How the Shellshock Vulnerability Puts The World's Data at Risk

Security experts recently discovered a new software vulnerability that could affect millions of devices and servers across the globe. It’s called Shellshock, and experts are still trying to determine just how big of a threat it is. The consensus, however, is that it poses even more risk than the Heartbleed bug discovered earlier this year.

“The Shellshock vulnerability was found in a software package called Bash, a command line interpreter, or shell, that provides a powerful, flexible way to run commands on a computer," writes Cesar Cerrudo, chief technology officer at IOActive Labs. “It is the default for all Linux-based operating systems and Apple’s Mac OS X. Bash is also widely used on simple Internet connected devices, many of which run versions of Linux, meaning that not only servers could be compromised but also some home routers, IP cameras, etc.”

(via MIT Technology Review)

Hurdles to sharing digital healthcare data: Many American doctors eagerly upgraded to electronic health record systems to comply with the Affordable Care Act. While lower costs and better care through collaboration were supposed to be among the biggest benefits, the only problem is doctors are now finding that the data is incompatible across systems. (via The New York Times)

Data protection recommendations to come for the smart grid: The United States Department of Energy is working on a set of recommendations to aid data protection as more connected devices come online. The recommendations, however, will be voluntary for manufacturers, smart grid operators and other companies in the space. (via InformationWeek)

One standard to rule all virtualized systems?: Multiple virtualization systems — and multiple hypervisors — might be the reality in the modern enterprise. But a new industry effort is underway to standardize how enterprises virtualize their networks. It’s called Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV) and is backed by several industry giants, including The Linux Foundation. (via Data Center Knowledge)

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