I use Gnome on Ubuntu 18.04 with static workspaces and switch between them using keyboard shortcuts - for example, ALT+1 takes me to workspace one. Unfortunately, using the graphical settings editor, I was only able to assign keyboard shortcuts to the first four workspaces. After a bit of research …
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DNS Over HTTPS
With much of the web switching to HTTPS and at least some people becoming more concerned about privacy, DNS has recently come into the spotlight because it provides an ISP with the ability to monitor which websites a user visits. Multiple mitigations have been proposed - Android for example is going …
read moreChecking Whether a Process Exists
On Linux/Unix systems, there's occasionally the need to check whether a process is running. Some people use it for simple status checks or when building their own lifecycle scripts for startup and shutdown. I don't think it's a particularly good practice these days because all of this can be …
read moreDetecting Security Upgrades on Ubuntu
In my article on unattended upgrades I described how to set up an Ubuntu system to install security upgrades automatically. This is convenient for small setups, but in an enterprise environment you typically want to perform some QA before applying the change. A better solution is to have your monitoring …
read moreMigrating to HTTPS
There's more to migrating a complex site to HTTPS than just enabling TLS in your web server or reverse proxy. All links to embedded resources like style sheets, images, or scripts need to be served via HTTPS and potentially have to be rewritten. In a well-designed site that's not an …
read moreFrontend Engineering
Despite all its shortcomings as a programming language, JavaScript isn't a dirty word anymore. A decade ago, most self-respecting developers would refuse to even touch it, so it was left to web designers and junior developers who spiced up a few HTML pages with dispensable functionality. It's amazing how the …
read moreWeb Service Security
As a developer, I've used lots of web services and also implemented plenty myself. I've seen services with IP-based security provided by network firewalls, services protected by standard HTTP Authentication, TLS with client and server certificates and custom mechanisms using API keys. Recently, OAuth 2.0 has been added to …
read moreTwo-Factor Authentication
With more and more of my personal data being hosted in the cloud, I felt that I needed to take security more seriously. Since passwords are the weakest link in most systems, I was looking for a better solution. While I'm able to generate sufficiently secure passwords, there are only …
read moreKeeping Your Server Secure With Unattended Upgrades
When operating servers, you're responsible for keeping them up to date with the latest security fixes. Ubuntu comes with a mechanism that installs updates automatically so you don't have to worry about it. Obviously, this is meant for personal servers operated by hobbyists where convenience is more important than availability …
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