I am a happy customer of Ola. I decided to try Uber. I installed the Uber app on my wife’s Android mobile and tried to register with her email address and got the message "Email address already in use". I don’t recall registering with Uber and thought that my wife had done so. However, a… Continue reading Not so Uber security
Javascript problem — and its many solutions
As most of us know, there are several problems/quirks/flaws with Javascript and this is known as the Javascript problem. However, like it or not, as long as we use browsers, we need Javascript. So, what is the solution? Pick your favorite language (hope it is not Javascript!) and hope that there is a transpiler that… Continue reading Javascript problem — and its many solutions
Frequent password changes — good or bad?
I read an article titled Frequent password changes are the enemy of security which I find misleading and missing the point. In this article, Carnegie Mellon University professor Lorrie Cranor, who became chief technologist at FTC challenges FTC’s advice FTC’s advice: Encourage your loved ones to change passwords often, making them long, strong, and unique.… Continue reading Frequent password changes — good or bad?
A picture is worth more than 140 characters
Tweets cannot be longer than 140 characters. This may look like a severe restriction because when we compose a tweet, it typically exceeds this limit. But now the rewriting fun begins — we find that with some effort we can make our tweet more succinct. This is an iterative process and takes time, as Pascal… Continue reading A picture is worth more than 140 characters
Elliptic Curve Cryptography: computing shared key
Elliptic Curve Cryptography: computing shared key If Alice and Bob want to exchange encrypted messages, they need to first agree on a Key. This shared key (also known as symmetric key) will be used to by both parties to encrypt messages. There are many ways of arriving at the shared key (including the old fashioned… Continue reading Elliptic Curve Cryptography: computing shared key
Monkey business — write once, deploy on iOS, Android and Windows with Xamarin
Microsoft and Nokia missed the boat on tablets and smartphones. Microsoft’s Surface RT tablets were priced very high, and there were not many takers, with the result that Microsoft wrote off 900 million dollars as inventory adjustment. Nokia Lumia line with Windows Phone OS has been well received. Microsoft has bought Nokia’s struggling phone business.… Continue reading Monkey business — write once, deploy on iOS, Android and Windows with Xamarin
Blog and more for less than the price of 2 lattes — DigitalOcean
VPS (Virtual private server) hosting that costs less than typical shared-hosting? Sounds too good to be true? I wondered about this and raised this issue a while back on the forum and got replies from the management and comments from others. It is true. The VPS provider is the relatively newer kid on the block… Continue reading Blog and more for less than the price of 2 lattes — DigitalOcean
Perils of Unreachable Code — was it deliberate?
There is no substitute for detailed code reviews, more so if the code is related to security. Any changes to such code, however minor, should be reviewed. However, in addition, it also helps if the compiler, tools etc can help in flagging potential errors. Take the case of the very serious security error in ios/mac… Continue reading Perils of Unreachable Code — was it deliberate?
Do some evil
Google’s motto is Do no evil. But they are disingenuous — they do some evil. Say for e.g. your child has a project on Eiffel tower — and these days all school projects require an internet connection and color printer so that children can cut and paste pictures, articles from the web and print a… Continue reading Do some evil
Security, Privacy and Post-it notes: what to make of the recent revelations
If you work in the computer security area, it is like drinking from the fire hose, what with the daily revelations about snooping and spying by the NSA. So much to talk, write and discuss. Comedians (and their writers) get excited when interesting politicians become newsmakers, as it makes their jobs much easier and more… Continue reading Security, Privacy and Post-it notes: what to make of the recent revelations