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

Commission wants to turn tables on IP thieves by crippling PCs with extortion-style lock-outs (May 28)

Buried in a 100-page report issued last week by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property was a recommendation to copy a tactic cyber scammers use to extort money from innocent victims.
(May 30)

A security hole that allows attackers to take control of the server has been found in Apache. The vulnerability is contained in the do_rewritelog() log function of mod_rewrite. This function insufficiently filters the data that is written to the log file.
Little Brother Is Watching You (May 31)

In the post-9/11 atmosphere of ever-increasing government secrecy and surveillance, the real surprise to me about the Department of Justice's secret snooping on Associated Press phone records was that it would be such a surprise, given the visibly vast security and intelligence apparatus erected by the U.S. government over the past decade
Raspberry Pi puts holes in China's Great Firewall (May 29)

A tech-savvy China-based Redditor has spotted a hassle-free way of ensuring he or she is always able to bypass the Great Firewall, even when out and about, using the Raspberry Pi to connect to a virtual private network (VPN).
Hacker accused of massive Stratfor attack pleads guilty (May 31)

Jeremy Hammond was arrested in a major federal sweep last year on charges of computer hacking conspiracy, computer hacking, and conspiracy to commit access device fraud.
Boston Bombing Investigation Exposed Successes, Failures of Surveillance Tech (May 31)

Despite multiple photos and surveillance video images of two suspects involved in the Boston Marathon bombings last month, as well as state-of-the-art facial-recognition software and two government databases, investigators were unable to identify the two suspected perpetrators, even after releasing several of the images to the public.
(May 29)

I'm still amazed how most companies, even when they've been breached and their reputation has been ruined, fail to fight malicious hacking correctly. Instead, they erect security defenses that have little to do with the threats they're hoping to prevent.
Holder Signed Off on Warrant Identifying Fox News Reporter as Criminal Conspirator (May 28)

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on the controversial warrant application that the Justice Department used to obtain the personal emails of a Fox News reporter.
(May 30)

PayPal has denied that it refused a teenage security researcher a reward for finding a potentially nasty bug on the basis that he was too young. The payments processing firm said that while it had denied the 17-year-old a reward, it was because another researcher had already reported the flaw.
(May 28)

While an attack of this size has so far been a one-off there are hundreds if not thousands of people around the globe who are making millions of pounds every year by hiring out the networks of zombie computers known as botnets which carry out these attacks.
Drupal.org compromised (May 30)

The Drupal.org security team says it has discovered unauthorised access to Drupal.org and groups.drupal.org account information which has exposed user names, country, and email addresses along with hashed passwords.
Liberty Reserve shut down, founder arrested (May 29)

US federal prosecutors have unsealed the indictment of seven men who were allegedly involved in the Costa-Rica-based digital currency and exchange service, Liberty Reserve. Authorities in the US had already seized the service's domain, effectively shutting down its web site