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Tuesday, July 17, 2018

SOFTWARE July 17, 2018

These 2 Software Stocks Trace Double Bottoms, While ZTO Breaks Out

The stock market was mostly lower in midday trade Monday, yet Leaderboard stock ZTO Express (ZTO) broke out past a potential buy point. Meanwhile, top stocks Workday (WDAY) and Paycom Software (PAYC) neared the completion of double-bottom bases in the stock market today. Also, a sharp decline in the price of oil resulted in a sell signal for top energy stock Marathon Oil (MRO).

Software Stocks Near Buy Points

Workday is within striking distance of a double bottom's 138.75 buy point amid the stock's furious recent rebound, according to MarketSmith chart analysis. A previous breakout above a 133.66 double-bottom buy point failed when the stock fell more than 7% below the entry.

In the most recent quarter, earnings and sales growth measured 14% and 29% vs. the year-ago period.

IBD 50 stock Paycom Software is etching a double bottom with a 115.64 buy point. Shares regained their 50-day line last week during the stock's six-day win streak.

On the downside, the stock's relative strength line is lagging. The RS line measures the stock's performance relative to the general market. An uptrending line shows outperformance, while a declining line indicates underperformance. The RS Line should hit a new high on the breakout day or shortly thereafter, confirming the breakout's strength.

Top Energy Name Triggers Sell Signal

Oil prices sharply fell Monday, declining almost 4%. Marathon Oil hit the 7%-8% sell signal from a base on base's 22.22 buy point. In addition, the stock is breaking down through its 50-day line in heavy volume, another reason to sell.

The stock's July 10 breakout started off on the wrong foot. Shares were initially strong when the stock gained the buy point, but was unable to maintain the day's gains and closed below the entry.

ZTO Express Delivers A New Breakout

IPO Leader ZTO Express is breaking out above a 21.80 buy point Monday, as the stock advanced more than 7%. Volume was tracking almost 70% above average. Shares are trading right at the entry midday Monday. The Chinese company that provides express delivery service in China is quickly gaining market share.

Tip: Before making any investment decisions, be sure to check current market conditions, and use IBD Stock Checkup to see if your stock gets passing ratings for the most important fundamental and technical criteria. To get ongoing chart analysis, and alerts to buy and sell signals, check out Leaderboard and SwingTrader.

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SOFTWARE July 17, 2018

Developer faces prison after admitting admin software was really a RAT

A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty to federal charges he developed, marketed, and provided technical support for software he knew customers used illegally to take control of other people’s computers.

Colton Grubbs used the handle KFC Watermelon to advertise the LuminosityLink administrative tool on Hackforums[dot]net, federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment filed last month. The indictment said the tool provided a variety of malicious capabilities including the ability for purchasers to control others’ computers, surreptitiously record users’ activities, and to view their files, login credentials, and personal information. The defendant, prosecutors said, also used the hacker forum and a website located at luminosity[dot]link to teach users how to conceal their identities and prevent antivirus programs from detecting the tool.

On Monday, Grubbs signed a plea agreement that admitted that from 2015 to 2017 he designed LuminosityLink and sold it for $40 apiece to more than 6,000 individuals, knowing that some of them were using it maliciously. While previously claiming the software was a legitimate tool for system administrators, Monday’s plea agreement admitted he knew some customers were using it to control computers without owners’ knowledge or permission. The document, which was signed by Grubbs, stated:

Defendant's marketing emphasized these malicious features of LuminosityLink, including that it could be remotely installed without notification, record the keys that a victim pressed on their keyboard, surveil victims using their computer cameras and microphones, view and download the computer's files,steal names and passwords used to access websites, mine and earn virtual currency using victim computers and electricity, use victim computers to launch DDoS attacks against other computers, and prevent anti-malware software from detecting and removing LuminosityLink.

Grubbs also admitted he sent customers private messages that answered their questions about accessing and controlling victim computers without authorization. He also admitted to using Hackforums[dot]net to assemble a team of at least 19 people to support the remote access trojan and recruit affiliates to sell it. He said he collected payments through the PayPal and Stripe services and through Bitcoin.

The defendant also admitted that during an FBI raid on his apartment last week, he called an associate and told him: “clean your room.” Grubbs also said he took a variety of other steps to conceal his illegal activities. According to the document:

Defendant gave his laptop to his roommate and asked that it be concealed in the roommate's car. Defendant concealed a debit card associated with his bitcoin account in his kitchen cabinet. Defendant concealed a phone storing his bitcoin information in his roommate's closet. Defendant removed the hard drives from his desktop computer and removed them from his apartment before the authorized search so that they would not be seized by the government. Three days later, Defendant transferred over 114 bitcoin from his LuminosityLink bitcoin address into six new bitcoin addresses.

In all, Grubbs pleaded guilty to three of the 10 counts in last month’s indictment, including invasion of privacy, causing loss of at least $5,000 to protected computers, and conspiracy. Federal sentencing guidelines call for a maximum of 25 years and fines of $750,000.

The case is reminiscent of one brought against Taylor Huddleston, the maker of the NanoCore remote access trojan. After initially claiming it was a legitimate tool, Huddleston last year admitted he knew customers were using it to steal passwords, surreptitiously turn on webcams, and conduct other unlawful actions on infected computers. In February, Huddlesgon was sentenced to three years.

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SOFTWARE July 17, 2018

How Open Source Became The Default Business Model For Software

Since its inception in 1998, open source has become the de-facto standard for software development and proven itself as a viable business model. While making source code freely available for redistribution and modification may seem counterintuitive, the success of companies like Red Hat and Canonical are proof that an open source model can turn a profit.

Investment from multinational, enterprise companies like Google, Facebook, and Adobe, points to the growing value of open source and its longevity. It should come as no surprise: at the heart of open source is fast-paced innovation in the form of collaboration and knowledge sharing. When everyone is encouraged to work together, the rate of progress is greatly increased.

Today, open source in business is pervasive. However, to successfully leverage the model, it’s important to understand its origins.

Origins Of Open Source: Free As In Freedom

Started by MIT programmer Richard Stallman in 1983, the free software movement began as a response to restrictions of proprietary software, touting the philosophy that “the use of computers should not lead to people being prevented from cooperating with each other.” It wasn’t about free as in price, but free as in freedom.

In his early days at MIT, Stallman was involved with a code-sharing community and was discouraged by the nondisclosure agreements of proprietary licensing. He created the GNU Project, the first free software operating system, and left MIT out of fear they would claim ownership of the project and close-source it.

The GNU project made way for the “copyleft” or “viral” method of licensing: anyone can freely copy, modify, and distribute the code but cannot apply additional licensing restrictions. Essentially, the copyleft method, which would eventually manifest as General Public Licence (GPL), ensured any software created from free software remained free.

However, Stallman and proponents of the free software movement were the minority of the time. Rife with politics and a license that was seen by many as too liberal, free software was not attractive to businesses. It wasn’t until the term “free software” was rebranded as “open source” decades later that businesses began to catch on to the benefits of open and collaborative coding communities.

Flexible Licensing And The Commercial Sponsor

Open source and commercial interest were tied from the start. When the free software movement was rebranded as “open source” it was done in an effort to make free software principles more appealing to businesses.

The Apache Software Foundation was one of the first projects to incorporate under the open source moniker. The ASF set many precedents for how open source should be approached commercially, including creating the Apache License which allowed for the same freedoms as the GPL without requiring that derivative works be distributed under the same license. This new, flexible license paved the way for commercial interest to monetize open source software.

The ASF also introduced a new way for open source and corporations to interact: companies could be represented in the foundation by individual participants. Maintaining an open source project’s autonomy and community is critical, and this allowed for businesses to have an influence without monopolizing the project.

These approaches to open source and business have become the inspiration for running open source projects and are still emulated today.

Commercial Take Off

As the movement continued to gain mainstream popularity and traction, GitHub brought open source to the world with the pull request. Making it easier than ever to contribute spurred an unprecedented network effect. It was the network effect and speed at which open source communities could innovate that ultimately caught the attention of software executives.

While more companies were ready to leverage the open source as part of its business strategy, the question shifted from, “should we get involved?” to “what’s the business model?” Additionally, in order to reap the benefits of open source, there is a community to maintain.

Dual licensing emerged as an early approach to the open source business model. Under this model, a company offers the same software under two different licenses, one that is open source, and the other proprietary. They can control the software, and contributors sign over their copyright. This model took away power from the contributor and instilled fear within the open source community. The purchase of MySQL by Oracle was a seminal event, and evidence that the fears were not unfounded. In fact, the original creators of MySQL forked the project, renaming it MariaDB, to protect its open source status.

Even as open source becomes a default for business, the community is still the key to its success.

Open Source As The New Go-To-Market

Open source is the nucleus for collaboration and building great software. As these benefits continue to pay dividends, leveraging open source has become a default business model. However, there are times when it is rife with obfuscation, abuses of loyalty and commercial companies who disregard ethics.

To succeed as an open source company, you must first be a good steward of open source. This means no freemium schemes or artificial restrictions, allowing open source and proprietary software competition, and removing barriers to contributing.

This co-creation allows for unmatched speed of improvement and depth of functionality which benefits us all. Open core companies like Elastic Search, Docker, Mesosphere, Magento, and more, have shown us that it’s possible to be a good steward of open source and turn a profit without jeopardizing the well being of the open source community.

Being good stewards of open source has paid off for us at GitLab. Our business model depends on open source contributions and we’ve prioritized improving our open source edition, even so far as switching from a contributor license agreement (CLA) to a developer certificate of origin (DCO) to make it easier to contribute.

Open source is an ethos, not just a license — we need to nurture the open source movement the way it was intended. The open source movement maintaining its maturation, in turn, means that it will remain a hotbed for creative and collaborative thinking.

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