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North Korea's Operating System Analyzed (theguardian.com)
Bruce66423 points out an analysis at The Guardian of North Korea's Red Star Linux-based OS, based on a presentation Sunday to the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin : The features of their Fedora based OS include a watermarking system to enable tracking of files — even if unopened. The operating system is not just the pale copy of western ones that many have assumed, said Florian Grunow and Niklaus Schiess of the German IT security company ERNW, who downloaded the software from a website outside North Korea and explored the code in detail. ... This latest version, written around 2013, is based on a version of Linux called Fedora and has eschewed the previous version’s Windows XP feel for Apple’s OS X – perhaps a nod to the country’s leader Kim Jong-un who, like his father, has been photographed near Macs. The OS, unsurprisingly, allowed only tightly fettered access to web sites, using a whitelist approach that gives access to government-controlled or approved sites.
be used by citizens in "democratic/free" countries to find out if they were violate by their countries gov/spy agencies?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
TFA didn't have many details, but I wonder how the files were watermarked. Some metadata perhaps, that added atime/ctime/ and the computer's install ID?
Perhaps a modification to the filesystem to allow for alternate data streams (a la NTFS) which would have a linked list of machines the file has sat on, which would be hidden from the user, and would move with the file?
It's actually the Democrats....they don't want you to have a car because cars cause global warming. It's all about saving the world dude!