operating system

Microsoft Plays for IoT with Windows 10 for Raspberry Pi

In-brief: Microsoft is making good on promises that its next version of Windows will be a player on the Internet of Things, announcing support for Raspberry Pi 2. 

Ghost Vulnerability Replays Third Party Code Woes

In-brief: The security firm Qualys is warning of a serious and remotely exploitable vulnerability in a function of the GNU C Library (glibc) known as gethostbyname. The security hole raises more questions about dangers lurking in legacy, open source software. 

The Enduring Terribleness of Home Router Security Matters to IoT

Last week, home broadband router maker ASUS was the latest vendor to issue an emergency patch for a critical vulnerability in its products. This, after proof-of-concept exploit code was released for the so-called “Inforsvr” vulnerability that affects several ASUS home routers. That vulnerability -if left unpatched – would allow anyone with access to a home- or small business network that used an ASUS broadband router to, essentially, commandeer the device. The “infosvr” feature is typically used for device discovery by the ASUS Wireless Router Device Discovery Utility, but the service also allowed unauthenticated users to execute commands through it using the “root” permissions, according to researcher Friedrich Postelstorfer, who created a proof of concept exploit for the security hole and released it on January 4. The exploit code finally prompted a patch from ASUS on January 13. The company had spent months analyzing the issue and working on a fix. Patch aside, it has been a worrying month for the […]

The Skinny on IoTivity, the New, Open Source IoT Framework

  In brief: The Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) introduced a new, open source framework to connect billions of smart devices from a wide variety of vendors. But has the IoT standards horse already left the barn? 

Are You Creating A Culture of Security?

Here at The Security Ledger, we’ve written often about the barriers to improving the security practices of software development organizations. It is simple enough to say things like “we have to teach people to write code that is secure. But to actually accomplish that across the myriad of companies that do software development is akin to boiling the ocean. Still, it is a far more manageable problem at the level of a single organization. In fact: it is quite do-able. How? That’s the subject of a Google Hangout Security Ledger is doing this afternoon in conjunction with Veracode. The topic: creating a culture of security within your organization.  In the hangout, I will be speaking with Veracode’s Chris Eng and Greg Nicastro about how Veracode, itself, built its secure development culture from the ground up. This is going to be a great discussion. Greg is the Executive Vice President of […]