New DNS standard could soon lead to useful error messages in browsers
Domains get blocked for a variety of reasons including security, family controls, content filtering, politics, and legal requirements. But when browsers encounter these blocks, they will usually display a somewhat…
Modern artifact signing with Cosign, what works and what hurts
I’ve been seeing some buzz around Sigstore recently, it’s a project that aims to improve software supply chain security by making signing and checking easier. It has seen ongoing work…
Syncing the login wallpaper with the desktop wallpaper on Ubuntu
On Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04, the background image that you set for your desktop doesn’t appear on the login screen. I will go over two ways of synchronizing the login…
Setting a static IP address in Ubuntu 24.04 using netplan
While setting up PiHole on an Ubuntu 24.04 server, I realized that the usual instructions I’d been following for years on Debian systems for setting a static IP address (often…
What does a reverse shell actually look like?
A reverse shell is a type of shell where the target machine (under attack) communicates back to an attacker’s machine, and importantly, gives the attacker control over the target machine.
My most useful network troubleshooting commands and tools
I’m not a networking professional, but I’ve often had to impersonate one. Here are some of the tools and commands I’ve found useful over the years.
Adding all AWS service certificate authorities to your trust store
When working with certain AWS services that require secure connectivity over TCP, you might run into the dreaded “unable to get local issuer certificate” error. This is because the service…