The ISS Has Ditched Windows Entirely--For Linux

International Space Station switches from Windows to Linux, for improved reliability...

Original article available here.

The United Space Alliance, which manages the computers aboard the International Space Station in association with NASA, has announced that the Windows XP computers aboard the ISS have been switched to Linux. “We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable.”

In specific, the “dozens of laptops” will make the change to Debian 6. These laptops will join many other systems aboard the ISS that already run various flavors of Linux, such as RedHat and Scientific Linux. As far as we know, after this transition, there won’t be a single computer aboard the ISS that runs Windows. Beyond stability and reliability, Keith Chuvala of the United Space Alliance says they wanted an operating system that “would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust or adapt, we could.” It’s worth noting that the ISS laptops used to run Windows XP, and we know they’ve been infected by at least one virus in their lifetime: in 2008, a Russian cosmonaut brought a laptop aboard with the W32.Gammima.AG worm, which quickly spread to the other laptops on board. Switching to Linux will essentially immunize the ISS against future infections.

The laptops that were upgraded belong to the station’s OpsLAN. The crew use the OpsLAN to perform day-to-day activities, such as viewing stock inventory, controlling scientific experiments, or checking their current location. Presumably the laptops used to run bespoke Win32 apps on Windows XP, and now those apps have been re-written to work on Linux — hopefully they’re not being emulated in WINE. To get the astronauts and cosmonauts up to speed, they will be trained by the Linux Foundation.

To be honest, we shouldn’t be too surprised at the ditching of Windows. Linux is the scientific community’s operating system of choice. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is controlled by Linux. NASA and SpaceX ground stations use Linux. DNA-sequencing lab technicians use Linux. Really, for applications that require absolute stability, which most scientific experiments are, Linux is the obvious choice. The fact that the entire OS is open source and can be easily customized for each experiment is obviously a very big draw, too.

In other news, the first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut 2, which also runs Linux, is due for an upgrade soon. Robonaut 2 (pictured above) was delivered on Space Shuttle Discovery’s final mission in 2011, and at the moment it’s just a torso with two arms — but later in 2013, some climbing legs and a battery pack should be delivered. The ultimate goal is to see whether humans and robots can operate peacefully in zero gravity, with Robonaut eventually performing menial tasks (vacuuming, changing filters), and possibly dangerous tasks during space walks, too.

Now read: Windows 8 may drive me to Linux

What Should I Do With My Old Windows XP Laptop?

This is a great article from Lifehacker...

Don't throw away that old laptop or desktop...

Read the full article is here.

Malware fight goes public on the wed

The original article by Ben Grubb (SMH) goes on to outline the numbers of Australian computer IP numbers that were found to be infected by Bot's and Trojan malware. For the lay-people... you are assigned an IP address when you access the internet via your ISP. Malware signatures can be detected by the 'packets' of information your computer sends and receives.

Please don't be fooled by tele-marketers telling you you are infected, you may be, but they only want remote access to your PC in order to plant malware of their choice, and to get you to pay them for it.

The Government would like the ISP to contact their users and offer assistance to remove the infection from the end users PC. This however is a BIG ask and can be quite difficult.

The ACMA (Australian Communication and Media Authority) have published a page that outlines the statistics daily - click here for that page. The page details the total numbers and type of infection that it has detected.

I have listed the malware variants (outlined by ACMA) below:

1. Zeus targets Microsoft Windows machines. It does not work on Mac OS X, or Linux.
2. Conficker Exploits the Windows Server Services.
3. IRCBot affects Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2.
4. Ramnit only infects Windows. Mainly known for spreading via USB devices.
5. Mebroot infects all Windows O/S'.
6. Virut infects all Windows O/S'.
7. Rootkit TDSS infects all Windows O/S'.
8. Flashback is a virus that infects Apple's OSX.
9. Sality infects all Windows O/S' and spreads through Windows networks.
10. Slenfbot infects all Windows O/S'.
11. Festi infects all Windows O/S'.
12. Cutwail infects Windows XP, Vista and 7.
13. Kelihos infects all Windows O/S'.
14. Waledac infects all Windows O/S'.
15. Nitol Botnet, interestingly, came installed in Windows PC's manufactured in China. Meaning it was installed at the factory.
16. Spyeye infects all Windows O/S'.
17. Lethic infects all Windows O/S'.
18. Darkmailer infects all Windows O/S'.
19. Trojan Pony - Found inside Pirated Apple & Windows versions of Adobe Illustrator CS4.
20. Dorkbot infects all Windows O/S'.
21. Pushdo infects all Windows O/S'.

Only two are capable of infecting Apple Mac computers the rest will infect all Windows operating systems. None quoted affect Linux.

Particularly interesting is 'Nitol' came pre-installed on some PC's manufactured in China. Clearly this is a real worry. The other worry is that pirated versions of software from Adobe (Illustrator CS4) came with the trojan Pony. The CS series of Adobe products are so expensive ($1800 approx) that people without the ability to buy them were forced to install pirated versions. I prefer to encourage people to use 'Open Source' instead. A good example is Gimp. Possibly not as comprehensive as Illustrator but how much do you need... really.

Flashback uses a well known exploit. It tricks the user into thinking that it is a real Adobe Flash player and asks the user to authorise it's installation. Seems Steve Jobs had good reason to disallow iPads from using flash. Unfortunately Flashback will infect Apple Macs.

So what do you do?

From my experience (if you are a Windows fan) you need to start from a clean operating system. Installed from an 'original Microsoft' disc. Even if your PC is pre-installed... format it and install from the original disc. You will not have the 'Bloat-ware' installed by your PC manufacturer. You should also be able to install the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's disc's. If the manufacturer does not supply the disc's choose a different manufacturer's PC. Many of the cheaper Chinese PC's don't come with original disc's. Stay away from those. Once you have a clean PC, install a good virus scanner. My choice would be Avast, available here for free.

If you already have a PC (or more), and want to use a cheap PC but also want to be safe... format them and install Linux instead. Linux Ubuntu is my choice but Linux Mint is also a favourite as it is the most similar to Windows XP in it's interface. You will not require a drivers disc as they will sense your hardware and install the drivers automatically during the installation process. Both have support for all your Windows document/image/music/video formats and are the easiest to use for beginners. Both are also perfect of corporate desktop applications as they support Windows RDP sessions and VPN connections to Windows Servers.

Drop me a message on Google+ if you need help/advice.

Ubuntu for your Phone

As a corporate IT Support person (in my previous life) we had to support iPhones. As is usual only the upper level of executive staff were issued with them. And as per usual they were the least capable of using them. This turned out to be a nightmare.
But now with Ubuntu (Linux) that job is made a whole lot easier.
Bring it on!