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NSA Releases Updated SELinux

darthcamaro writes "Looks like our federal tax dollars are hard at work - improving security on Linux! The NSA - you know the folks that are shadowy figures on X-files - have released the latest updates to SELinux (security enhanced). Internetnews.com has got a piece on it where they talk to Gentoo and Red Hat about the release's significance."

21 of 319 comments (clear)

  1. eeeeenteresting.... by JoeLinux · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder how it compares to Tin Foil Hat Linux?

    Anyone can provide contrast/comparisons?

    1. Re:eeeeenteresting.... by DrLZRDMN · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't know, compare them
      Tin Foil Hat Linux

    2. Re:eeeeenteresting.... by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      At least they have a sense of humor about it. Among the reasons to use Tinfoil Linux:

      The Illuminati are watching your computer, and you need to use morse code to blink out your PGP messages on the numlock key.

      KFG

    3. Re:eeeeenteresting.... by Darby · · Score: 5, Funny

      At least they have a sense of humor about it. Among the reasons to use Tinfoil Linux:


      I don't get it. What's so funny?

  2. X-Files Eh? by mattdev121 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ScullyEnhanced Linux?
    I'm in. Where do i get it?

    --
    mattdev@server$ touch /dev/genitals
    cannot touch `/dev/genitals': Permission denied
  3. Now with 200% more... by MikeCapone · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...backdoors!

  4. They didn't get the memo by Kid+Brother+of+St.+A · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess NSA didn't get the memo -- or the lobbyists -- from SCO telling them that open source software was a security risk and that terrorists could use it to make their own supercomputer.

  5. Re:About time by lukewarmfusion · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hell, this could be good for all OS users
    Imagine grandpa sitting down to breakfast, reading the paper, and seeing this article (if it's published in his paper). Maybe - just maybe, he'll think *is my computer secure?* And he'll realize it is.

    Knowing my fiancee's grandfather though, he'll think *those spooks are using my social security money on computer games?!*

  6. Re:Shouldn't this be our default system? by PickyH3D · · Score: 3, Funny

    There's an error if you have all security and 0 convenience.

  7. Re:Come on by sik0fewl · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then again, I'm pretty sure my mailman opens my birthday cards.

    So does the NSA :)

    --
    I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
  8. That's nice but... by nzAnon · · Score: 4, Funny

    i'm sure it can't hold a candle to BarbieOS !!

  9. what would darl say, by i_should_be_working · · Score: 3, Funny

    seeing as even federal government agencies already believe in the GPL.

  10. Re:Shouldn't this be our default system? by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Funny
    Security = 1/Convenience Solve for your favorite variable.

    That can't be true, because it would mean that Windows has infinite convenience!

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  11. Re:Rather generous of the NSA by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny

    They'll regret such foolish generousity when Darl and SCO bitch-slap them with a law-suit and a request for n*$699 (for secret values of n). [Bugs voice] Please Jacques, not this distro!

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  12. Re:A few quick comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slashdot *readers* do read the article. Slashdot posters are another matter entirely...

  13. changelog by jjeffries · · Score: 4, Funny

    Summary of Changes for SELinux

    [classified@classified]

    [classified@classified] fix broken (classified) in (classified).c

    [classified@classified] changed (classified), added (classified)'s patch to (classified)

    [classified@classified] (classified) (classified) with (classified)

  14. Not only off by Pac · · Score: 3, Funny

    When convenience nears zero, the machine has been dismounted into its smallest components and each component is mantained in a separate safe room at a different geographic location. In the limit, security is infinite when the machine being secured does not exist anymore and cannot be re-assembled - ie, it has been reduced to its original atoms and those were scattered in different places.

  15. Re:Shouldn't this be our default system? by orthogonal · · Score: 3, Funny

    What kinds of changes in SELinux would be NOT welcome in mainstream Linux distros?

    Well, I just downloaded and installed it.

    One thing I don't like is all these damn -- ouch! the keyboard just shocked me! -- darn pop-ups.

    Like every 10 minutes up pops a window, and there's John Ashcroft staring back at me, and he keeps calling me "Winston Smith" whoever the hell -- ouch!, ok, ok -- that is, and he's keeps telling me I'm broadcasting an IP address and a retinal pattern, or that I'll have to upgrade to the "Corporate Professional" version if I want add-ons like my 4th Amendment rights, or asking whether I'm an "outlawed homo-pervert" or do I qualify for the "fellow Christian Faith-Based Set-Asides" discount.

    I dunno, are you sure this SELinux was built with the end-user in mind?

  16. Re:Rather generous of the NSA by multiplexo · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hello Mr. McBride, welcome to the National Security Agency Before we talk about your lawsuit and IP claims
    we'd like to show you a few things. Exhibit one. A picture of you entering a hotel room in Orem with two live nanny goats, a
    rubber raft, a pair of chaps and a can of Frymax fryer grease. Exhibit 2. Pictures from within the room of activities which violate the laws of God and Man, if not those of the State of Utah. Exhibit 3, credit card receipts for animal tranquilizers and male goat hormones. Shall we continue?"

    --
    cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
  17. Please clariify by brain1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    OK, Darl says that Linux is a threat to National Security, but the NSA who is responsible for National Security contributes to Linux.... Therefore logic says that Linux is good for National Security. But Microsoft says that they are more secure than Linux. Who's on first, what's on second...

    Yeeow! Nothing like a paradigm shift without using the clutch!

  18. SCO? by DaneelGiskard · · Score: 3, Funny

    Personally, I would love to see SCO demanding money from the NSA for a linux license =) This should get rid of the SCO problem really fast ;-))