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Outgoing Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson vowed Friday that he would not support Donald Trump if the former president decides to make another White House run in 2024 with Hutchinson saying Trump constituted a risk to the nation in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

As you can see from the testimony on Jan. 6, then and subsequent to the election where he was challenging the legality of it, the lawful transfer of [power] yes, that was a threat to our democracy. That was a threat to our institutions of government, Hutchinson told CBS Mornings. And thats not the behavior we want to see in a responsible president.

Hutchinson, who is likely to be succeeded as governor by former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, added that he did not believe the House select committee investigating last years Capitol riot had proven criminal wrongdoing by Trump in connection with the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

When asked if he agreed with select committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) that Trump constituted a danger to the US, Hutchinson eventually agreed.

Everybody phrases a different way, the governor said. I would not be supporting him for 2024. He acted irresponsibly. During that time, he was a risk to the nation, absolutely.

Trump has yet to announce whether he intends to run for president again, though he has teased a final decision to follow this Novembers midterm elections.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the most credible challenger to Trump, but the former president has expressed optimism over the outcome of any potential primary contest, telling the New Yorkerrecently I think I would win a showdown with DeSantis.

AR Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) says Jan 6 testimony shows Trump was a "threat to our democracy."

"I would not be supporting him for 2024. He acted irresponsibly, during that time he was a risk to the nation, absolutely," he tells @edokeefe. pic.twitter.com/HbrdFOzy61

Asa Hutchinsons comments came three days after Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide in the Trump White House, testified before the Jan. 6 committee and made several bombshell claims including that Trump knew several of his supporters were armed at the Stop The Steal rally that preceded the Capitol riot and that he made a lunge at a Secret Service agent after he was unable to travel to the Capitol building that same day.

Her testimony has since been called into question by sources close to the Secret Service, who claim the lunge never happened.

Asa Hutchinson, who is not believed to be related to Cassidy Hutchinson, praised her testimony as very compelling Friday.

I think she clearly demonstrated her concern and love for our country, the governor said. She came across with a great deal of credibility, but whats the challenge with the committee is theyre not having cross-examination. Theyre not having other points of view, and so that makes it more difficult Secondly, they got into hearsay and thats where, if they cant back that up, it undermines that testimony.

The committee will hold at least one more hearing this month and hopes to wrap up its work by the beginning of next year, when Republicans are expected to take control of the House of Representatives.

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Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson won't back 'risk to the nation' Donald Trump - New York Post

To his credit, Donald Trump Jr.'s holiday message was simple and uncontroversial. He tweeted, "Happy 4th of July America," followed by three American flag emojis. However, apart from the lack of punctuation, the tweet had just one teeny flaw: he posted it on July 1, three days early.Twitter rushed to set the former first son straight. "Today's the 1st, Einstein," replied a follower. Another respondent followed up, "His math has never been good. His timing even worse."One commenter had a simple wish: "Just go away. That is what America wants for this birthday."

Many responders noted the irony of celebrating the holiday just days after the reversal of Roe v. Wade, a decision that will have far-reaching effects for the country. Several replied with the meme,"4th of July has been canceled due to a shortage of independence. Sincerely, Women." Then there was the person who took issuewith Trump Jr. calling the holiday "July 4." They posted a meme saying, "Remember, it's INDEPENDENCE DAY, not the 4th of July. We celebrate sweet liberty and the founding fathers, not a calendar date."

Still, Trump Jr. did have a few supporters. One pointed out that the holiday falls on a long weekend in 2022, so he might be busy on the 4th. "Everyone says it logging off for the end of the week. How's this a criticism to celebrate freedom for 3 days? Should be celebrated 365."

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Donald Trump Jr.'s July 4 Message Is Being Roasted On Twitter - The List

In his fortnightly I.T Crowd column, Philip Brooks, of Diamond Byte Solutions, Wisbech, guides us through free software...

There is a wealth of free software available for PCs and its a real mix of must-have programs and programs that are just fun to play around with.

Lets have a look at just a few:

Ninite is a secure and easy-to-use online service that allows users to install multiple software programs onto a computer (Windows only) all at once.

To do this, go to the Ninite website, select which free software youd like to install, then click Get Installer to receive an .exe file which contains the installers for all these programs. Because applications are installed from their official websites, the latest official versions are always downloaded.

Moreover, it automatically declines any adware and bloatware using the option to deselect the adware or suspicious extensions during the installation process.

Photo Editing: Paint.net is a quick, easy to operate photo editor, ideal for simple editing. It isnt a rubbish copy of Microsofts basic Paint its a proper photo editor with advanced editing tools such as layers, an undo history, a choice of filters, many community-created plugins, and a brilliant 3D rotate/zoom function

Office suite: Libre Office

Available completely free of charge, Libre Office includes tools for word processing, presentations and spreadsheets and is fully compatible with Microsoft document formats.

It includes hundreds of free fonts and templates and has a clear, easy to use interface.

All of the most common tools and options are intuitively placed so you wont spend ages searching for the setting or tool that you need. It even allows you to convert PDF files into Word format.

Media player: VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player has a simple interface and is compatible with almost all video and audio formats. It supports DVDs and Blu Rays, plus MPEG and DivX streaming and can play videos as theyre downloading.

Security : Dashlane and LastPass are brilliant password managers, which let you generate and securely store unlimited unique and strong passwords quickly and easily.

Almost all of us have to keep track of a load of different passwords, due to the increasing number of web-based services we use, which is not easy (as we have mentioned many times before, NEVER pick one password, then re-use it over and over).

But with a password manager, all you need to remember is one master password just make sure its both secure and memorable.

Do note that the free versions are limited to a single device if you wish to use them across multiple devices (recommended for security), you will need to upgrade to the paid versions.

Originally posted here:
Taking a look at the best free software out there for you - Fenland Citizen

More than 85 per cent of India's Internet runs on Free and open-source software (FOSS). It is ubiquitous in our lives and serves as the backbone of operating systems, digital public infrastructure, communication platforms and the Internet. However, due to its decentralised nature, open-source is underappreciated, and we are often unaware of its existence.

The recent log4j security vulnerability showed the extent of our dependence on FOSS. The White House National Security Council even had a meeting in January 2022 with tech giants and open-source organisations to identify paths to prevent such incidents in the future. It is not surprising that it takes a security breach that threatens the most powerful governments and companies for us to think about the extent of our dependence on open-source software.

Free and open-source software is software where the source code is openly shared, and it is free to use, copy, study and change. As Richard Stallman puts it, "Think free, as in free speech, not free beer." Open-source principles can be applied across verticals such as software, hardware, content, algorithms and standards. The gains from these various open-source technologies far outweigh the costs associated with them, and they accrue to stakeholders across the market, society, individual and government categories. Some of the gains for different stakeholders are explored below.

Also Read:Can we imagine life without the World Wide Web?

A recent report sponsored by the EU found that companies located in the EU invested around 1 billion in FOSS in 2018. The authors estimate that a 10 per cent increase in contributions would lead to a 0.4 per cent to 0.6 per cent increase in GDP and generate more than 600 ICT start-ups annually.

FOSS is closely interlinked with software development, and it is estimated that 97 per cent of code bases contain open-source. It helps companies access high-quality code while avoiding vendor lock-in and lowering costs. There are various monetisation models to build a business case around open-source. These include providing paid services such as training and technical support, adopting a freemium model, and crowdfunding desired features.

Sharing non-differentiating features as open-source also have several advantages for companies. When Google open-sourced their machine learning framework TensorFlow in late 2015, they benefited from the increased adoption of the framework leading to crowd-sourced innovation. It is now the most ubiquitous AI platform, and Google benefits from the talent pool in a niche technology.

Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopaedia, is funded by donations and maintained by unpaid volunteers. The infrastructure that powers the Information Age rests on a foundation built on open-source software such as Linux and Apache, among many others. According to GitHub, India has the third-highest number of active developers. The number of developers contributing to open-source is growing fast, and India is poised to become one of the major contributors to FOSS.

A recent study finds that individuals contributing to open source projects are intrinsically motivated by feelings of altruism, fun, or kinship. Many contributors also seek the reputation and career advancement to be gained from working on open-source projects. Although there exist avenues for funding, it often relies on donations based on the goodwill of others. This issustainable for only the most popular projects. The maintenance cost is minuscule compared to the cost of the damages incurred due to the vulnerabilities such as log4j.

Some interesting aspects of FOSS are visible in the popular open-source chess platform lichess.org. It is a free-to-play, crowd-sources learning module and is funded by donations. Unlike other platforms, it has features such as requesting your opponent for a move to be taken back and granting your opponent extra time in a timed game. The non-zero-sum approach that open-source principles espouse percolates into various aspects of open-source products.

Also Read:Govt working to provide high-speed internet to every village, says PM

From the government's perspective, the economic motivations for promoting open-source can be broadly classified under cost savings, avoiding switching costs and network effects, underproduction due to weak incentives, and technology neutrality. These are especially important in the Indian context. The Kerala government has been a pioneer by officially supporting FOSS in the State IT Policy in 2001. In a phased manner, Linux and other FOSS have been adopted by various government departments and schools. The government of Kerala has also set up an autonomous nodal agency (ICFOSS) to work on improving the adoption and innovation around FOSS. It also works closely with FOSS communities such as SPACE to build open digital infrastructure.

The desire for "Digital Sovereignty" unconstrained by state intervention, technology oligopoly, and international geopolitics is also a major motivation for governments. The open nature of open-source implies it is more customisable and available. This leads to reduced dependence on proprietary technologies from companies based elsewhere.

India needs to leverage technology to overcome developmental challenges, and the various advantages of open source present it as a promising option. However, due to its nature, open-source suffers from market failures. The market does not adequately incentivise creators to keep developing and maintaining open-source projects. A comprehensive strategy to nurture and promote the adoption of open-source technologies is necessary for India.

(Bharath Reddy is a programme manager for the technology and policy programme at The Takshashila Institution)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.

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Nurturing open source is in our national interest - Deccan Herald

Article by Dynatrace vice president of A/NZ Hope Powers.

The use of DevSecOps practices is growing, as it is increasingly seen as the best way to produce high-quality and secure code. More than one-third (36%) of respondents to GitLabs 2021 Global DevSecOps Survey reported developing software using DevSecOps, up from 27% in 2020.

This growth is driven by organisations realising that application quality and security are essential to their ability to streamline continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) and accelerate innovation. They need to balance pressure to develop software rapidly with the need to ensure it remains secure and is optimised for todays cloud environments. This can be quite a challenge.

GitLabs Fifth Annual Global DevSecOps Survey (2020) found 60% of developers are releasing code twice as fast by using DevOps. However, speed often comes at the expense of security. A survey of CISO leaders last year found that 71% of CISOs admit they are not fully confident code is free of vulnerabilities before going live in production.

To enable software to be developed rapidly and securely, DevSecOps teams need to automate all stages of the lifecycle. They need shared solutions and platforms that converge observabilitythe ability to measure a systems current state based on the data it generates, such as logs, metrics and traceswith security, so they can spot security gapsand identify poor quality code and other software development issues.

In a survey of 250 enterprises in the US and UK with more USD $1 billion in revenue, 96% of respondents expected to benefit by automating their compliance and security processes, a fundamental goal of DevSecOps.

As DevSecOps continues to gather momentum, here are some key trends.

1. Infrastructure as code (IaC) uptake is rising

Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), aka software-defined infrastructure, is the management of hardware using code. It enables IT hardware resources to be configured, managed, monitored and provisioned using software rather than manual processes.

According to Gartner, 60% of organisations will be using infrastructure automation tools as part of their DevOps strategy by 2023, improving application deployment efficiency by 25%. In addition, defining infrastructure as code enables greater automation throughout the delivery pipeline, making it easier to replicate the testing and deployment process for new code. This is essential for accelerated DevSecOps adoption.

The same code can be used every time a particular infrastructure configuration is needed, so the benefits in time and effort saved are greatly increased. IaC can also benefit DevSecOps by reducing human error. Processes enshrined in code are secure and repeatable, lending themselves to automation and ensuring the correct execution ofhighly complex processes.

2. Attacks via vulnerable third-party code are growing

Many organisations make use of third-party code and software libraries in their development of new digital services. Any vulnerabilities in this code expose their applications to cyber attacks.

To guard against this, organisations must monitor their use of third-party code so they can patch any new vulnerabilities that are discovered. For example, in December 2021, a vulnerability known as Log4Shell was discovered in versions 2.0 and 2.14.1 of Log4j 2, a popular Java library. Log4Shell enables an attacker to use remote code execution to engage with software that uses Log4j and gain access to networks and sensitive data. Many organisations were forced to take devices and applications offline while they identified whether Log4j had been used in any stage of software production, from development to runtime.

In a blog, author and developer advocate Nicolas Frnkel wrote, Wise developers dont reinvent the wheel: they use existing libraries and/or frameworks. From a security point of view, it means users of such third-party code should carefully audit it. We should look for flaws: both bugs and vulnerabilities.

Log4Shell certainly will not be the last such vulnerability, as the more recent discovery of Spring4Shell has already shown. To guard against the next one, organisations should deploy observability platforms that can provide deep and broad insights into their applications to quickly identify any code flagged as vulnerable.

3. Root-cause analysis using AIOps will be essential

Gartner defines artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) as the combination of big data and machine learning to automate IT operations processes, including event correlation, anomaly detection, and causality determination.

Such automation is becoming essential to enable DevSecOps teams to manage cloud environments whose complexity is putting them beyond the capabilities of manual processes. AIOps can analyse data on activity in real-time, helping to prevent DevSecOps teams being overwhelmed by alert storms and providing precise answers that enable them to innovate more rapidly.

According to a Forbes article, AIOps is moving from marketing hype to a useful tool being adopted across the enterprise. It explains that the AI algorithms underpinning AIOps are becoming increasingly sophisticated. They enable AIOps tools to discover data relationships more rapidly, identify the root cause of IT issues in real-time and, in some cases, remediate them automatically.Such abilities are becoming essential to enable DevSecOps teams to test code while it is being developed and to identify new vulnerabilities during pre-production before code is deployed.

4. MLOps is no match for AIOps

Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) is a set of management practices designed to aid the effective and efficient deployment and maintenance of machine learning in production environments. It is often confused with AIOps but is quite different.

MLOps can only suggest a relationship between a problem and a possible solution. AIOps identifies problems precisely and provides actionable answers. MLOps systems must be trained to distinguish normal from abnormal behaviour. Data models must be verified, which requires time and effort from DevSecOps teams - time that could be spent on more strategic priorities.

In contrast, AIOps automates these tasks by combining AI algorithms with data analytics. It can accurately identify many common IT issues such as unexpected downtime or unauthorised data access and suggest appropriate remedies. These algorithms do not need to be trained, freeing IT teams from routine monitoring tasks and enabling them to focus on tasks that directly support business priorities and drive better outcomes.

Dynatrace vice president of A/NZ Hope Powers.

5. GitOps gains wide acceptance

GitOps is a set of practices for infrastructure management based on DevOps best practices for application development: version control, collaboration, compliance, CI/CD tooling. It is based on Git, an open-source tool developed for source code management in DevOps.In GitOps, Git becomes a single source of truth and a control mechanism to support dynamic creation, including updating and deleting system architecture specifications.

It automates and centralises the deployment and verification of infrastructure modifications via pull requests, giving teams greater control over their environment and enabling them to deliver better digital services faster.

6. The role of Kubernetes grows

Kubernetes, the open-source platform built to orchestrate the management, deployment, and scaling of microservices architectures, underpins all these aspects of DevSecOps and digital transformation.

Kubernetes enables a microservices-based application to be moved quickly and reliably between environments, for example, from a development to a production environment. It also makes application developers more productive. With microservices-based deployments supported by Kubernetes, multiple teams can simultaneously deal with different aspects of a project, accelerating development and identifying and fixing problems faster.

Kubernetes has been a game-changer for application development. It has enabled developers to better accommodate customer requirements, share resources across cloud platforms, and accelerate the building, testing and deployment of DevSecOps pipelines.

7. Serverless uptake soars

Serverless computing is a cloud-based, on-demand execution model where customers consume resources solely based on their usage by applications.It greatly appeals to developers wanting to build and scale out applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. The cloud service providers take care of this and supply the tools that enable app developers to create their applications in modules according to the cloud infrastructure they require. Serverless computing can also reduce costs and improve disaster recovery and resilience because the resources used are supported by the cloud providers inbuilt redundancy and availability features.

8. DevSecOps comes of age

Ultimately, companies undertaking digital transformation will struggle to succeed without DevSecOps.

However, to successfully exploit DevSecOps, development teams need platforms that streamline the entire software development lifecycle, facilitate cross-team collaboration and automate processes wherever possible.

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Eight top DevSecOps trends to support IT innovation in 2022 - IT Brief Australia