OStatic

We've written a number of times about open source security and authentication applicaiton vendor Likewise Software, because they're a quality company with a great product line. Likewise Open supports over 125 platforms and links Linux, Unix, or Mac systems to Active Directory domains in one easy step. Likewise Enterprise allows IT departments to authenticate users, create reports for regulatory audits, and control access to applications and data.

If your IT department has been considering giving Likewise a whirl, the free download of Likewise Open is available for the taking. If you're already a Likewise Open customer, then you'll want to listen up. Tomorrow, the company is formally announcing new ways to upgrade to Likewise Enterprise but we've got the skinny right now.

Pidgin is a great GTK2-based instant messenger application that supports a bevy of protocols, including ICQ, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber, and AIM. It's a terrific app in its own right, but when you add some of these power tools, Pidgin is even better.

pidgin-hotkeys - Use this plugin to assign global hotkeys to quickly perform regular tasks like fetching messages, toggling the buddy list, or opening the preferences pane. Also available in German and Swedish.

If you spend a lot of time online then you know how quickly passwords and registration information can pile up. It's practically impossible to remember them all, but thanks to open source password manager KeePass you don't have to. It's developed for Windows, but there are several unofficial contributed builds for Linux, Mac OS X, BlackBerry, Android, and more.

Firefox is a wonderful browser in so many ways but its password management leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, there are several add-ons to help manage your passwords and easily generate new ones in a flash.?

Show My Password - If you're tired of having your password field scrambled even though no one else is around to peek over your shoulder, then try this add-on. It shows your passwords as you type them, making typos easier to catch before they slow down your logins.

Popular network protocol analyzer Wireshark released a major update recently that's chock full of new features. Wireshark 2.1.0 now has OpenStreetMap + GeoIP integration, a 64-bit Windows installer, improved support for Mac OS X, and more.

Under development since 1998, Wireshark has been lauded as one of the most important open source apps of all time for making network and application troubleshooting more accessible to computer users and administrators. Since many businesses and educational institutions rely on Wireshark to optimize and secure their networks, there is even a certification course aimed at IT staffers.

French security company M2M Solution has developed a security gateway device called Homebox to monitor your home, office, vehicle, and even your pets while you're out. M2M and Texas Instruments, Inc. (TI) designed the system from the ground up in only nine months using Linux-based tools and open source codecs.

According to a poll conducted by software security company Palamida, most businesses expect their IT budget to drop in the coming months but less than half plan to use open source software to fill in the gaps. At first glance, that seems like some pretty lousy news and also appears to fly in the face of what we've heard before. Before we panic, let's take a closer look at what these survey results mean.

If the fact that the ParanoidLinux distribution (now in an alpha-alpha stage ) is based on a work of science fiction isn't unsettling, consider two key peripheral issues.

The first unsettling issue is that in some censorship-centric areas of the world, an operating system granting a user anonymity could be literally life-saving.

The second unsettling issue is that an effort is being made to package security tools -- ones that exist in current Linux and BSD systems, or are readily available through repositories -- into yet another distribution.