As an avid technologist I maintain my own home security cameras. These camera stream H.264 encoded 1080P video across my gigabit LAN to my home server, recording 24/7 footage for future reference. These clips are not only stored on my home server, they’re also processed via a custom Python script for motion, the results of which are logged to a file. I can easily see which video clips contain motion, and make it easier to locate something of interest.
Like many in the United States I have exceptionally slow home Internet. In fact, until recently my Internet didn’t even qualify as “broadband” as defined by the FCC. Thanks to switching to T-Mobile’s new home Internet I just barely squeak past the minimum 25 Mbps threshold of broadband.
Recently the subject of personal privacy online, especially in the context of Facebook has come to the forefront of the public’s attention. Facebook has even acknowledged that it has allowed 3rd parties access to the platform users’ personal data, without their consistent. I find this uproar fascinating.
Search the Internet for “securing WordPress” and you will see no shortage of articles discussing various plugins that promise to make your website more secure.
Many of what you’ll find is valid – I even use a few such plugins. However, plugins can only do so much. Security-minded WordPress admins should also be wary of installing too many plugins, as doing so increases the surface area of attack. For these reasons, I prefer to use Nginx as an added security layer for my WordPress sites. Below are 5 helpful tips for hardening a WordPress site with Nginx.
When it comes to authentication on the web we’re pretty much all familiar with the password – king of the hill, infamous for both its flaws as well as its ubiquity. Outside of the password, you often run into authentication schemes such as token sharing (e.g., OAuth or RSA tokens).
Recently Motherboard carried a piece on The Rise and Demise of RSS – a fascinating account of how the web has changed over the past two decades. Underscored in the article is the shift to social media that has occurred over the past decade. Most young people consume their news from social media, so it is no surprise that the need for a turn-of-the-millennium technology like RSS might be waning.