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Russell Coker

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Russell Coker is an Australian computer programmer based in Melbourne.[1] He has been actively involved in the free and open-source software community and is a long time Debian developer.[2][3][4] He has also made contributions to Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) in the forms of creating reference policy and integrating SELinux to the wider free software ecosystem. [5] In 2003, Coker was awarded a grant from the James and Charlotte Griffin Foundation for his work on SELinux.[6][7]

He also created the free and open source file system benchmarking software Bonnie++.

Early life

Coker developed a interest in computer programming at a young age, initially with a Talking Electronics TEC-1 computer kit,[3][8] which was widely available in Australia in the 1980s. He was interested in Unix in high school but due to the curriculum design of his computer class, he didn't have access to it until university.

He obtained his Computer Science and Software Engineering degree at Swinburne University.[3]

Work on SELinux

SELinux Play Machine

Russell Coker used to host a SELinux-enabled server with open root access, allowing anyone on the internet to login as 'root' (administrator account) to demonstrate SELinux can create a secure system without using the Unix permissions model.[9] The server was powered by a Compaq P3-800 system running Debian/Etch in a Xen DomU and provided SSH access via a Tor Hidden Service.[10] As of 2023, the play machine is no longer accessible.

References

  1. ^ Varghese, Sam. "iTWire - Melbourne duo working on using Linux phones as general computing devices". itwire.com. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  2. ^ "LCA: How to improve Debian security [LWN.net]". lwn.net. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  3. ^ a b c "Securing Linux". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2003-07-03. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  4. ^ "Debian New Member Process". nm.debian.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  5. ^ "SELinux Symposium". selinuxsymposium.org. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  6. ^ "'Russell Coker is recognized for his contributions to the SELinux' - MARC". marc.info. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  7. ^ "Melbourne developer's contribution to SELinux recognised". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2003-07-15. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  8. ^ "The Start of My Computer Career". etbe - Russell Coker. 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  9. ^ Scherf, Thorsten. "No Access! » Linux Magazine". Linux Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  10. ^ "Play Machine FAQ". www.coker.com.au. Retrieved 2023-12-12.