X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/d92811437f795412c6a59b7f3c2a78eacabfc8ea..2d047348b0dfe1d3bab7955e9bf9b52223e84373:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index e42e39614e..3b4e21fa9b 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -6,6 +6,289 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + Simpler recipe on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher using Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simpler_recipe_on_how_to_make_a_simple__7_IMSI_Catcher_using_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simpler_recipe_on_how_to_make_a_simple__7_IMSI_Catcher_using_Debian.html + Wed, 9 Aug 2017 23:59:00 +0200 + <p>On friday, I came across an interesting article in the Norwegian +web based ICT news magazine digi.no on +<a href="https://www.digi.no/artikler/sikkerhetsforsker-lagde-enkel-imsi-catcher-for-60-kroner-na-kan-mobiler-kartlegges-av-alle/398588">how +to collect the IMSI numbers of nearby cell phones</a> using the cheap +DVB-T software defined radios. The article refered to instructions +and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjwgNd_as30">a recipe by +Keld Norman on Youtube on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher</a>, and I decided to test them out.</p> + +<p>The instructions said to use Ubuntu, install pip using apt (to +bypass apt), use pip to install pybombs (to bypass both apt and pip), +and the ask pybombs to fetch and build everything you need from +scratch. I wanted to see if I could do the same on the most recent +Debian packages, but this did not work because pybombs tried to build +stuff that no longer build with the most recent openssl library or +some other version skew problem. While trying to get this recipe +working, I learned that the apt->pip->pybombs route was a long detour, +and the only piece of software dependency missing in Debian was the +gr-gsm package. I also found out that the lead upstream developer of +gr-gsm (the name stand for GNU Radio GSM) project already had a set of +Debian packages provided in an Ubuntu PPA repository. All I needed to +do was to dget the Debian source package and built it.</p> + +<p>The IMSI collector is a python script listening for packages on the +loopback network device and printing to the terminal some specific GSM +packages with IMSI numbers in them. The code is fairly short and easy +to understand. The reason this work is because gr-gsm include a tool +to read GSM data from a software defined radio like a DVB-T USB stick +and other software defined radios, decode them and inject them into a +network device on your Linux machine (using the loopback device by +default). This proved to work just fine, and I've been testing the +collector for a few days now.</p> + +<p>The updated and simpler recipe is thus to</p> + +<ol> + +<li>start with a Debian machine running Stretch or newer,</li> + +<li>build and install the gr-gsm package available from +<a href="http://ppa.launchpad.net/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gr-gsm/">http://ppa.launchpad.net/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gr-gsm/</a>,</li> + +<li>clone the git repostory from <a href="https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher">https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher</a>,</li> + +<li>run grgsm_livemon and adjust the frequency until the terminal +where it was started is filled with a stream of text (meaning you +found a GSM station).</li> + +<li>go into the IMSI-catcher directory and run 'sudo python simple_IMSI-catcher.py' to extract the IMSI numbers.</li> + +</ol> + +<p>To make it even easier in the future to get this sniffer up and +running, I decided to package +<a href="https://github.com/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/">the gr-gsm project</a> +for Debian (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/871055">WNPP +#871055</a>), and the package was uploaded into the NEW queue today. +Luckily the gnuradio maintainer has promised to help me, as I do not +know much about gnuradio stuff yet.</p> + +<p>I doubt this "IMSI cacher" is anywhere near as powerfull as +commercial tools like +<a href="https://www.thespyphone.com/portable-imsi-imei-catcher/">The +Spy Phone Portable IMSI / IMEI Catcher</a> or the +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker">Harris +Stingray</a>, but I hope the existance of cheap alternatives can make +more people realise how their whereabouts when carrying a cell phone +is easily tracked. Seeing the data flow on the screen, realizing that +I live close to a police station and knowing that the police is also +wearing cell phones, I wonder how hard it would be for criminals to +track the position of the police officers to discover when there are +police near by, or for foreign military forces to track the location +of the Norwegian military forces, or for anyone to track the location +of government officials...</p> + +<p>It is worth noting that the data reported by the IMSI-catcher +script mentioned above is only a fraction of the data broadcasted on +the GSM network. It will only collect one frequency at the time, +while a typical phone will be using several frequencies, and not all +phones will be using the frequencies tracked by the grgsm_livemod +program. Also, there is a lot of radio chatter being ignored by the +simple_IMSI-catcher script, which would be collected by extending the +parser code. I wonder if gr-gsm can be set up to listen to more than +one frequency?</p> + + + + + Norwegian Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator's Handbook is now available + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_is_now_available.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_is_now_available.html + Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:10:00 +0200 + <p align="center"><img align="center" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-07-25-debian-handbook-nb-testprint.png"/></p> + +<p>I finally received a copy of the Norwegian Bokmål edition of +"<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian Administrator's +Handbook</a>". This test copy arrived in the mail a few days ago, and +I am very happy to hold the result in my hand. We spent around one and a half year translating it. This paperbook edition +<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/#norwegian">is available +from lulu.com</a>. If you buy it quickly, you save 25% on the list +price. The book is also available for download in electronic form as +PDF, EPUB and Mobipocket, as can be +<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/browse/nb-NO/stable/">read online +as a web page</a>.</p> + +<p>This is the second book I publish (the first was the book +"<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a>" by Lawrence Lessig +in +<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">English</a>, +<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">French</a> +and +<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Norwegian +Bokmål</a>), and I am very excited to finally wrap up this +project. I hope +"<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/rapha%C3%ABl-hertzog-and-roland-mas/h%C3%A5ndbok-for-debian-administratoren/paperback/product-23262290.html">Håndbok +for Debian-administratoren</a>" will be well received.</p> + + + + + «Rapporten ser ikke på informasjonssikkerhet knyttet til personlig integritet» + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Rapporten_ser_ikke_p__informasjonssikkerhet_knyttet_til_personlig_integritet_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Rapporten_ser_ikke_p__informasjonssikkerhet_knyttet_til_personlig_integritet_.html + Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:50:00 +0200 + <p>Jeg kom over teksten +«<a href="https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/06/21/killing-car-privacy-by-federal-mandate/">Killing +car privacy by federal mandate</a>» av Leonid Reyzin på Freedom to +Tinker i dag, og det gleder meg å se en god gjennomgang om hvorfor det +er et urimelig inngrep i privatsfæren å la alle biler kringkaste sin +posisjon og bevegelse via radio. Det omtalte forslaget basert på +Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) kalles Basic Safety Message +(BSM) i USA og Cooperative Awareness Message (CAM) i Europa, og det +norske Vegvesenet er en av de som ser ut til å kunne tenke seg å +pålegge alle biler å fjerne nok en bit av innbyggernes privatsfære. +Anbefaler alle å lese det som står der. + +<p>Mens jeg tittet litt på DSRC på biler i Norge kom jeg over et sitat +jeg synes er illustrativt for hvordan det offentlige Norge håndterer +problemstillinger rundt innbyggernes privatsfære i SINTEF-rapporten +«<a href="https://www.sintef.no/publikasjoner/publikasjon/Download/?pubid=SINTEF+A23933">Informasjonssikkerhet +i AutoPASS-brikker</a>» av Trond Foss:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +«Rapporten ser ikke på informasjonssikkerhet knyttet til personlig + integritet.» +</blockquote></p> + +<p>Så enkelt kan det tydeligvis gjøres når en vurderer +informasjonssikkerheten. Det holder vel at folkene på toppen kan si +at «Personvernet er ivaretatt», som jo er den populære intetsigende +frasen som gjør at mange tror enkeltindividers integritet tas vare på. +Sitatet fikk meg til å undres på hvor ofte samme tilnærming, å bare se +bort fra behovet for personlig itegritet, blir valgt når en velger å +legge til rette for nok et inngrep i privatsfæren til personer i +Norge. Det er jo sjelden det får reaksjoner. Historien om +reaksjonene på Helse Sør-Østs tjenesteutsetting er jo sørgelig nok et +unntak og toppen av isfjellet, desverre. Tror jeg fortsatt takker nei +til både AutoPASS og holder meg så langt unna det norske helsevesenet +som jeg kan, inntil de har demonstrert og dokumentert at de verdsetter +individets privatsfære og personlige integritet høyere enn kortsiktig +gevist og samfunnsnytte.</p> + + + + + Updated sales number for my Free Culture paper editions + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Updated_sales_number_for_my_Free_Culture_paper_editions.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Updated_sales_number_for_my_Free_Culture_paper_editions.html + Mon, 12 Jun 2017 11:40:00 +0200 + <p>It is pleasing to see that the work we put down in publishing new +editions of the classic <a href="http://www.free-culture.cc/">Free +Culture book</a> by the founder of the Creative Commons movement, +Lawrence Lessig, is still being appreciated. I had a look at the +latest sales numbers for the paper edition today. Not too impressive, +but happy to see some buyers still exist. All the revenue from the +books is sent to the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/">Creative +Commons Corporation</a>, and they receive the largest cut if you buy +directly from Lulu. Most books are sold via Amazon, with Ingram +second and only a small fraction directly from Lulu. The ebook +edition is available for free from +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Github</a>.</p> + +<table border="0"> +<tr><th rowspan="2" valign="bottom">Title / language</th><th colspan="3">Quantity</th></tr> +<tr><th>2016 jan-jun</th><th>2016 jul-dec</th><th>2017 jan-may</th></tr> + +<tr> + <td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">Culture Libre / French</a></td> + <td align="right">3</td> + <td align="right">6</td> + <td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Fri kultur / Norwegian</a></td> + <td align="right">7</td> + <td align="right">1</td> + <td align="right">0</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">Free Culture / English</a></td> + <td align="right">14</td> + <td align="right">27</td> + <td align="right">16</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td>Total</td> + <td align="right">24</td> + <td align="right">34</td> + <td align="right">31</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p>A bit sad to see the low sales number on the Norwegian edition, and +a bit surprising the English edition still selling so well.</p> + +<p>If you would like to translate and publish the book in your native +language, I would be happy to help make it happen. Please get in +touch.</p> + + + + + Release 0.1.1 of free software archive system Nikita announced + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Release_0_1_1_of_free_software_archive_system_Nikita_announced.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Release_0_1_1_of_free_software_archive_system_Nikita_announced.html + Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:40:00 +0200 + <p>I am very happy to report that the +<a href="https://github.com/hiOA-ABI/nikita-noark5-core">Nikita Noark 5 +core project</a> tagged its second release today. The free software +solution is an implementation of the Norwegian archive standard Noark +5 used by government offices in Norway. These were the changes in +version 0.1.1 since version 0.1.0 (from NEWS.md): + +<ul> + + <li>Continued work on the angularjs GUI, including document upload.</li> + <li>Implemented correspondencepartPerson, correspondencepartUnit and + correspondencepartInternal</li> + <li>Applied for coverity coverage and started submitting code on + regualr basis.</li> + <li>Started fixing bugs reported by coverity</li> + <li>Corrected and completed HATEOAS links to make sure entire API is + available via URLs in _links.</li> + <li>Corrected all relation URLs to use trailing slash.</li> + <li>Add initial support for storing data in ElasticSearch.</li> + <li>Now able to receive and store uploaded files in the archive.</li> + <li>Changed JSON output for object lists to have relations in _links.</li> + <li>Improve JSON output for empty object lists.</li> + <li>Now uses correct MIME type application/vnd.noark5-v4+json.</li> + <li>Added support for docker container images.</li> + <li>Added simple API browser implemented in JavaScript/Angular.</li> + <li>Started on archive client implemented in JavaScript/Angular.</li> + <li>Started on prototype to show the public mail journal.</li> + <li>Improved performance by disabling Sprint FileWatcher.</li> + <li>Added support for 'arkivskaper', 'saksmappe' and 'journalpost'.</li> + <li>Added support for some metadata codelists.</li> + <li>Added support for Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS).</li> + <li>Changed login method from Basic Auth to JSON Web Token (RFC 7519) + style.</li> + <li>Added support for GET-ing ny-* URLs.</li> + <li>Added support for modifying entities using PUT and eTag.</li> + <li>Added support for returning XML output on request.</li> + <li>Removed support for English field and class names, limiting ourself + to the official names.</li> + <li>...</li> + +</ul> + +<p>If this sound interesting to you, please contact us on IRC (#nikita +on irc.freenode.net) or email +(<a href="https://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/nikita-noark">nikita-noark +mailing list).</p> + + + Idea for storing trusted timestamps in a Noark 5 archive http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_trusted_timestamps_in_a_Noark_5_archive.html @@ -361,282 +644,5 @@ implemented in Python.</p> - - Detecting NFS hangs on Linux without hanging yourself... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detecting_NFS_hangs_on_Linux_without_hanging_yourself___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detecting_NFS_hangs_on_Linux_without_hanging_yourself___.html - Thu, 9 Mar 2017 15:20:00 +0100 - <p>Over the years, administrating thousand of NFS mounting linux -computers at the time, I often needed a way to detect if the machine -was experiencing NFS hang. If you try to use <tt>df</tt> or look at a -file or directory affected by the hang, the process (and possibly the -shell) will hang too. So you want to be able to detect this without -risking the detection process getting stuck too. It has not been -obvious how to do this. When the hang has lasted a while, it is -possible to find messages like these in dmesg:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -nfs: server nfsserver not responding, still trying -<br>nfs: server nfsserver OK -</blockquote></p> - -<p>It is hard to know if the hang is still going on, and it is hard to -be sure looking in dmesg is going to work. If there are lots of other -messages in dmesg the lines might have rotated out of site before they -are noticed.</p> - -<p>While reading through the nfs client implementation in linux kernel -code, I came across some statistics that seem to give a way to detect -it. The om_timeouts sunrpc value in the kernel will increase every -time the above log entry is inserted into dmesg. And after digging a -bit further, I discovered that this value show up in -/proc/self/mountstats on Linux.</p> - -<p>The mountstats content seem to be shared between files using the -same file system context, so it is enough to check one of the -mountstats files to get the state of the mount point for the machine. -I assume this will not show lazy umounted NFS points, nor NFS mount -points in a different process context (ie with a different filesystem -view), but that does not worry me.</p> - -<p>The content for a NFS mount point look similar to this:</p> - -<p><blockquote><pre> -[...] -device /dev/mapper/Debian-var mounted on /var with fstype ext3 -device nfsserver:/mnt/nfsserver/home0 mounted on /mnt/nfsserver/home0 with fstype nfs statvers=1.1 - opts: rw,vers=3,rsize=65536,wsize=65536,namlen=255,acregmin=3,acregmax=60,acdirmin=30,acdirmax=60,soft,nolock,proto=tcp,timeo=600,retrans=2,sec=sys,mountaddr=129.240.3.145,mountvers=3,mountport=4048,mountproto=udp,local_lock=all - age: 7863311 - caps: caps=0x3fe7,wtmult=4096,dtsize=8192,bsize=0,namlen=255 - sec: flavor=1,pseudoflavor=1 - events: 61063112 732346265 1028140 35486205 16220064 8162542 761447191 71714012 37189 3891185 45561809 110486139 4850138 420353 15449177 296502 52736725 13523379 0 52182 9016896 1231 0 0 0 0 0 - bytes: 166253035039 219519120027 0 0 40783504807 185466229638 11677877 45561809 - RPC iostats version: 1.0 p/v: 100003/3 (nfs) - xprt: tcp 925 1 6810 0 0 111505412 111480497 109 2672418560317 0 248 53869103 22481820 - per-op statistics - NULL: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - GETATTR: 61063106 61063108 0 9621383060 6839064400 453650 77291321 78926132 - SETATTR: 463469 463470 0 92005440 66739536 63787 603235 687943 - LOOKUP: 17021657 17021657 0 3354097764 4013442928 57216 35125459 35566511 - ACCESS: 14281703 14290009 5 2318400592 1713803640 1709282 4865144 7130140 - READLINK: 125 125 0 20472 18620 0 1112 1118 - READ: 4214236 4214237 0 715608524 41328653212 89884 22622768 22806693 - WRITE: 8479010 8494376 22 187695798568 1356087148 178264904 51506907 231671771 - CREATE: 171708 171708 0 38084748 46702272 873 1041833 1050398 - MKDIR: 3680 3680 0 773980 993920 26 23990 24245 - SYMLINK: 903 903 0 233428 245488 6 5865 5917 - MKNOD: 80 80 0 20148 21760 0 299 304 - REMOVE: 429921 429921 0 79796004 61908192 3313 2710416 2741636 - RMDIR: 3367 3367 0 645112 484848 22 5782 6002 - RENAME: 466201 466201 0 130026184 121212260 7075 5935207 5961288 - LINK: 289155 289155 0 72775556 67083960 2199 2565060 2585579 - READDIR: 2933237 2933237 0 516506204 13973833412 10385 3190199 3297917 - READDIRPLUS: 1652839 1652839 0 298640972 6895997744 84735 14307895 14448937 - FSSTAT: 6144 6144 0 1010516 1032192 51 9654 10022 - FSINFO: 2 2 0 232 328 0 1 1 - PATHCONF: 1 1 0 116 140 0 0 0 - COMMIT: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - -device binfmt_misc mounted on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc with fstype binfmt_misc -[...] -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>The key number to look at is the third number in the per-op list. -It is the number of NFS timeouts experiences per file system -operation. Here 22 write timeouts and 5 access timeouts. If these -numbers are increasing, I believe the machine is experiencing NFS -hang. Unfortunately the timeout value do not start to increase right -away. The NFS operations need to time out first, and this can take a -while. The exact timeout value depend on the setup. For example the -defaults for TCP and UDP mount points are quite different, and the -timeout value is affected by the soft, hard, timeo and retrans NFS -mount options.</p> - -<p>The only way I have been able to get working on Debian and RedHat -Enterprise Linux for getting the timeout count is to peek in /proc/. -But according to -<ahref="http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/816-4555/netmonitor-12/index.html">Solaris -10 System Administration Guide: Network Services</a>, the 'nfsstat -c' -command can be used to get these timeout values. But this do not work -on Linux, as far as I can tell. I -<ahref="http://bugs.debian.org/857043">asked Debian about this</a>, -but have not seen any replies yet.</p> - -<p>Is there a better way to figure out if a Linux NFS client is -experiencing NFS hangs? Is there a way to detect which processes are -affected? Is there a way to get the NFS mount going quickly once the -network problem causing the NFS hang has been cleared? I would very -much welcome some clues, as we regularly run into NFS hangs.</p> - - - - - How does it feel to be wiretapped, when you should be doing the wiretapping... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_does_it_feel_to_be_wiretapped__when_you_should_be_doing_the_wiretapping___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_does_it_feel_to_be_wiretapped__when_you_should_be_doing_the_wiretapping___.html - Wed, 8 Mar 2017 11:50:00 +0100 - <p>So the new president in the United States of America claim to be -surprised to discover that he was wiretapped during the election -before he was elected president. He even claim this must be illegal. -Well, doh, if it is one thing the confirmations from Snowden -documented, it is that the entire population in USA is wiretapped, one -way or another. Of course the president candidates were wiretapped, -alongside the senators, judges and the rest of the people in USA.</p> - -<p>Next, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ask the Department of -Justice to go public rejecting the claims that Donald Trump was -wiretapped illegally. I fail to see the relevance, given that I am -sure the surveillance industry in USA believe they have all the legal -backing they need to conduct mass surveillance on the entire -world.</p> - -<p>There is even the director of the FBI stating that he never saw an -order requesting wiretapping of Donald Trump. That is not very -surprising, given how the FISA court work, with all its activity being -secret. Perhaps he only heard about it?</p> - -<p>What I find most sad in this story is how Norwegian journalists -present it. In a news reports the other day in the radio from the -Norwegian National broadcasting Company (NRK), I heard the journalist -claim that 'the FBI denies any wiretapping', while the reality is that -'the FBI denies any illegal wiretapping'. There is a fundamental and -important difference, and it make me sad that the journalists are -unable to grasp it.</p> - -<p><strong>Update 2017-03-13:</strong> Look like -<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/03/13/rand-paul-is-right-nsa-routinely-monitors-americans-communications-without-warrants/">The -Intercept report that US Senator Rand Paul confirm what I state above</a>.</p> - - - - - Norwegian Bokmål translation of The Debian Administrator's Handbook complete, proofreading in progress - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_translation_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_complete__proofreading_in_progress.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_translation_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_complete__proofreading_in_progress.html - Fri, 3 Mar 2017 14:50:00 +0100 - <p>For almost a year now, we have been working on making a Norwegian -Bokmål edition of <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian -Administrator's Handbook</a>. Now, thanks to the tireless effort of -Ole-Erik, Ingrid and Andreas, the initial translation is complete, and -we are working on the proof reading to ensure consistent language and -use of correct computer science terms. The plan is to make the book -available on paper, as well as in electronic form. For that to -happen, the proof reading must be completed and all the figures need -to be translated. If you want to help out, get in touch.</p> - -<p><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/debian-handbook/debian-handbook-nb-NO.pdf">A - -fresh PDF edition</a> in A4 format (the final book will have smaller -pages) of the book created every morning is available for -proofreading. If you find any errors, please -<a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">visit -Weblate and correct the error</a>. The -<a href="http://l.github.io/debian-handbook/stat/nb-NO/index.html">state -of the translation including figures</a> is a useful source for those -provide Norwegian bokmål screen shots and figures.</p> - - - - - Unlimited randomness with the ChaosKey? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlimited_randomness_with_the_ChaosKey_.html - Wed, 1 Mar 2017 20:50:00 +0100 - <p>A few days ago I ordered a small batch of -<a href="http://altusmetrum.org/ChaosKey/">the ChaosKey</a>, a small -USB dongle for generating entropy created by Bdale Garbee and Keith -Packard. Yesterday it arrived, and I am very happy to report that it -work great! According to its designers, to get it to work out of the -box, you need the Linux kernel version 4.1 or later. I tested on a -Debian Stretch machine (kernel version 4.9), and there it worked just -fine, increasing the available entropy very quickly. I wrote a small -test oneliner to test. It first print the current entropy level, -drain /dev/random, and then print the entropy level for five seconds. -Here is the situation without the ChaosKey inserted:</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ - dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \ - for n in $(seq 1 5); do \ - cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ - sleep 1; \ - done -300 -0+1 oppføringer inn -0+1 oppføringer ut -28 byte kopiert, 0,000264565 s, 106 kB/s -4 -8 -12 -17 -21 -% -</pre></blockquote> - -<p>The entropy level increases by 3-4 every second. In such case any -application requiring random bits (like a HTTPS enabled web server) -will halt and wait for more entrpy. And here is the situation with -the ChaosKey inserted:</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ - dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \ - for n in $(seq 1 5); do \ - cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \ - sleep 1; \ - done -1079 -0+1 oppføringer inn -0+1 oppføringer ut -104 byte kopiert, 0,000487647 s, 213 kB/s -433 -1028 -1031 -1035 -1038 -% -</pre></blockquote> - -<p>Quite the difference. :) I bought a few more than I need, in case -someone want to buy one here in Norway. :)</p> - -<p>Update: The dongle was presented at Debconf last year. You might -find <a href="https://debconf16.debconf.org/talks/94/">the talk -recording illuminating</a>. It explains exactly what the source of -randomness is, if you are unable to spot it from the schema drawing -available from the ChaosKey web site linked at the start of this blog -post.</p> - - - - - Detect OOXML files with undefined behaviour? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detect_OOXML_files_with_undefined_behaviour_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Detect_OOXML_files_with_undefined_behaviour_.html - Tue, 21 Feb 2017 00:20:00 +0100 - <p>I just noticed -<a href="http://www.arkivrad.no/aktuelt/riksarkivarens-forskrift-pa-horing">the -new Norwegian proposal for archiving rules in the goverment</a> list -<a href="http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm">ECMA-376</a> -/ ISO/IEC 29500 (aka OOXML) as valid formats to put in long term -storage. Luckily such files will only be accepted based on -pre-approval from the National Archive. Allowing OOXML files to be -used for long term storage might seem like a good idea as long as we -forget that there are plenty of ways for a "valid" OOXML document to -have content with no defined interpretation in the standard, which -lead to a question and an idea.</p> - -<p>Is there any tool to detect if a OOXML document depend on such -undefined behaviour? It would be useful for the National Archive (and -anyone else interested in verifying that a document is well defined) -to have such tool available when considering to approve the use of -OOXML. I'm aware of the -<a href="https://github.com/arlm/officeotron/">officeotron OOXML -validator</a>, but do not know how complete it is nor if it will -report use of undefined behaviour. Are there other similar tools -available? Please send me an email if you know of any such tool.</p> - - -