[ale] China chooses FreeBSD as basis for secure OS

[Chuck Payne]

On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 1:34 PM, Richard Faulkner <rfaulkner at 34thprs.org> wrote:
> Okay...this then brings up an interesting proposition.  Is it possible to
> build a tenable backdoor in a distro that would go unnoticed at source code
> level?  For security purposes would it be better to develop (as a state)
> your own updates rather than take distro updates from source?  Could this
> mark a threat to security as we see it?
>
> Please keep in mind that I'm new to Linux and NOT a programmer...more of a
> designer.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wolf at wolfhalton.info <wolf at wolfhalton.info>
> Reply-to: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org>
> To: mhw at wittsend.com, Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!
> <ale at ale.org>
> Subject: Re: [ale] China chooses FreeBSD as basis for secure OS
> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:35:02 -0400
>
> It would at least be a little more of a challenge than Window$
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael H. Warfield <mhw at wittsend.com>
> Reply-to: mhw at wittsend.com, Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!
> <ale at ale.org>
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux! <ale at ale.org>
> Cc: mhw at wittsend.com
> Subject: Re: [ale] China chooses FreeBSD as basis for secure OS
> Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:26:40 -0400
>
> On Tue, 2010-10-12 at 15:58 -0400, Chuck Payne wrote:
>> On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 3:13 PM, George Allen <glallen01 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Apparently China is moving their entire Dept of Defense to a hardened
>> > version of FreeBSD.
>> > http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=1682
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>
>> Good Choose.
>
> I presume you meant choice and I concur.  Give that some reports are
> putting the level of Stuxnet infections at over 1 million machines in
> Iran and more than 6 million machines in China, anything, other that
> Windows, would be a smooth move.  Nobody really knows who is behind the
> Stuxnet but I would put it at 99% probability that it's "state
> sponsored" and the leading contenders are Israel, the US, and Russia.
> Unfortunately, any of those players are more than capable of building
> something nasty for FreeBSD or Linux, or even OpenBSD if they really set
> their minds to it.
>
> Regards,
> Mike
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>

I have heard that NSA does ask for such things, but I don't know if
any distro compile with the request.

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