דלג לתוכן הראשי

2023-06-03

Brute.Fail: Watch brute force attacks fail in real time

  • Brute.Fail showcases real-time examples of attackers trying to break into servers by guessing usernames and passwords.
  • The website assures that there are no legitimate services being offered on the attempted addresses and therefore, no chance of real users accidentally submitting their credentials.
  • Brute.Fail is created by Mike Damm, and it is still waiting for WebSocket.

Industry Reactions

  • Using fail2ban can conserve server resources by stopping responses to brute force attacks but may not prevent them.
  • Cryptographic keys and Role-Based Access Control are better alternatives to prevent attacks than passwords.
  • Real-time honeypots and open-source tools can be used to monitor and protect servers.
  • The website "brute.fail" streams live data showing attempts to log into SSH-enabled servers and is a valuable resource for those interested in security.
  • Users should exercise caution before attempting to interact with the website as it can be easily vandalized.
  • The website's purpose is to illustrate how brute force attacks work, rather than to report actual failed login attempts.

California spent $17B on homelessness – it's not working

  • California has spent $17 billion on homelessness, but the problem persists.
  • Despite the influx of funds, homelessness has increased in California over the years.
  • There is no clear solution, and officials are still working to address the crisis.

Industry Reactions

  • California spent $17 billion on homelessness, but it's not working, with the "housing first" strategy not being implemented effectively in San Francisco, despite its success in Finland.
  • Homelessness is multifaceted, involving mental health and addiction issues, making the provision of clean, well-maintained housing a challenge.
  • Debate centers around whether to provide free housing, with concerns about fear of public housing and "free housing" being taken advantage of, and also whether to focus on affordable housing or addiction intervention as a solution.

Third-party Reddit apps are being crushed by price increases

  • Third-party apps like Apollo and Infinity are being priced out of the market due to new charges implemented by Reddit for accessing its API.
  • The charges are so high that popular third-party apps like Apollo would have to pay millions of dollars a year.
  • There are also concerns that third-party apps will no longer have access to NSFW subreddits, while the official app would still retain access.

Industry Reactions

  • Reddit's third-party apps are experiencing price increases for API access, causing concern over the relationship between Reddit and its users.
  • There is a discussion on Reddit's current state, its problems, and possible solutions proposed by users.
  • Reddit is making changes that limit customization and force users to the official app while third-party apps lose access to NSFW subreddits.

Radiation-hardened Quine (2014)

  • Radiation-hardened Quine is a self-printing program written in Ruby that works even if you delete a character from the code.
  • The program can be run normally or with a script that randomly deletes a character to generate a broken program that still outputs the original code.
  • There are different versions of Quine, and the latest version is rquine.rb, which is based on flagitious's approach and works with 1.9 or later.

Industry Reactions

  • A radiation-hardened quine that can tolerate deletion of one character without affecting its executability is shared by a hacker on Hacker News.
  • People discuss the process of radiation hardening and suggest the use of triple redundancy and pooling of computational power to address potential issues during the process.
  • There is a debate in the comments about whether DNA can be considered a radiation-hardened quine; the post is notable for its impressive programming feats and may intrigue readers new to programming.

How to make fancy road trip maps with R and OpenStreetMap

  • Andrew Heiss explains how he used OpenStreetMap, R, sf, and ggplot2 to create road trip maps.
  • He uses geocoding and routing through Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM) API as an alternative to Google Maps.
  • He provides R code to automate the process and make maps, including adding itinerary and summary statistics.

Industry Reactions

  • Commenters discuss historical and geological information about regions along the road trip route- Debate on the use of R versus Python for making maps- Some commenters share their own experiences with trip planning and suggest tools or libraries for creating maps

27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)

  • Psion 3a, a PDA released in 1993, is still functional after 27 years and has many innovative features.
  • The keyboard, hinge mechanism, and card slots of Psion 3a are remarkable and ahead of their time.
  • Psion 3a hardware and software combination is the best PDA for the writer, surpassing Palm and Windows PDAs.

Industry Reactions

  • Tech enthusiasts discuss the Psion 3a and express nostalgia for its form factor and user-friendly interface.
  • Some praise the device's architecture and efficient power usage.
  • There is also discussion of alternative devices with similar features being in development or on the market.

Scan iPhone backups for traces of compromise by "Operation Triangulation"

  • A new script called Triangle Check can scan iTunes backups for indicators of compromise by "Operation Triangulation".
  • The script requires installation of a dependency called colorama and can be installed from PyPI or built into a pip package.
  • If there are any traces of suspicious activity found by the script, it will print out more information and detected IOCs, which could mean the device was compromised.

Industry Reactions

  • Kaspersky Lab has released "Operation Triangulation," a tool that can scan iPhone backups for compromise.
  • End-to-end encrypted calls may not be reliable due to device compromise, but open-source VoIP apps with E2EE alternatives exist.
  • Other tools, such as the Mobile Verification Toolkit and the iMazing tool to detect Pegasus and Graphite, have been released to identify potential device compromises.

It's not wrong that "🤦🏼♂".length == 7 (2019)

  • The article explores the different ways programming languages define and measure string length, specifically when it comes to Unicode and emojis.
  • The choice of which length method to use depends on the needs of the program or project, and the decision to compute string lengths eagerly or lazily depends on the programming language and project needs.
  • Measuring the length of a tweet on Twitter is complicated due to discrepancies in how different languages require different amounts of space, and scalar values provide the most fair standard for measuring length, but significant disparities still exist depending on the language.

Industry Reactions

  • The article discusses the ambiguity of the "length" attribute for strings and suggests that it be replaced with more precise descriptors.
  • The comments section debates the best approach for dealing with strings in Unicode code points, bytes, or graphemes clusters, with some disagreement about which approach is best.
  • The discussion covers the practicality of different methods, including using code points, grapheme clusters, or byte counts, with references to tools and libraries that can help with text manipulation.

He made linear algebra fun

  • Professor Gil Strang has retired from MIT after spending 66 of his 88 years at the institution. He taught linear algebra to thousands of students at MIT, which eventually evolved into a course for a third of the Institute's student body, and shared his course materials on MIT OCW.
  • Strang is an award-winning mathematician, has written over 20 books and published influential research on mathematical analysis, linear algebra, and partial differential equations.
  • Strang's legacy includes his simple methods for teaching complex subjects and making linear algebra accessible to the masses, with millions of students benefiting from his online lectures, and the movement to appreciate the subject continuing.

Industry Reactions

  • Gilbert Strang, a famous mathematician and linear algebra expert, retired after a 61-year teaching career.
  • Many people credit Strang's teaching style with helping them understand and appreciate linear algebra, even if they previously struggled with it.
  • Strang's lectures and resources, including his book and videos, are highly recommended for anyone looking to learn linear algebra.

Parachute use to prevent death, trauma when jumping from aircraft (2018) [pdf] Industry Reactions

  • A humorous discussion on Hacker News arises after a study about the effectiveness of using parachutes when jumping from aircraft is published.
  • Readers caution against drawing conclusions from the study's results and remind that correlation does not equal causation.
  • The study highlights the importance of considering the nuances of research and not relying solely on statistical significance, as well as the limitations and potential flaws with evidence-based medicine and randomized controlled trials.