security

Glacial DNS

The original working title for this was Ice Cube DNS, however given the glacial pace with which Namecheap move, taking an average of 47 hours to disable malicious websites [Source: NCSC], I decided it was a more apt name. The idea is simple, providing

namecheap

"Submit a ticket"

Now, let me start by saying I love ticket systems. They are the order amongst the chaos in the IT support world, and when supporting customers often the correct approach is to ask them to raise a ticket. However, when a member of the

security

MutationObserver and Refund Bank Scammers

A significant number of refund scammers rely on remotely accessing the victim's computer, having them log into their online banking, and then surreptitiously editing the content of the displayed web page to make it look like they have a higher balance (due to their

consumer rights

TEKnically Incorrect?

It became illegal in 2017 to charge payment fees per the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 (As Amended) - Why do CCTVTek.co.uk ignore this law?

zoneminder

Zoneminder SMTP Triggers

My CCTV server died recently, so I took the opportunity to try an alternative from my tried and trusted ZoneMinder installation, and looked to Shinobi. For the most part it's great, it feels much more modern than ZoneMinder, it's architected in a way I

security

"Pure Spam" - Or, a lesson in shared hosting and DNS.

I maintain, or am associated with, a number of websites including some quite high profile and well respected ones. Imagine my shock when one of these disappeared from the Internet (well, Google anyway) entirely overnight. Logging into Google Webmaster Tools I could see this

security

Security Theatre and the Airport

I've previously ranted about "security theatre" that we all suffer every time we fly anywhere so imagine my surprise that I write this airside at a major airport holding a bag that's not been X-rayed... how did I get here? That this

security

HP Ink DRM

I am never buying an @HP product ever again. This “Ink DRM” is a joke, I don’t even want a colour print but I can’t use this paperweight!

security

SaaS... Access Control?

There's in increasing tend towards SaaS, and indeed at work we use it extensively with services like Zendesk, Xero, Statuspage.io etc.. I've done a lot (including custom development, and quick hacks like access control notifications in slack) with Paxton's Net2 access control and

security

Bizzby Privacy

Update 21st August Having spoken with Bizzby, I'm confident this is an isolated incident and that my concerns about how jobs are allocated to their service provider partners are unfounded. I expect a formal statement from Bizzby to be issued in due course. I

telecoms

When is withheld, not withheld?

I love Three's new WiFi Calling feature (well, it's an Apple feature, but Three finally decided to support it!) – ultimately it lets me use my phone (most of the time) at home for calls and SMS (think 2FA!) where there is no signal on

mobile

SMS 2FA and the Modern Smartphone

SMS has been around for over 20 years now and yet this basic 160 character instant messaging service is still widely used for marketing, transactional messages and two-factor authentication ("2FA") This was just a random thought when trying to log into something

security

Alarm Monitoring (With Raspberry Pi)

I'm responsible for a commercial buildings that, as you would expect, have monitored alarms, access control and such like. However, commercial alarm monitoring is horrendously expensive, and most of them are stuck in the dark ages; I want to be able to monitor the

security

iMessage Preview

So, iMessage has a handy new feature - both on iOS and MacOS - where if you send someone a URL it will extract some metadata from this URL and display it as a clickable link; You'll be used to this behaviour if you

security

Phishing at LLoyds

Today I received a phishing eMail, nothing unusual there... I get loads of them, but this is a little more convincing than most for one reason, it contained my postal address (ok, one from many years ago, but nonetheless it proves that it was

telecoms

Reverse Lookup ("CNAM") in the UK

For many years the USA has had a 'CNAM' service (or Caller ID Name), allowing telecoms operators to show the name of the caller rather than a number. There are obvious advantages to this, having "BT" show when they phone rather than

telecoms

Nuisance calls, no drama.

Have you received a call from a number starting 020 7946? I have, and it took me by surprise, because these numbers can never exist. A little background; I am, and have been for many years, very actively engaged in trying to prevent misuse

security

Security Theatre, Brussels and Beyond.

Somewhat shocked by Brussels today... and, especially since I know people there just now, my thoughts are with all those caught up in it :( Although, as I've intimated to a few close friends for many years but not been stupid enough to put on

net2

Paxton Net2, meet Slack.

December 2017 : As of recent versions of net2, the way SMS messages are sent has been changed, which breaks this hack, an update will follow. The advice below may still help you with other hard-coded SMS solutions. This is my (somwhat hacky) attempt to

security

Social Engineering Amazon

Most people will know I like Amazon (the collection of boxes it's affectionately nicknamed Amazon mountain) so I was shocked to discover how lax their security was, as a result of them trying to be helpful! It seems someone has found that Amazon can

rants

Nominet DRS

I recently had a case decided by Nominet DRS (thankfully in my favour, but that wasn't unexpected). Now that's finally over I can publish this ;) ... complete with my own inimitable, occasionally sarcastic, insightful(!) comments ;) The case was against the owner of the domain stagelampsuk.