 Aug '14

29 Aug '14

Adam ; on the assumption you are not on luv-talk, I have forwarded the following: I thought the tale below; in which Linux turned out to be the insecure element; might be of amusement. In a conversation with a gentleman at the Nicta "TechShowCsae2014" yesterday; http://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/nicta-tech-showcase-2014-tickets-12119157727… he was explaining his group's interest in secure and bug-free software; in the context of 'mission-critical' applications; particularly OS's. I thought 'mission-critical' had something to do with the military and large corporation's; but it turned out they are primarily looking at the OS's in vehicles and air-craft. Apparently there have been recent cases of the "OS's' of cars being cracked remotely; via the wireless immobilizing system and the brakes etc. being operated remotely ! Regardless; the story seemed to be that as aircraft move from mechanical to electrical control and from there to fly-by-wire and then fly-by-fiber networks; (removing hundreds of kilo-meters of fire prone complex, heavy wiring in the process); a huge requirement for secure and bug-free OS's arose. Since sequential bug removal is not a practical option :-) What he seemed to be claiming was his group had written a RT OS in C; and then compiled it for ARM processors. Where things seemed to become interesting was 1/ the C code was apparently subject to some kind of mathematical analysis which 'somehow' checked the code's logical integrity against the specification ? (Is this possible ?) 2/ the machine code from the compiler was then checked against the specification ? - I have no idea what this means !; anyway the assumption is that the compiler may introduce bugs, security holes. Apparently the resulting RT OS has very little functionality, which is remedied by supplying that functionality via Linux VM's Anyway to get to the end of the tale; where Linux turned out to be the insecure element !;they are employing 'Red-Teams' (Tiger-teams ?) of hackers to 'crack' the Linux VM's. This is not just pie-in-the sky stuff either; they had a quad-copter with such an add-on OS;as proof of concept. Apparently the OS is available as open-source and binary for ARM and x86 CPU's, but not in the above secure form at: http://sel4.systems regards Rohan McLeod

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