Thank you for reading the LinuxSecurity.com weekly security newsletter. The purpose of this document is to provide our readers with a quick summary of each week's most relevant Linux security headlines.

LinuxSecurity.com Feature Extras:

Securing a Linux Web Server - With the significant prevalence of Linux web servers globally, security is often touted as a strength of the platform for such a purpose. However, a Linux based web server is only as secure as its configuration and very often many are quite vulnerable to compromise. While specific configurations vary wildly due to environments or specific use, there are various general steps that can be taken to insure basic security considerations are in place.

Password guessing with Medusa 2.0 - Medusa was created by the fine folks at foofus.net, in fact the much awaited Medusa 2.0 update was released in February of 2010. For a complete change log please visit

(Oct 9)

Hacking is undoubtedly one of the most adventurous, enticing and mysterious parts of the tech world and we thought it could be even more fun to know and learn about the top tier notorious black hat hackers and the legendary hacks that earned them such a title. So we bring to you the top 11 black hat hackers ever!
How They Popped The Penguin: The Bash Attack And What It Means For Linux Data Security (Oct 11)

Data security is something that most people don't want to think about. In our age of persistent connectivity, most data users, whether they are on a desktop, laptop or cell phone, connect to their data without thinking of the security risks of transmitting their data by connecting to a public network or an unsecured network of any kind.
My Experience As A Fourth Grade Hacker (Oct 10)

When Alexandra Jordan presented at this year's TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon, the fourth grader from Sunnyvale, CA proved to be something of an audience favorite.
How the NSA Attacks Tor/Firefox Users With QUANTUM and FOXACID (Oct 8)

The online anonymity network Tor is a high-priority target for the National Security Agency. The work of attacking Tor is done by the NSA's application vulnerabilities branch, which is part of the systems intelligence directorate, or SID. The majority of NSA employees work in SID, which is tasked with collecting data from communications systems around the world.
(Oct 10)

John Hering wants to show me something. We're standing at a busy intersection in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood; he pauses, takes off his black Tom Ford sunglasses, and points to the one-story-tall graffiti art on the side of a building. Next to a boy wearing a gas mask, the tag line reads: "If at first you don't succeed -- call an airstrike."
Hackers move to create next Blackhole after 'Paunch' arrest (Oct 9)

Security researchers Tuesday said reports of the arrest of the hacker behind Blackhole, one of the most widely used exploit kits on the Internet, is good news for IT operations and users. But it shouldn't be long before another hacker takes his place.
The NSA's New Risk Analysis (Oct 9)

As I recently reported in the Guardian, the NSA has secret servers on the Internet that hack into other computers, codename FOXACID. These servers provide an excellent demonstration of how the NSA approaches risk management, and exposes flaws in how the agency thinks about the secrecy of its own programs.
(Oct 7)

Mike DiGiovanni, technologist at digital agency Roundarch Isobar, has devised a way to bring the desktop version of "Grand Theft Auto III," or GTA3, to Google Glass.
(Oct 8)

According to the 2013 Chief Information Security Officers survey by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), 75 percent of CISOs responded that external attacks had increased. When asked what the main areas of risk as percentage of the overall risk are, 70 percent of CISOs responded that web applications represent an area of risk higher than network infrastructure. - See more at:

Google to pay rewards for open-source code security fixes (Oct 10)

Google said Wednesday it plans to reward developers for developing proactive security improvements for some of the most widely used open-source software programs.
Silk Road bust demonstrates feds penetration of Deepnet (Oct 8)

By shutting down the notorious Silk Road criminal marketplace, federal law enforcement is succeeding at infiltrating the most sinister areas of the hidden Internet, experts say.
NSA tracks Google ads to find Tor users (Oct 8)

Just because the National Security Agency hasn't cracked the anonymizing service Tor doesn't mean that people who use the service are free from surveillance.