On this Giving Tuesday, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to post my journey getting involved with Linux kernel development. I'm still on the hunt for new clients to work with, but someone I ran into at the Linux conference in Seattle told me kernel development is in demand, especially in the area of security (and might lead to more, better jobs). I decided that this would be the excellent opportunity to document how it's done and encourage others to get involved. The starting point for contributing is following the directions here: https://kernsec.org/wiki/index.php/Kernel_Self_Protection_Project/Get_Involved The first step is signing up for the mailing list. The #linux-hardening liberia.chat IRC channel is also available, but after spending hours going around in circles, I discovered registry requires a non-vpn connection. I might head by a WiFi hotspot at some point to do this. Next I'll be showing what I do in order to find bugs to squash!

I freelance for a living. Avoided a major freelancing site for a while but times are tight so I decided to finally take the plunge. Lo and behold I needed to verify my identity for the ol' know your customer laws (for the good of the nation and security--yeah, yeah, I get it). No biggie. I'm used to it. Uploaded ID, address, all good. Or so I thought. Then they wanted to know which country I resided in. Um...U.S....as shown on my ID, my utility bill, and social media tied to my account? Yeah, turns out they don't want you to use a VPN. Ever. Not just for ID verification. Kinda dumb because I feel like I'm missing a whole community of clients, all become some nitwits that think that a VPN is somehow a security risk. It's even MORE concerning knowing that other developers WITHOUT a VPN are working with these clients, possibly exposing client secrets over an unsecured connection. Anyone else sick of this VPN related to KYC? Or has anyone found a way to shmooze your way into OK-ing a VPN?