Silvexis | Erik Peterson

I hate Excel – Extracting a domain name from a hostname

Erik — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:18:28 +0000

Assuming that cell B2 has a hostname like foo.bar.baz.example.com the following will extract just the domain name form the hostname, e.g. “example.com” =CONCATENATE(RIGHT(LEFT(B2,LEN(B2)-4),LEN(LEFT(B2,LEN(B2)-4))-FIND("|",SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(B2,LEN(B2)-4),".","|",LEN(LEFT(B2,LEN(B2)-4))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(B2,LEN(B2)-4),".",""))))),RIGHT(B2,4)) Of course this doesn’t work if you really care about supporting all the TLDs in the world but seriously, why was that so hard Excel? The same thing (with the same TLD [...]

Encrypting your data on Amazon EC2

Erik — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:23:37 +0000

Making sure your data is encrypted when it’s being stored somewhere outside of your direct control is a good idea. When that system has your customers data on it, it’s a requirement. Unfortunately when your data is in a cloud environment like Amazon EC2 your options can be limited, confusing, or both. Questions like where [...]

The Comedy and Tragedy of Automated Security Source Code Analysis – Act III

Erik — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:08:58 +0000

ACT III: Reality Sinks In (Read Act I & Act II) THE SOUND of typing can be heard and then suddenly a loud groan of disappointment. DEV LEAD Argggggggggggggggg!!! FADE IN: INT. CORPORATE OFFICE THE DEV LEAD is looking at his bug queue in HP Quality Center, the bug count is 6,894 defects, all assigned to him. [...]

The Comedy and Tragedy of Automated Security Source Code Analysis – Act II

Erik — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:40:46 +0000

ACT II: The Deception (Read Act I Here) FADE IN: WIDE SHOT — The server room, filled with blinking lights and racks of servers. We PAN and FOCUS in on the back of the SALES ENGINEER who is typing away at a terminal. A DEV LEAD sits nearby, looking bored. SALES ENGINEER’S POV — The [...]

The Comedy & Tragedy of Automated Security Source Code Analysis

Erik — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:08:51 +0000

The other day I was asked about how one might integrate Veracode’s application security analysis solution into their nightly software build process. I get this question all the time because it is a popular idea among automated source code analysis tools and the common sense tells you that it’s one of the best ways to [...]

The Infinite Memory Problem

Erik — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:34:13 +0000

“I don’t believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time” – Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google Actually I think society does understand, or at least we used to. This is exactly why there is a separation between juvenile and adult criminal records. Regardless it’s all the more [...]

Is the Solution to Online Privacy Simply a Question of Ownership?

Erik — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:34:25 +0000

“Privacy is dead, deal with it” – Scott McNealy then CEO of Sun “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” – Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard Zuck: Just ask. [...]

Reflections on the Apple Newton MessagePad Failure on the Eve of the iPad

Erik — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:05:33 +0000

As I hold on for the long wait for my iPad 3G I was inspired to pull out my Apple Newton MessagePad 120 to baseline how far Apple has come since the Newton was first released in 1993. I was amazed at how unintuitive it was to use and thought about how our perceptions and [...]

Quick thoughts for the day

Erik — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:03:50 +0000

Read a rumor today that the upcoming Apple tablet might be called the iPad. I predicted it would be called the MacBook Tablet but I have to admit the iPad sounds compelling. It’s too close to iPod for me to like however. Rule one in marketing: Differentiate. My guess is that Apple is registering names of possible [...]

CES Round Up – Winners, losers and what you missed

Erik — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:31:51 +0000

I generally stay away from thinking about CES until the week is up and I can look at the big picture. For all the whining that goes on about FUD in the Information Security industry nowhere is there more hype and hyperbole than the annual consumer electronics show (CES) in Las Vegas. Here is our take on [...]