Philosophically Secure

Nested dictionaries in Python

eugenekogan — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:58:19 +0000

This isn’t exactly ground-breaking, but rather just a handy tip. If you’re looking to create nested dictionaries in Python, like a “multi-dimensional hash,” or just a “dict of dicts,” there is a very simple method. All you need to do is use the defaultdict class in the collections module. Defaultdict objects can specify what factory [...]

Glimers of hope in OS security

eugenekogan — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:17:53 +0000

I hate band aids. No, not the kind you put on a scraped knee. I’m talking about the kind we’ve been layering on top of our broken software. Firewalls, intrusion detection systems, anti-virus, and perhaps the saddest of all, data loss prevention. They are all band aids we’ve invented because our underlying systems are fundamentally [...]

Google vs. China

eugenekogan — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:08:01 +0000

This is a rather interesting development… Google believes its systems are being attacked by China, in order to gain information on Chinese human rights activists who happen to use Gmail. Well, duh. What prominent company or government isn’t being targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers? (Perhaps the nation of Togo.) The interesting part is Google’s response: [...]

Green text, black background

eugenekogan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:24:04 +0000

I tend to do my development using vim, in a terminal window connected to a remote server that looks very much like the production environment. Thankfully, I am not the only one who works this way. Perhaps I’m not crazy after all? Green text. Black background. I’ll tell you why right now. I’m an old [...]

Clever malware

eugenekogan — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:58:58 +0000

A clever piece of bank account-targeting malware was recently discovered. It does the usual task of transferring money out of the victim’s account. But it also has a clever trick to help delay the victim from noticing the missing money. When he checks his bank statement online, the malware-initiated fund transfers will be dynamically removed. [...]