FOSSPicks
FOSSPicks
Nate explores the top FOSS including a starship bridge simulator, an offline translator, a stateless password manager, and a de-googled version of Chromium.
Backdoors for All
As I was leafing through the latest "Crypto-Gram" newsletter, I found author Bruce Schneier's take on the recent showdown between Apple and the UK government. In brief, the UK tried using its draconian laws to have Apple secretly place a backdoor in its iCloud ADP (Advanced Data Protection). Rather than compromise its end-to-end encryption, Apple disabled the feature altogether in the country.
Security experts point out that backdoors can also be accessed by the bad guys, as evidenced by the recent Salt Typhoon hack of US telecoms systems designed to facilitate court-ordered wire tapping. Apple was also issued a gag order not to reveal the UK government's demands. It's only thanks to a whistleblower leaking the story to The Washington Post that we know about it.
Other companies offering proprietary encryption products can also be subjected to secret subpoenas. This can expose sensitive data – not just to law enforcement but to threat actors such as foreign hacking groups. While it's technically feasible to backdoor open source software, the code is regularly reviewed for security bugs by the community. When it comes to secure messaging, choose FOSS options such as Signal. If you need to back up your data, Nextcloud also supports verifiable end-to-end encryption.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
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
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.