Category: NewsFeed

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Flaws detected in the Owncloud encryption module

First it is important to understand what this encryption module is actually supposed to do and understand the threat scenario. The encryption provides no security against a malicious server operator, because the encryption happens on the server. The only scenario where this encryption helps is if one has a trusted server that is using an untrusted storage space.

Source: Pwncloud – bad crypto in the Owncloud encryption module – Hanno’s blog

A good read, but also worth noting that encrypting data at rest on a server is rarely bullet proof anyway. If an attacker can get access to the server they can decrypt the data. I wouldn’t even bother encrypting the data store for something like Owncloud anyway since the data is at the end of a long chain where significant security is needed. For example, is the local copy of the data encrypted? Is the web component using HTTPS? Are Owncloud accounts secure with long passwords and 2FA? Is access to the sever running Owncloud properly secure with very limited access? Encrypting data at rest in Owncloud is the least of my worries.

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GitHub adds commit squashing to tidy up your commit history

Commit squashing has the benefit of keeping your git history tidy and easier to digest than the alternative created by merge commits. While merge commits retain commits like “oops missed a spot” and “maybe fix that test? [round 2]”, squashing retains the changes but omits the individual commits from history. Many people prefer this workflow because, while those work-in-progress commits are helpful when working on a feature branch, they aren’t necessarily important to retain when looking at the history of your base branch.

— Squash your commits – GitHub

New feature allows for cleaner commits in your code and more suitable for a broader range of workflows.

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Windows gets bash(ed) plus a full shot of Ubuntu

More importantly than bringing the shell over to Windows, developers will now be able to write their .sh Bash scripts on Windows, as well (or use Emacs to edit their code). Microsoft noted that this will work through a new Linux subsystem in Windows 10 that Microsoft worked on with Canonical.

— Microsoft is bringing the Bash shell to Windows 10 | TechCrunch

So this if what all those Microsoft folks at Great Wide Open were so damn giddy about a couple of weeks ago. I must say I’m dumbfounded. Bash will roll out in a Windows 10 update this summer, sooner if you’re part of the Insider program.

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Everyone at every law school should read this: Competitive Data Trends for Great Lakes and Midwest Law Schools 2012-2015

I have rarely seen a critical competitive disadvantage set out as clearly and starkly as that.What this means is that just to survive, not to mention do well or even excel, Ohio’s law schools and those of Michigan, Western Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois must develop aggressive and powerful strategies that unfortunately most have shown no indications they are able or willing to do.Instead, in too many instances, law schools have become hotbeds of disagreement in which tenure track faculty work to hold on to the perquisites of their positions, too many deans act as if the conditions being experienced are temporary and cyclical, and Legal Writing and Clinical faculty work collectively to advance their own agendas and protect their employment positions. All this is predictable behavior of long-sheltered and privileged constituencies but it does not do much of anything to deal with the challenges.
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There is also a “down the line” crisis being quietly created by law schools that are admitting and graduating students who are at best of marginal intellectual quality because they need the revenue those students represent—in part because many law schools are caught in a vicious circle of needing the tuition payments from lesser qualified students to fund the significant scholarships awarded the most highly credentialed applicants in an effort to sustain their “intellectual image”. The problem with this strategy is that “dumb is dumb” and one of the last things the legal profession and a stressed society needs is more stupid lawyers. We already have enough.

Source: Barnhizer, David, Competitive Data Trends for Great Lakes and Midwest Law Schools 2012-2015 (March 8, 2016). Cleveland-Marshall Legal Studies Paper No. 294. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2744854

This is a grim but true picture of the current state of legal education in the aftermath of the Crash of 2008. While the focus is on the Great Lakes and Mid West, the analysis will hold up for any region of the country. Legal education is going to be disrupted, it has been disrupted.