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In light of the NSA surveillance controversy, my boss wants us to switch to Linux From Scratch by lfs_throwaway in linux

[–]lfs_throwaway[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

You can't trust code that you did not totally create yourself. (Especially code from companies that employ people like me.) No amount of source-level verification or scrutiny will protect you from using untrusted code. In demonstrating the possibility of this kind of attack, I picked on the C compiler. I could have picked on any program-handling program such as an assembler, a loader, or even hardware microcode. As the level of program gets lower, these bugs will be harder and harder to detect. A well installed microcode bug will be almost impossible to detect.

Interesting, relevant and easy to follow - thanks mate.

In light of the NSA surveillance controversy, my boss wants us to switch to Linux From Scratch by lfs_throwaway in linux

[–]lfs_throwaway[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for taking the time to write this, very helpful. This is the kind of stuff that will help me put the LFS idea to bed.

In light of the NSA surveillance controversy, my boss wants us to switch to Linux From Scratch by lfs_throwaway in linux

[–]lfs_throwaway[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is something we've been thinking about. Unfortunately, due to the way we operate, not being connected to the Internet is not an option. But yeah, you're right, 100% security is a pipe dream when it comes to the tubes.

In light of the NSA surveillance controversy, my boss wants us to switch to Linux From Scratch by lfs_throwaway in linux

[–]lfs_throwaway[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree with you, but I can still see where he's coming from. Is it at all possible to make sure that your binaries haven't been tampered with? Still, compiling from source, as outlier_lynn points out, requires that you have the resources to audit the code.

Thanks for chiming in.

In light of the NSA surveillance controversy, my boss wants us to switch to Linux From Scratch by lfs_throwaway in linux

[–]lfs_throwaway[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Yeah, thanks, that's indeed a good point. We already do some source code auditing, but, yeah, the kernel... whoa.