Re: Russell Coker is recognized for his contributions to the SELinux project

[Bill Laut <wlsel@verizon.net>]

As a relative newcomer to SELinux, I, too, would like to congratulate Russell 
on his being recognized with this award.  As a consultant with 23 years 
experience, I've seen my share of "varporware," hyped by equally vapid 
snake-oil peddlers.  Products whose engineering really stand out well are so 
far and few between that they become a veritable oasis in a desert of 
mediocrity.

SELinux is one such oasis.  After the OpenVMS operating system went into 
decline (after DEC self-destructed), what succeeded it in the marketplace was 
naked purgatory:  Windows.  No security whatsoever.  At least Linux made the 
attempt by segregating superuser vs. normal user, along with distinguishing 
one user from another.  But it still was no comparison to VMS with its 
concept of a "privilege mask" and Access Control Lists.  And always was the 
fear that somehow a daemon might be compromised and an attacker would gain 
root access to the system.

Enter SELinux:   -Professional grade- security returns to a mainstream OS,  to 
where we can now uniquely tailor access to system resources for each 
individual application and/or server on the system like a glove fitting a 
hand, making setSUID and its vulnerabilities history.

With little exaggeration, after the wasteland of Microsoft offerings (and Unix 
not much better), my reaction to SELinux was to break out singing, "Sweet 
Mystery of Life, at Last I've Found You."  Someone finally *got it right* 
about system security.  This goes far beyond what DEC achieved with OpenVMS.

To Russell, my hearty congratulations for being recognized on your 
contributions.

To the NSA and all the contributors combined, thank you for pushing Linux into 
becoming the best damned OS available, and especially for releasing the 
source code under the GNU General Public License.  In creating the tools to 
make the computing world safe from attack, the service you have rendered is 
incalculable, and all of you deserve to take a bow.

You have a clear and unmistakable winner in SELinux.  It's time is about to 
come.


Kindest regards,

Bill Laut


On Thursday 10 July 2003 08:49 pm, James Griffin wrote:
> In recognition for his selfless contributions to the SELinux program,
> Mr. Russell Coker has been selected by board of the James and Charlotte
> Griffin Foundation to receive an unrestricted grant of US$1,000.00.
>
> This grant is awarded to Mr. Coker on the basis of his significant
> contributions to the advancement of the National Security Agency's
> research program known as "Security Enhanced Linux" (SELinux).  The
> extent and nature of Mr. Coker's voluntary contributions are exceptional
> for their scope, duration, and especially their quality.  Specifically
> Mr. Coker has provided: 1) numerous patches to both the base code and to
> the policy configurations, 2) an additional distribution, i.e., Debian
> based SELinux, 3) material, extensive, and ongoing participation in the
> SELinux mailing list (25% of all messages), and 4) providing additional
> educational support to others with his presentations and his publicly
> available SELinux testbed.  Mr. Coker has shared freely of his
> knowledge, talent, and time for the public good.
>
> The Foundation also wishes to acknowledge the contributions of the
> National Security Agency (NSA), its employees and contractors, and the
> other active participants.  Additionally, NSA is to be commended for
> their efforts in transferring the results of the SELinux research into
> the "commons" of public knowledge and for preserving and protecting this
> transfer through the adoption of the GNU General Public License for
> SELinux.
>
> James A Griffin
> Chairman
> James and Charlotte Griffin Foundation
>
> *Linux is a Registered Trade Mark of Linus Torvalds


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