Entropy is not what it used to be.

  • Widgets or IFrame hacks, how would we know?

    A particular aspect in IT security is injecting malware into websites. Often leading to so-called “drive by downloads“. This malware is often inserted due to a browser vulnerability which gets executed by, say, Javascript. The latter is usually “inserted” in a legitimate website using a hidden <IFRAME> tag or similar. How can this be stopped?…

  • Bye Blackberry, hello Android

    After three years of series of using BlackBerries (work and personal), I went to the dark side and got myself an Android phone. It was a bit getting used to (and necesarry nagging from my end), but here are some of the reasons why I love it, and some reasons why I miss my Blackberry:

  • JQuery AJAX with Rails’ authenticity token

    In Ruby on Rails, authenticity tokens are generated to prevent CSRF (Cross Site Request Forgery) attacks. These tokens generate a unique “identifier” to prevent other website from making requests on your behalf, or so-called “session riding”. In Ruby on Rails, to have this identifier available for you, you need to put in your view, usually…

  • Old random scribbles

    Copied from the old code.ae archives.. 🙂 Differences between 1987 and 2007: Ctrl-Z:

  • Spaces, or parentheses are important

    In Rails, j = points.size -1 is not equal to j = points.size – 1 Wouldn’t it be easier if Parentheses were mandatory, so that we could see the difference between: j = points.size -1 and j = points.size(-1)

  • FacebookError: OAuthException – Invalid OAuth access token

    On places.ae, we got notified of some issues with Facebook signups and logins. All of the sudden, when the Facebook OAuth service pushed us back to our redirect-page, the HyperGraph Gem threw the following error: FacebookError: OAuthException – Invalid OAuth access token This is often thrown because the Access Token could contain a | (pipe)…

  • Error mongoDB under Ubuntu – can’t find libmozjs.so

    When installing MongoDB under Ubuntu, one could stumble upon the following problem: mongo: error while loading shared libraries: libmozjs.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory This is caused because MongoDB uses XulRunner for it’s operations. (This is also why you see a bunch of X11 programs that are to be installed…

  • TRA to developed e-commerce “policy”

    The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) wishes to boost the online commerce in the UAE by implementing new policies, said the National. “The TRA’s aim is to increase and boost the online transactions and the population who are using online commerce,” Ms al Jaberi said at The Internet Show in Abu Dhabi yesterday. (The National) Seeing…

  • Who’s there to trust? Etisalat’s CA Certificate to be revoked?

    Recently, the UAE appeared in the news with some security/privacy related issue; the fact that using encrypted services on the Internet could be a danger to the nation’s security. “The UAE threatened to discontinue some BlackBerry services because of RIM’s refusal to offer a surveillance back door to its customers’ encrypted communications.” [1] Now, 2…

  • No more UAE blackberry services from October 11

    Gulfnews reported that the TRA, the UAE’s authority that regulates all telecommunication things, will be shutting down Blackberry services. Reason being, It can’t be wiretapped is not in line with UAE telecommunications regulations. Which was figured out after it was active for 3.5 years. Maybe providers will come out with a “patch” again to enable…

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