Media Coverage

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English press coverage

Opening up, government style, ZDNet, January 24, 2000
Linux columnist Evan Leibovitch notes a small victory for open source when the US government recognised it as being for "the Public Good" in the recently relaxed cryptography export rules. He quotes Theo mentioning that the RSA patent has had a far greater chilling effect on US-based cryptography than the export prohibitions.

"Info.sec.radio" radio show. 11:00AM, Monday, January 10, 2000
CJSW 90.9 FM campus radio in Calgary in association with SecurityFocus
In the inaugural show of Info.sec.radio, Dean Turner of Security Focus interviews Theo de Raadt about OpenBSD, security, and cryptography.

Mudge, the halo and the 2.4 sticker, MSNBC, January 6, 2000.
The beastie sticker from OpenBSD 2.4 was spotted on Mudge's laptop cover in a file photo for this story about L0pht joining with corporate heavyweights.

Giving Back, Sm@rt Reseller Online, January 4, 2000
Linux columnist Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes mostly about VA Linux creating a source repository for open source projects, but there's an interesting quote: "Whether an open-source program runs on OpenBSD, Palm or even Windows, so long as it's an open-source program it's game for SourceForge." OpenBSD, soon to be a household word!

A report from LISA, SunWorld, January 2000
Columnist Peter Galvin gives a recap of LISA '99, mentioning among others Bob Beck's paper about securing public access Ethernet jacks on a university campus.

Canadian open source projects, The Computer Paper, January 2000
OpenBSD is featured in a year-end review of Canadian Open Source projects in The Computer Paper. Linux columnist Gene Wilburn gets it right. Unfortunately, the article isn't on the Computer Paper's site, but it is available at the author's site.

A Home-Grown Operating System?, Alberta Venture Magazine, January/February, 2000
Grace Casselman interviews Theo about the development process of OpenBSD.

OpenSource projects - what I learned from Bastille (and others), Security Portal, December 23, 1999
Kurt Seifried (seifried@seifried.org), security analyst and author of the Linux Administrators Security Guide, discusses the effort needed to create a Linux distribution. He mentions OpenBSD's code audit as a reference point for securing the OS.

OpenBSD comes close to security nirvana with a system that is 'secure by default', InfoWorld, November 8, 1999
Security Watch columnists Stuart McClure and Joel Scambray say good things about OpenBSD's security stance. "As you've come to expect from us, our faith in vendors' attention to security is waning, but OpenBSD gives us hope. OpenBSD is a group that has done it right -- or at least strives to".

UK Royal Family webmaster prefers OpenBSD, Slashdot, November 4, 1999
Mick Morgan, of the UK's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, answers Slashdot readers and talks about the design of a high profile web site like the Royal Family's. In hindsight, he would have chosen OpenBSD for its security aspects.

Turning on the Zedz, ZDNet, November 2, 1999
Linux columnist Evan Leibovitch tries to make sense of the byzantine US crypto laws and offers some alternative crypto software and resources including OpenBSD and OpenSSH.

OpenBSD - a secure alternative, Security Portal, October 27 1999
Kurt Seifried (seifried@seifried.org), security analyst and author of the Linux Administrators Security Guide, discusses setting up an OpenBSD firewall.

Interview with The Cult of the Dead Cow, Slashdot, October 22, 1999
In between cheeky and rude answers to slashdot reader questions, cDc'ers mention OpenBSD's security model and code audit.

The existence of OpenSSH-1.0 has been confirmed, Linux Weekly News, October 14, 1999
Linux Weekly News was the first non-BSD news agency to report the existence of OpenSSH, which will ship with OpenBSD 2.6.

Easing on Software Exports Has Limits, New York Times, October 11, 1999
Peter Wayner takes a closer look at some consequences of the US government's restrictions on the export of strong cryptographic software, and finds no small amount of irony. OpenBSD is prominently featured, along with a picture of Theo de Raadt brandishing CD-ROMs. (No charge registration required to read the NY Times on the web).

NSTI announces commercial support services for OpenBSD, Yahoo News, Oct. 6, 1999
Network Security Technologies press release on the PR Newswire. NSTI already uses OpenBSD in their Network Ops Center.

I've been hacked! How OpenBSD saved our project, Daemon News, October 1999
Overworked system administrator John Horn tells us about his adventures with a publicly-accessible Lynx server.

Calgarian heads team ensuring OpenBSD security, Calgary Herald, Sept. 30, 1999
Technology reporter Matthew McClearn interviewed system administrators and security specialists in Calgary and Edmonton who choose OpenBSD for its stability and proactive security audit. He also gives some project history.

Small town in Kentucky has Internet connectivity unlike the rest of America, MSNBC, Sept. 29, 1999
Jethro reports on the mailing lists that MSNBC aired a segment about a small town in Kentucky with high-speed Internet connectivity. During an interview with the town's teenage security guru, you could read the prompt on his terminal:

Connected to spanweb.glasgow-ky.com.
Escape character is '^]'.

OpenBSD/mac68k (spanweb.glasgow-ky.com) (ttyp0)


Hack this! Microsoft and its critics dispute software-security issues, but users make the final call, Infoworld, Sept. 27, 1999

Microsoft: Bad security, or bad press?, CNN, Sept. 28, 1999
A scathing look at the Microsoft "Insecure by Default" scheme quotes the CDC as saying that "The most secure platform 'out of the box' is OpenBSD, because security is a focus on the project". Contrast the Microsoft scheme with ours.

Open source has roots in the Net, USA Today, Sept. 20, 1999
Nice high profile mention of OpenBSD by Will Rodger: "Yet backers say the speed and transparency with which open source programmers compete to discover and then fix problems separates their operations from traditional software shops. OpenBSD -- still another open source operating system -- is often called the most secure operating system in the world."

Even better than Linux, Boston Globe, Sept 16, 1999
Technology writer Simson L. Garfinkel confesses he prefers the BSDs better than Linux and explains why. He writes a nice paragraph or two about OpenBSD and its security and cryptography goals. However, reading this, you'd think all the developers were Canadian (hint: they're not). The article has moved to the archives, free registration required.

Microsoft, Linux to become duopoly?, ComputerWorld Australia, Sept 8, 1999.
Reporter Natasha David interviews lead developer Theo de Raadt, who notes that cross-UNIX compatibility is losing ground in the rush for Linux applications. de Raadt was a keynote speaker at the Australian Unix User Group (AUUG) meeting in Melbourne.

GNU launches free encryption tool, IDG News Service, September 08, 1999
GNU Privacy Guard runs fine on OpenBSD.

Maintaining Patch Levels with Open Source BSDs, SysAdmin feature article, Sept. 1999
Michael Lucas explains the broad lines of the BSD development model and how to keep *BSD systems up-to-date with CVS. The author takes most of the examples from FreeBSD, but he takes the time to explain differences between the three systems. (Most of this is technology was originally invented by the earliest OpenBSD developers, as described in a paper presented at Usenix).

My own private IRP, open source IT tutorial, Sept. 1999
Sean Sosik-Hamor descibes how he built up his own Internet resource provider (IRP) and web hosting business out of available hardware and freenix software. He chose OpenBSD exclusively for his DMZ and describes the FTP installation.

India-based Web site offers raft of free OSes, ComputerWorld Australia, September 1999
OpenBSD is one of many free OSes offered at FreeOS, an India-based alternative OS news and portal site.

A Secure and Open Society, ComputerWorld Canada, Aug 27, 1999
The article starts off as a personal story about lead developer Theo de Raadt, but if you read carefully, it does explain a lot about the origins and goals of OpenBSD.

1999's Technically Excellent Canadians, COMPUTERMAGS.COM, Aug 10, 1999
"CCW is very pleased to name our five Technically Excellent Canadians, who are significantly impacting on technology both at home and abroad. Thanks to our readers for your involvement and nominations." The publisher of Canadian Computer Wholesaler (August 1999) and The Computer Paper (September 1999) presented this award to Theo de Raadt for his part in OpenBSD (the sub-article is half way down the page).

Operating system designed to foil hackers, National Post, May 25, 1999
The Post's technology reporter David Akin interviews Theo de Raadt for in a story that ran on the front page of the business section.

The Net's stealth operating system, MSNBC, July 22, 1999
"The OpenBSD group, which did a line-by-line security audit of BSD code, and now has what is widely regarded as the most secure OS available."

IPsec Tech Tutorial, Data Communications, June 1999
"IPsec may be an open standard, but that's no guarantee that different vendors' gear will work together. To assess interoperability, we put an even dozen products through their paces." OpenBSD 2.4 and commercial IPsec implementations were tested by an independent lab for interoperability and ease in setting up tunneling gateways.

A glimpse at the USENIX Technical Conference, SunWorld, June 1999
In a review of this year's event subtitled "USENIX and Unix -- then and now", writer Vicki Brown contrasts the first conference in 1979 to the recent one in Montery, California. Although it only mentions OpenBSD in the links section below the article, it's still an interesting read.

OS Also-Rans: After Windows 98, Mac OS and Linux, what's left for your Macintosh or Intel PC? Lots, St.Paul-Minneapolis Pioneer-Planet, May 17 1999
Despite the terrible title, staff writer Julio Ojeda-Zapata gives fair treatment to the alternatives.

In Search of OpenBSD, DaemonNews, May 1999
Ejovi Nuwere in Japan: three days, three locations, one operating system.

Safe and friendly read-only chroot jails for FTP and WWW, DaemonNews, May 1999
"Ruffy" explains how to set up safe and friendly read-only FTP and WWW services with OpenBSD's ftpd as an example.

Why to BSD in a Linux world, March, 1999
Description of the OpenBSD development process, and arguments as to why Linux probably cannot achieve the same level of security audit.

Alternative OSes face a Sisyphean struggle to get into the PC mainstream, Infoworld, March 8, 1999
Guest columnist Brett Arquette points out that Linux isn't the only alternative PC OS out there, then describes why hardware drivers and end user support is crucial to popularising an OS. He mentions OpenBSD and adds a link to this site.

NFR Performance Testing, report written by Anzen. February, 1999
This report compares the network monitoring performance of the NFR (Network Flight Recorder) package at handling flat-out 100Mbit ethernet monitoring, running on OpenBSD, BSDI, Linux, and Solaris. OpenBSD comes out as a clear winner just for raw performance; even before you consider the superior security of OpenBSD which you probably would want for a network-monitoring station.

DaemonNews: Serving NT filesystems from an OpenBSD server February, 1999
A system administrator debunks the myth that you must use NT as a file server when you run Windows clients. Squeezing performance out of vintage hardware and adding in some scripts to automate the setup of new projects won management over to OpenBSD.

Security Watch, end of year Golden Guardian awards. February, 1999
"Finally, we'd be remiss in ignoring OpenBSD in any discussion of top open-source security products. It registered high in our e-mail survey, and we promise to take a more active look at it in future columns."

Open-Source Software: Power to the People, Data Communications, January 4, 1999
Columnist Lee Bruno marvels that free software is serving alongside name-brand software. Page three mentions OpenBSD in the roundup.

The return of BSD, SunWorld, January 1999
BSD veteran Greg Lehey notes the strong loyalty of SunOS 4 users and surveys the BSD-derived OSes available on SPARC and PC hardware. The article also comes with a long list of useful links (some are stale).

OpenBSD and IPSec, leading the pack, November, 1998
A two-part article by Ejovi Nuwere focusing on OpenBSD's IPSec Development. Part one is an introduction to OpenBSD's Photurisd and its current Implementation, including a brief interview with Photurisd creator Neils Provos.

Usenix coverage, Wired Magazine, May 1, 1998
Mention of OpenBSD with regards to our involvement in the Freenix track held at Usenix in New Orleans.

WebServer Online, reprinted in Server/Workstation Expert (formerly SunExpert Magazine), June 1998, page 81
A glowing four-page description of OpenBSD emphasizing its use as a server and an OS that ships with security in the box (the SunExpert version is in PDF but includes their own graphic - a cross between Superman™ and the BSD Daemon, which the WebServer version in HTML does not).

Security Watch: Monthly Editorial. July, 1998
Points at our security page calling it "OpenBSD's mantra".

Wired Magazine, June 1998, page 96 (paper edition only)
A half-page description of what OpenBSD is, with a strange picture of project founder Theo de Raadt (Wired loves Photoshop).

Beyond HOPE coverage, Wired Magazine, Aug 11, 1997
Completely bogus (but quite amusing) description of what OpenBSD is.

Swedish press coverage (in Swedish)

Datateknik, Nov 20, 1998
An article on the swedish IPSec interop event mentions OpenBSD as one of the successful participants, and has a mini-interview with OpenBSD developer Niklas Hallqvist.

Datateknik, Nov 13, 1998 and Datateknik, Nov 14, 1998
Two published letters talking about OpenBSD's role in MacOS X. The first one has some misconceptions which are corrected by the second which explains the licensing issues and points to our copyright policy page.

Japan press coverage (in Japanese)

BSD Magazine, Sept. 28, 1999
ASCII Corporation is launching a Japanese language magazine that covers the freenix BSDs, BSD/OS and related subjects. The magazine will also be translating and reprinting articles from Daemon News, the BSD ezine.

Germany press coverage (in German)

OpenBSD 2.6 ist da, heise online newsticker, December 2, 1999
Brief summary of the OpenBSD 2.6 press release.

Russian press coverage (in Russian)

Byte Magazine, Russia, July/August 1999 issue.
A review of OpenBSD 2.5 and OpenBSD project goals.