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:

Peter Smith Releases Linux Network Security Online - Thanks so much to Peter Smith for announcing on linuxsecurity.com the release of his Linux Network Security book available free online. "In 2005 I wrote a book on Linux security. 8 years later and the publisher has gone out of business. Now that I'm free from restrictions on reproducing material from the book, I have decided to make the entire book available online."

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.

  Hackers tapped into Syrian opposition's battle plans (Feb 2)
 

Syrian opposition leaders lost gigabytes of secret communications and battlefield plans to hackers who baited them into downloading malware during flirtatious Skype chats, according to a report released Sunday.
  (Feb 4)
 

Many users do not understand, let-alone listen to, browser-based SSL warnings. Google wants to change that and its newest browser warnings are based on years of interdisciplinary research about how human beings respond to warning signs.
  After paying $4m for bugs, Google offers new grants for suspected but unproven flaws (Feb 2)
 

Google has launched a new vulnerability research grants program, offering cash to top security researchers who want to investigate potential bugs - even if the flaws turn out to be nothing.
  Some hackers are unknowingly gathering intel for the NSA (Feb 5)
 

The U.S. National Security Agency and its intelligence partners are reportedly sifting through data stolen by state-sponsored and freelance hackers on a regular basis in search of valuable information.
  Faking Murders And Stealing Bitcoin: Why The Silk Road Is The Strangest Crime Story Of The Decade (Feb 2)
 

To his family, he was former Eagle Scout Ross Ulbricht. To his housemates, he was "Joshua Terrey." To the U.S. government, he's "The Dread Pirate Roberts"