openbsd in the news

[jjstorm]

Does anyone know what news event caused the "openbsd" search term's popularity to spike worldwide, between November of 2010, and January of 2011, on Google search?

Here is a graph from google trends. The graph just makes one wonder what occured during that time period, especially in December of 2010.

[shep]

My guess:
OpenBSD Backdoor

[jjstorm]

Originally Posted by shep

My guess:
OpenBSD Backdoor

That must be it. The date of that article coincides perfectly. Does anyone know if the allegations were ever proven true?

[shep]

Does anyone know if the allegations were ever proven true?

The wikipedia has an Alleged FBI Backdoor entry.

[jjstorm]

Originally Posted by shep

The wikipedia has an Alleged FBI Backdoor entry.

The allegations are disturbing considering how it is claimed that they happened. However, considering that a subsequent audit from the developers found no backdoors, and no one else came forward claiming such backdoors did exist, it is likely that someone had ulterior motives for putting out such information.

[shep]

Speaking just for myself, paranoia is only one of many reasons to use OpenBSD.

[jjstorm]

Originally Posted by shep

Speaking just for myself, paranoia is only one of many reasons to use OpenBSD.

The "secure by default" approach that OpenBSD takes is what caught my attention. Computer Security is a subject that has always interested me, and one that you could NEVER know enough about. In my opinion, OpenBSD is a great OS, if not the best, to help one learn about the latest security trends and behavior that should go along with them.

[IdOp]

I think it was discussed in this thread at the time.