Russell Coker is recognized for his contributions to the SELinux project

Russell Coker is recognized for his contributions to the SELinux project

[James Griffin]

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

[Jason Anderssen]

To all on the list, I am new to selinux, and use the mailing list as a
resource to understand selinux.  I have successfully set it up and practise
using it, and use the list to improve my knowledge.

I have to give a huge congratulations to Russell, as watching and learning
selinux, would not of been as easy with out his input into the list, and
also his selinux box on the web/website dedicated to the growth of selinux.

Since I have been a quiet member of the list, and also not for a long time
either, I felt that I have to say a thankyou.

Keep up the good work.

Jason
Vasco Data Security
Australian Office.


----- Original Message -----
From: "James Griffin" <agriffin@cpcug.org>
To: "SELinux" <SELinux@tycho.nsa.gov>
Cc: "Russell Coker" <russell@coker.com.au>; "Howard Holm"
<hdholm@epoch.ncsc.mil>
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 10:49 AM
Subject: Russell Coker is recognized for his contributions to the SELinux
project


> 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
>
>
> --
> This message was distributed to subscribers of the selinux mailing list.
> If you no longer wish to subscribe, send mail to majordomo@tycho.nsa.gov
with
> the words "unsubscribe selinux" without quotes as the message.


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

[Bill Laut]

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

[Russell Coker]

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 10:49, 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.

James, thanks for this grant.  I appreciate the recognition for my work.

Also I would like to thank all the people who sent me private email over the 
last few days expressing similar sentiments, I am glad that so many people 
like what I am doing.

Finally I would like to note that one of the positive aspects of this work is 
that there are so many smart people who are interested in it.  Through my 
involvement in this project I have conversed with many intelligent and 
knowledgable people (both those who are listed as contributors or are known 
from the list, and those who just read the list and don't post) and learned a 
lot.

I encourage people who have some time to spare for open source work to join in 
the SE Linux project.  There are plenty of opportunities to contribute 
productively and learn from experts along the way.


Russell Coker


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