September 2014 Summaries

In response to the Shellshock vulnerability that targets the bash shell by allowing arbitrary execution through malicious environment variables, a new tool called the "shellshock_detect" chisel has been developed for sysdig, a system monitoring tool. This chisel simplifies the detection of potential Shellshock attacks by capturing all bash executions matching the Shellshock signature and providing detailed information about them, including the time, process name, process ID, and the function being executed. Although traditional network intrusion detection systems like Snort can detect some attacks, they may generate false positives or miss attacks from unknown vectors. The sysdig update enhances real-time monitoring capabilities, offering a more reliable method for identifying and logging Shellshock intrusion attempts, thereby helping users protect their systems more effectively.

Sysdig, an open-source project aimed at enhancing system troubleshooting, was highlighted by the Linux Foundation's linux.com as one of the "5 New Enterprise Open Source Projects to Watch," ranking second on their list. Released less than six months prior, Sysdig has quickly gained traction and recognition, driven by the dedication of its team and the support of early users and contributors. The project's founder, Loris Degioanni, expresses gratitude for the community's support and emphasizes their ambition to make Sysdig the world's leading troubleshooting tool, promising continued innovation and development. Additionally, the project includes Falco Feeds, which provides continuously updated expert-written rules to enhance security by addressing new threats.

The blog post discusses the identity crisis faced by professionals in the field of operations due to a lack of a universally agreed-upon title, highlighting the proliferation of job titles like SysAdmin, Operations Engineer, and DevOps Admin. This phenomenon is attributed to the fundamental changes in internet architecture, with modern applications requiring a shift from hardware-based to software-based infrastructure, resulting in new skill sets for operations. The author points out that while developers continue to focus on coding, operations roles have evolved to encompass complex tasks such as scripting and architecting virtual environments, often leading to the amalgamation of traditional roles into broader ones like "full-stack operations." The post suggests that this confusion over titles reflects broader industry changes and underscores the need for new performance management tools, such as those being developed by Sysdig, to address the challenges posed by these modern, distributed systems. The author concludes by expressing uncertainty about the future resolution of this title ambiguity, while emphasizing the ongoing importance of these evolving skill sets in the industry.