Researchers and practitioners head to San Jose
USENIX Security 2008
The 17th Security Symposium met in San Jose, California, USA, during the week of July 28, with a refereed paper track and Invited Talks.
USENIX Security might lack the buzz surrounding DefCon, but the content more than makes up for this. The competition for getting a paper accepted is fierce, with only 27 of 174 papers getting the nod from the Program Committee this year. And you will find the research behind some of the hot topics in security in these papers.
Niels Provos delivered a paper and an invited talk, both about the work he has been doing at Google to uncover infected websites. Google, like other search engine companies, creates constantly updated caches of web pages. Provos and his associates have built software that scans tens of millions of web pages each day, selecting a million URLs to load into instrumented virtual machines running Windows and IE.
Provos said that one in a thousand URLs will direct IE to a malware download site that can result in Windows being automatically exploited – a drive-by download. The distribution of malware-infected web servers by type is roughly equivalent, so visiting a financial or social networking site is almost as dangerous as hitting sites with adult content.
[...]
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.
-
What Open Source Pros Look for in a Job Role
Learn what professionals in technical and non-technical roles say is most important when seeking a new position.
-
Asahi Linux Runs into Issues with M4 Support
Due to Apple Silicon changes, the Asahi Linux project is at odds with adding support for the M4 chips.
-
Plasma 6.3.4 Now Available
Although not a major release, Plasma 6.3.4 does fix some bugs and offer a subtle change for the Plasma sidebar.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 First Release Candidate Now Available
Linux Torvalds has announced that the release candidate for the final release of the Linux 6.15 series is now available.
-
Akamai Will Host kernel.org
The organization dedicated to cloud-based solutions has agreed to host kernel.org to deliver long-term stability for the development team.