[kwlug-disc] Veritasium detailed video on the xz/openssh backdoor

[Chris Irwin]

On Sun, Mar 01, 2026 at 09:36:16PM -0500, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
>Remember the xz backdoor that was put in openssh, and barely discovered
>before being widely distributed?
>
>Veritasium has an excellent in depth analysis, preceded by what is open
>source, what is Linux, ...etc.
>
>Highly recommend watch.
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoag03mSuXQ&

There are some complaints I've seen about the "untimelyness" and 
"somtimes high level" content of this video. But we need to keep in mind 
it was made so that "normal" people could understand it: People who 
might need an explanation of what "Open Source" means, what Linux is, 
etc. The video has to cover *a lot* of ground to get the target viewer 
to the point.

"We" -- people who are members of Linux groups -- are not the main 
target of this video.

Nevertheless, I *thoroughly* enjoyed the video.

The simple explanations of key exchange, and compression, are excellent. 
Also includes an obligatory xkcd.

-- 
Chris Irwin

email:   chris at chrisirwin.ca
   web: https://chrisirwin.ca