Encryption + Security + Privacy
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Information Privacy Online
I can't reply to each email individually so I'm currently responding with an blog article I'm writing and I've also asked a colleague to prepare a special deal on R10Cipher for this week only ... more info soon.
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Web Edition: Cross Platform Encryption
http://www.webappdevelopments.com/artenscience/r10online/r10online.cgi
If you receive an R10Cipher Encrypted Message and you do not own a copy of R10Cipher, and do not wish to download and license as DECRYPT ONLY (which is FREE!), then you can use this site to decode your message.
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Adventures with CoronaSDK and Lua [1]
This is the first post in what I hope will be a series, entitled: Adventures with CoronaSDK and Lua.
This article shows you how to pass multiple parameters to a function in any order and only those you need, the rest assuming a default value that you have specified when designing the function. I also show you how to build a simple Display Message function that allows you to specify output to the development Console or as a popup Dialog in the application.
Lua has a number of unusual and powerful facilities that when used together can provide great benefit to the developer. Tables when used with the variable assigment 'or' option allow easy to read, easy to debug, powerful, flexible parameter passing.
To accomplish this we design the parameters as elements of a table, then call the function and pass it the newly defined table.
local pTable = {}
pTable.title = "ERROR:"
pTable.message = "Uh Oh ..."
pTable.type = 2
displayMessage(pTable)
The displayMessage function receives the table and extrapolates the elements it needs. If an element does not exist in the table or has no value then the 'or' allows a default to be used in it's place. An additional benefit of this approach is that there is no need to be concerned about the ordering of the parameters, they can be inserted into the table in any order.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- [27/05/2013] [27/05/2013] Displays a Message, Optional Params and Order
-- Type 1 Prints to Console, Type 2 Displays a Native Dialog
local function displayMessage(pTable)
local title = pTable["title"] or "ERROR:"
local message = pTable["message"] or "Undefined Error ..."
local type = pTable["type"] or 1
if type == 1 then print(title .. " - " .. message) end
if type == 2 then native.showAlert(title, message, { "OK" }) end
end
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The function above is a fully working example and can be copied and pasted into your app and modified further to suit your own needs.
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ContaxCRM: Now with JSON
We’ve recently added some interesting functionality to
ContaxCRM (available in the next release) that gives some interesting possibilities and opportunities for integrating ContaxCRM into the workflow of your business. Below you can see the output from a standard report after the data has been pasted into a JSON Feed Validator.I’ve written a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format. It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate. It is based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming Language, Standard ECMA-262 3rd Edition - December 1999. JSON is a text format that is completely language independent but uses conventions that are familiar to programmers of the C-family of languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Perl, Python, and many others. These properties make JSON an ideal data-interchange language.
For the uninitiated, JSON is described by the designers as follows:
Put simply - for using your ContaxCRM data on the web or inside a mobile device, JSON is a good thing 
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Twitter Community: #avYourSay
Keeping up with the Tweets from the fine Ladies and Gents during
#avyoursay, is not easy. Every Tuesday evening at 20.00 for an hour local businesses from Amber Valley and the surrounding areas get to meet and chat online. You need to see it to believe it, great fun
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Earth from the Space Station (ISS)
This is a Time-Lapse Video of Earth take from the
International Space Station. Stunning.RSS Feed: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/stevencholerton
Twitter: @stevechol
Google and Apple Sync. Easy.
I recently brought an Android device (
Kindle Fire HD) into my life and this required some changes in the way I work with my own data and information.Primarily I wanted my Contacts and Calendars to be synced and accessible from all of my iOS Devices, My Mac and my Kindle. This was way more straightforward to do that I expected, thanks to Google.
Google Contacts and Google Calendar are now my primary data stores, easily synced into my mainly Apple eco-system. I can continue to use them in the same way I always have, through my Apple and iOS software, but behind the scenes because it’s Google, I can also use my Contacts and Calendars easily from my Kindle Fire HD.
Best of all worlds I reckon High Five Steve
Twitter: @stevechol
101: Penetration Testing
Introduction
Penetration Testing is an attempt to break the security of a computer system or network, under instruction from the owners or maintainers of that facility. It is an attempt to simulate an attempted break in by a computer savvy criminal. A Penetration Test gives a snapshot of the security at a moment in time, and is not a full security audit.
If a criminal attempts to breach your computer network they will generally follow a sequence of five steps:
Reconnaissance
Scanning
Gain Access
Maintain Access
Cover Tracks
Planning and Preparation
This stage involves a meeting between the Penetration Tester and the Client. Key areas to be covered are: Scope, Objective, Timing and Duration. In addition documents must be signed to cover the Penetration Tester and the Client, generally in the form of a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
Information Gathering and Analysis
This next stage involves the Penetration Tester finding as much information as possible about the company he will be asked to target. His first stop will probably be the companies own website, from there he may then consult additional online services and references. The information he is looking for is Domain Names, Server Names, ISP Information, Host Addresses and anything else that will help him build a picture of the target. The second part of this process involves Port Scanning and OS (Operating System) Fingerprinting.
Vulnerability Detection
If Stage 2 has been successful then the Penetration Tester now has all the information he needs to make the decision as to what hosts to target, and with what vulnerabilities. Some techniques he may use at this stage include Password Cracking, SQL Injection, Rootkit, Social Engineering and Physical Security.
Analysis and Reporting
This is where the Penetration Tester reports back to his Client. The information he is going to present to the client, includes the following:
An Overview of the work done
Detailed Analysis of all Vulnerabilities
Summary of Successful Penetration Attempts
Suggestions for the next step
This is where the Penetration Tester makes sure that anything he has done in the course of his work will have no effect when he has finished. For example he will remove any backdoors and additional user accounts that he has created, leaving the system how he found it.
The above is a quick overview only of the procedures that may be followed by a Penetration Tester while undertaking their assignment.
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Site Redesign: bestsmallcrm.com
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