A couple nights ago, while coming home from work, I started thinking about the button you press on the d-note web application (an instance running at https://secrets.xmission.com) for generating passphrases used to encrypt your note. Each passphrase is a 22-character base 64 passphrase. Initially, I was using the following code in JavaScript: 123456789function make_key() { […]
I just recently committed support for my OpenPGP key random art Python script to support ANSI color. The idea is to create a "heat map" of which squares the drunken bishop has traversed during his dizzying travels. So not only can you see what your key "looks" like, but now you can sense what your […]
Almost a year ago, I blogged about the drunken bishop algorithm for OpenSSH key random art. Towards the end of the post, I mentioned that I would be building an OpenPGP implementation. I started doing so in Python, but eventually got sidetracked with other things. Well, I hosted the Scale 12x PGP keysigning party, and […]
A couple years ago, I wrote about how you can create a graphical representation of your OpenPGP Web of Trust. It's funny how I've been keeping mine up-to-date for these past couple years as I attend keysigning parties, without really thinking about what it looks like. Well, I recently returned from the SCaLE 11x conference, […]
I recently put up a web page with my email address. I'm confident in email provider's ability to filter spam, so I don't worry about it too much, to be honest. However, I started thinking about different ways I could obscure the email address in the source. Of course, this isn't offering any sort of […]
For those unfamiliar, Diceware.com is a way of picking truly random passphrases from a predefined dictionary list of words. The idea is that each word has a 5 digit number attached to it. Each digit in the number holds the values 1-6, in numerical order. So, the first password starts with 11111, then 11112, 11113, […]
Recently, I pinged my boss about a networking question, and got the following response: I am away but your message is being sent to my phone. Well, there are a few things he could be doing here: Logged in 24/7 with a local IRC client on his phone. Easiest, but will drain his battery quickly. […]
I've seen on the internet, and elsewhere, that when there are too many arguments for rm(1) to handle, that the following command will suffice: % find /path -exec rm -rf {} \; While certainly functional, it's not optimal. If there are thousands of files (as is often the case at my job), this command is […]
I have been familiar with steganography for a number of years. In fact, back when I was in middle school, I developed a fascination for encryption, and hiding messages, mostly so I could pass notes back and forth to classmates during class. It wasn't long before I found "invisible ink", which is a form of […]
Some of the roles I fill at work are: storage architecture, cloud engineering, system administration and backend coding. When approaching my tasks head on, it's always important to me that standards are adhered to. From PEP coding style to adhering to an RFC for mail server. Unfortunately, I think I'm a dying breed, or something, […]
I'm a fan of all things microblogging, but let's face it: until URLs become part of the XML, and not part of your character count (which is ridiculous anyway), shortened URLs are going to be a way of life. Unfortunately, those shortened URLs can be problematic. They could host malicious scripts and/or software that could […]
Too often, I see the recommendation on forums, IRC, and elsewhere across the internet to use improper tools for creating ISO images. For example, consider the following two commands, both of which are not the correct way to build a CD/DVD image: $ dd if=/dev/scd0 of=cdimage.iso # NO! Or worse yet: $ cat /dev/scd0 > […]
This post comes from BashFAQ/081 on Greg's Wiki. He argues why you should not be using which(1) to determine if a command is in your $PATH at the end of the page. I'll put that argument at the front: The command which(1) (which is often a csh script, although sometimes a compiled binary) is not […]
If you have two accounts that you use with Mutt, and one of them you would like to use your OpenPGP key for signing mail (PGP/MIME), and the other you would like to use an OpenSSL certificate for doing the same (S/MIME), then this post is for you. Before beginning, however, you need to have […]
I have chosen the path of system administration for my career. It's been very rewarding, and I really love my job. However, there are times when I make stupid mistakes that cost others money. I'm sure we've all been there. It's stressful, embarrassing and can really shake you up, if you mistake is bad enough. […]