OpenBSD has announced release 2.7 of the “Secure by Default” operating system for Internet servers and workstations. According to OpenBSD, 2.7 significantly enhances the built-in strong cryptography with the OpenSSH suite to support the SSH 1 and 2 secure communication protocols and drivers for hardware accelerators for IPSec VPNs. According to the organization the cryptography has been further enhanced by encrypting virtual memory swap space, and by more flexible ISAKMPD key exchange and operating modes for IP Security networking. OpenBSD completely avoids the U.S. export controls on cryptography because it is published in Canada with cryptographic software developed entirely outside the United States. Support for SSH1 and HTTPS secure protocols depends on the RSA public key algorithm patented in the USA. Users worldwide may use the OpenSSL free library while those in the United States must use the non-commercial RSAREF library to abide by the patent. OpenBSD’s SSH support is done with the free OpenSSH suite also developed by OpenBSD team members. The suite has been ported to other systems and is rapidly gaining in popularity. OpenBSD 2.7 improves support for high-end system boards, SCSI controllers, ethernet interfaces, and adds gigabit Ethernet drivers and IPv6 networking. There are over 500 pre-compiled application packages ready to install, and most Linux binaries run without recompiling thanks to the emulation system. OpenBSD is free software, released under a Berkeley-style open source license. It is developed by a team of Internet volunteers, based on UC Berkeley’s 4.4BSD-Lite. OpenBSD runs on PCs, SPARC, Mac68K and other hardware. All development is funded by donations and the sale of CD-ROMs and T-shirts. Commercial support is available from third party contractors and companies. OpenBSD in Calgary is on the Web is at http://www.OpenBSD.org/.
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