NSA to Fund Secure Linux

 
 
By Timothy Dyck  |  Posted 2001-05-07 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Just a few months after releasing code for its internal research efforts to build a more secure Linux, the National Security Agency has taken the next step to make sure the project gets completed.

Just a few months after releasing code for its internal research efforts to build a more secure Linux, the National Security Agency has taken the next step to make sure the project gets completed.

Last month, the NSA announced that it will fund a $1.2 million, two-year development effort for its SELinux (Security-Enhanced Linux) project.


SELinux adds mandatory access controls to Linux, a key feature of secure-by-design operating systems. These controls prevent users from setting insecure permissions on files, even on files theyve created.

SELinux also lets administrators associate programs with security profiles that specify exactly which data files and what kind of network resources a program can access. This "sandboxing" feature is needed to defend against buffer overflows and other common application security bugs.

 
 
 
 
Timothy Dyck is a Senior Analyst with eWEEK Labs. He has been testing and reviewing application server, database and middleware products and technologies for eWEEK since 1996. Prior to joining eWEEK, he worked at the LAN and WAN network operations center for a large telecommunications firm, in operating systems and development tools technical marketing for a large software company and in the IT department at a government agency. He has an honors bachelors degree of mathematics in computer science from the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and a masters of arts degree in journalism from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada.
 
 
 
 
 
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