Why Smart Cards Are Smart

Your Weekly Newsletter [view in browser »]( Want to stay more up to date on all things open source? Follow us on [Twitter](. [Laptop]( Why Smart Cards Are Smart Kyle Rankin - June 12, 2019 If you use GPG keys, learn about the benefits to storing them on a smart card. GPG has been around for a long time and is used to secure everything from your email to your software. If you want to send an email to someone and be sure that no one else can read or modify it, GPG signing and encryption are the main method you'd use. Distributions use GPG to sign their packages, so you can feel confident that the ones you download and install from a package mirror have not been modified from their original state. Developers in many organizations follow the best practice of GPG-signing any code they commit to a repository. By signing their commits, other people can confirm that the changes that claim to come from a particular developer truly did. Web-based Git front ends like GitHub and GitLab let users upload their GPG public keys, so when they do commit signed code, the interface can display to everyone else that it has been verified. Yet, all of the security ultimately comes down to the security of your private key. Once others have access to your private key, they can perform all of the same GPG tasks as though they were you. This is why you are prompted to enter a passphrase when you first set up a GPG key. The idea is that if attackers are able to copy your key, they still would need to guess your password before they could use the key. For all of the importance of GPG key security, many people still just leave their keys in ~/.gnupg directories on their filesystem and copy that directory over to any systems where they need to use GPG. There is a better way. With OpenPGP smart cards, you can store your keys on a secure device that's protected with a PIN and not only store your keys more securely, but also use them more conveniently. Although some laptops come with integrated smart card readers, most don't. Thankfully, these devices are available as part of multi-function USB security token devices from a number of different vendors, and Linux Journal has published reviews of such products in the past. In this article, I discuss all the reasons OpenPGP smart cards are a better choice for storing your keys than your local filesystem. [read article]( [Abstract]( Data in a Flash, Part III: NVMe over Fabrics Using TCP Petros Koutoupis - June 10, 2019 A remote NVMe block device exported via an NVMe over Fabrics network using TCP. Version 5.0 of the Linux kernel brought with it many wonderful features, one of which was the introduction of NVMe over Fabrics (NVMeoF) across native TCP. [read article]( [Penguin]( Line Length Limits in the Kernel Zack Brown - June 5, 2019 Periodically, the kernel developers debate something everyone generally takes for granted, such as the length of a line of text. Personally, I like lines of text to reach both sides of my screen—it's just a question of not wasting space. [Read Article]( [Episode 20]( Reality 2.0 - Episode 20: Advertising is Broken, but Linux Isn't. Katherine Druckman and Doc Searls talk to Don Marti, of Mozilla and formerly of Linux Journal, about ad technology, privacy, and the Linux community. [Listen Now]( On-demand webinar brought to you by Twistlock [Watch Now »]( [Twistlock Webinar]( in case you missed [June Cover] The "From Mac to Linux" Issue Bryan Lunduke - June 3, 2019 What you are reading right now is a Linux magazine—with a focus on Apple computers running macOS. (Or MacOS. Or however Apple is doing the capitalization nowadays.) [Read Article »]( [Tradeshow] Linux's Broadening Foundation Doc Searls - June 6, 2019 It's time to embrace 5G, starting with the Edge in our homes and hands. [Read article »]( upcoming events [Open Source Software Conference]( July 15, 2019 - July 18, 2019 Portland, Oregon USA [Open Source Summit North America]( August 23, 2019 - August 24, 2019 San Diego, California USA [All Things Open]( October 13, 2019 - October 15, 2019 Raleigh, North Carolina USA [PIA]( [Storix Software]( [Twistlock]( [Technologic Systems]( Subscribe to Linux Journal for only $2.88 an issue! [Subscribe Now »]( [Renew Now »]( You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive newsletters from Linux Journal. You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe]( from this list. Copyright © 2019 Linux Journal LLC, All rights reserved. Mailing address: 9597 Jones Rd, #331 Houston, TX 77065