Red Hat Linux gets top government security rating
453769
(InfoWorld) - Red Hat Linux has received a new level of security certification that should make the software more appealing to some government agencies. Last week IBM was able to achieve EAL4 Augmented with ALC_FLR.3 certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, putting it on a par with Sun Microsystems' Trusted Solaris operating system, said Dan Frye, vice president of open systems with IBM. "This is the highest level of security function that anybody has," Frye said. "We have delivered LSPP [Labeled Security Protection Profile] functionality in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, and we have certified that at the EAL4 level of assurance." This rating is awarded by the government-funded National Information Assurance Partnership's (NIAP) Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme for IT Security program, which evaluates the security of commercial technology products. Red Hat Linux has been certified EAL4 Augmented with ALC_FLR.3 on IBM's mainframe, System x, System p5, and eServer systems. This level of security certification is not usually required for enterprise contracts, but it is mandatory for some programs within government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. National Security Agency, Frye said. Linux had already been certified at the EAL4 level, but this is the first time that the operating system has received the LSPP certification, which relates to its access-control features. Linux developers have been working to add these "SE Linux" access control features into the operating system for several years now. SE Linux shipped as part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, and now it has been certified for government use, Frye said. "You now have a level of fine-grained control for everybody," he added. "You can set security based on groups or based on individuals." In addition to LSPP, Red Hat Linux has also been certified with Role Based Access Control Protection (RBAC), and that too is noteworthy, said Red Hat. "Historically, OS vendors have required you buy a separate branched OS to get something that is LSPP and RBAC certified," the company said in a statement. "This is something completely unique for commercial operating systems because the support for multilevel security is native to the OS." According to Frye, the certification is "big news for the Linux industry" because it shows that open source software can be used for sensitive computing tasks. "If anyone had any doubts that you could do this with an open source operating system, we've proved them wrong."
560727
InfoWorld - Red Hat&#160;is to help the communist government of Kerala, in southwestern India, to deploy open-source software in its e-governance and literacy efforts.
510009
There&#39;s a fake security alert targeting users of Red Hat&#39;s Fedora distribution, the company warned in an advisory. The Linux distributor posted a note on its security updates page to caution users against downloading security updates received via e-mail.
208968
Red Hat is acquiring security and authentication tools from Netscape Security Solutions to bolster its software arsenal. Red Hat&#39;s CEO and chairman Matthew Szulik spoke about the future strategy of the Linux supplier.
199765
Red Hat hopes its latest release will lock in its position as the Linux leader as more companies vie for a piece of the competitive market.
591445
The number of security bugs in Red Hat's Linux and Mozilla browsers surpass Microsoft's offerings, and CA security products are lacking, report says.
352369
OCTOBER 25, 2004  - Linux vendor Red Hat Inc. is warning customers about an e-mail hoax that urges them to download security patches that actually contain malicious payloads.
220651
The average unpatched Linux system survives for months on the Internet before being hacked, a report recently issued by the Honeypot Project claims.
379446
Red Hat Linux's latest security certification, EAL4 Augmented with ALC_FLR.3, puts its security on par with that of Trusted Solaris and potentially gives the OS entree to those government agencies requiring extreme multilevel security.
303898
Government-backed Red Hat is leading an initiative allowing software companies to brief users of a US government-backed security database on how far vulnerabilities affect their products.â¦
238709
LINUX distributor Red Hat has announced it would purchase Netscape&#39;s enterprise security products from AOL. Products to be purchased by Red Hat include the Netscape Directory Server and Netscape Certificate management system.
474899
A FAKE security advisory is being circulated that suggests that Red Hat&#39;s Linux distribution users should download and install malicious code.
330190
Red Hat has announced plans to acquire network security software from Netscape&#39;s Enterprise Suite, adding it to its Open Source Architecture, The company says they will distribute it as open-source software, according to statements from company executives
21824
Software giant hopes to convince governments that its products are secure.
199369
Leading open source vendor Red Hat said it will acquire certain security-related assets of Netscape Security Solutions from America Online for US$25 million.
608521
Security researchers have uncovered "critical" security flaws in a version of the Linux kernel used by a large number of popular distributions.
505681
The introduction of a new version of its Linux distribution and new JBoss software helped Red Hat Inc. increase profit to US$16.2 million, or $0.08 a share, on revenue of $118.9 million, in its fiscal first quarter ended May 31, the company reported Wednesday.