Hands on with Brave Browser
Mar 6, 2018
Brave, the new Firefox? I’ve been using the Brave browser as my full-time web browser for two weeks now, primarily version 0.21.18. It’s easy to tell the software is not yet at version 1.0, and although I’m not ready for this to replace Vivaldi, I really want it to.
Brave is fast. Really fast. It has built-in adblocking and anti-fingerprinting technology. Previously, I’ve relied on uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger for adblocking and anti-fingerprinting.
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A Lesson for Bug Bounty Researchers
Oct 20, 2017
I’m managing a bug bounty program that has shown tremendous benefit so far. Several findings have been extremely clever, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have good interactions with the vulnerability researchers. However, I’ve also had a few unsatisfactory interactions with researchers. This post is directed at Bug Bounty researchers that do not have much experience in corporate environments. I think a list of do’s and don’ts is appropriate for this breakdown.
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iOS and Android Native Code Protections
Jun 19, 2017
iOS Secure Boot Chain Each step of the startup process contains components that are cryptographically signed by Apple to ensure integrity and that proceed only after verifying the chain of trust. This includes the bootloaders, kernel, kernel extensions, and baseband firmware. This secure boot chain helps ensure that the lowest levels of software aren’t tampered with.
When an iOS device is turned on, its application processor immediately executes code from read-only memory known as the Boot ROM.
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Self Evaluation
Jun 15, 2017
Recently, work hosted an event designed to bring my team closer together. Using the Surepeople PRISM, we spent the morning discussing our dominant psychological traits and how we can use them to better interact as a team. I thought the exercise was brilliant, and it led me to seek out other tools to broaden my self awareness.
The first such tool I uncovered was the Johari Window.
My ultimate self awareness goal is to shrink the “Blind Spot” window as much as possible.
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Metaworking
May 15, 2017
Trello fascinated me upon its release in 2011. I’ve written before about my time management (lack of) skills, and Trello appeared to be my solution - it offered a sleek view of all of my outstanding tasks. Try as I might, I could not make Trello work for me. Over and over again, I would fail to use it. I just could not make myself stick with it. There was a captivating quality about Trello, however, because it was constantly mentioned in tweets, blogs, and articles.
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Password Manager Advice
Apr 17, 2017
A developer at work asked a general question to the group: “I’m thinking about using either LastPass or 1Password, anything I should know?” As the team’s newest “Security Guy”, I answered with this brief response:
LastPass is easier to get started with as someone who’s never used a password manager before. Their product is seamlessly >integrated into browsers and mobile devices, although it’s not the prettiest. LastPass stores your encrypted password vault on their servers.
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Developing an Application Security Program
Mar 21, 2017
Since my last post, I’ve left my position with the consultancy. I’m now working for a medium-sized corporation in a senior application security role. One of my many tasks is to contribute to the development of an Application Security program. This post will serve as my thoughts on setting up an AppSec Program.
Measuring current performance The Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM) is a study of existing software security initiatives used by 95 companies of varying size across six verticals.
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Fix AWS SSL Certificate error in Burpsuite
Jan 11, 2017
This morning, while I was trying to proxy traffic to this site in Burpsuite, I ran across an SSL handshake error. Googling the issue returned this helpful article that got me started on the right path. The crux of the problem was that the JRE didn’t have the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy files installed. However, since this article was published, Portswigger began bundling the JRE with Burpsuite itself.
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Birthday - Asteroids
Oct 5, 2016
Recently, I celebrated a birthday. Typically, this is a joyous time, and I have many things to be grateful for. However, this birthday comes during a difficult year. As my wife and I were discussing this the other day, I realized that life can be a lot like the Atari game ‘Asteroids’.
Atari Asteroids
You, as the ship, must be able to re-orient and overcome challenges (blast asteroids) frequently and rapidly.
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Static Sites in 2016 - Updated
Oct 3, 2016
In a previous post I discussed the complicated process of configuring S3 to use Letsencrypt to obtain a TLS certificate. That post served as a reference for me to re-implement Letsencrypt every 90 days. Since then, my 90-day Letsencrypt certificate expired, and I was at a loss for how to re-instate it. Using my own post as a reference didn’t help me with the arcane letsencrypt errors I was encountering.
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