Kata Containers Now Available as a Snap, First Point Release of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, New NetSpectre Attack Vulnerability, IBM and Google Launch Knative, and Google Play Store Bans Cryptocurrency Mining Apps
News briefs for July 27, 2018.
Kata Containers, the lightweight, fast booting, open-source VM, is now available as a Snap from the Snap Store. According to the Ubuntu blog post, "Kata Containers are compatible with the OCI specification for Docker and CRI for Kubernetes which means they can be managed like a traditional container. Its agnostic design allows Kata Containers to run on multiple architectures like amd64, ppc64 and aarch64 with different hypervisors including QEMU."
The first point release for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS was released yesterday. New in 18.04.1 is the move from Unity to GNOME Shell, Captive Portal, Night Light, color emojis and more. You can download it from here.
There's a new network-based Spectre V1-style attack vulnerability called NetSpectre that "doesn't require exploited code to be running on the target machine", Phoronix reports. However, "if your system is patched against the other known Spectre vulnerabilities, it's believed you should be largely safe from NetSpectre." See the whitepaper for more info on this speculative attack vulnerability.
IBM and Google announced a new open-source serverless cloud computing project this week called Knative. According to eWeek, Knative "will serve as a bridge for serverless computing to coexist and integrate with containers atop Google Kubernetes in a cloud-native computing system".
The Google Play Store has banned cryptocurrency mining apps. Its new policy states "We don't allow apps that mine cryptocurrency on devices", and the company will begin removing apps from the store that violate this policy. See the Slashdot post for more details.
Jill Franklin is an editorial professional with more than 17 years experience in technical and scientific publishing, both print and digital. As Executive Editor of Linux Journal, she wrangles writers, develops content, manages projects, meets deadlines and makes sentences sparkle. She also was Managing Editor for TUX and Embedded Linux Journal, and the book Linux in the Workplace. Before entering the Linux and open-source realm, she was Managing Editor of several scientific and scholarly journals, including Veterinary Pathology, The Journal of Mammalogy, Toxicologic Pathology and The Journal of Scientific Exploration. In a previous life, she taught English literature and composition, managed a bookstore and tended bar. When she’s not bugging writers about deadlines or editing copy, she throws pots, gardens and reads.
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