Cybersecurity in the Age of the Machine
Some things never change. Love it or hate it, but everyone still needs email.
Some WordPress installations stubbornly refuse requests for a password reset link, showing the user this error message instead:
The email could not be sent. Possible reason: your host may have disabled the mail() function.
WordPress’ error massage is anything but insightful. The underlying cause usually involves SELinux. Let us introduce you to an easy fix that does not involve plug-ins or external email services. Buckle up.
[updated 2018-06-12] As browser makers continue their push for HTTPS and mobile applications are becoming the target of MITM (man-in-the-middle) attacks, cloud developers and administrators are scrambling to find affordable SSL certificates that can live up to the demands of the cloud era. Enter Let’s Encrypt, a new Certificate Authority that is open, fully automated, and free to use, with an almost unprecedented, generous allotment of 100 host names per certificate. Let’s Encrypt delivers on the promise of a worry-free, fully encrypted web 3.0. Cloud Insidr lifts the veil off of Let’s Encrypt’s setup, configuration, its few surprises and hidden gems.
Generating SSL certificates when Letsencrypt (what is Letsencrypt, who is behind it, and how the heck can you get started) is available for your system works in a breeze, but what if you need your certificates for a machine that won’t take Letsencrypt (for whatever reason)? It is still possible: you can either grab Letsencrypt from Git, or, for reasons of practicality… create a certificate signing request (CSR) on your target server, transfer it to your letsencrypt instance, generate the certificates you need, then transfer the generated files back to your target instance and install the certificates in your software.
When migrating a web service or adjusting DNS settings you may come across unexpected behavior of your site long after all errors have been fixed (or so you thought before hitting the Reload button). The hard reality is that in their quest for speed, web browsers try not to make new DNS requests they deem unnecessary. The result is much screaming&steaming from administrators who are in the middle of a job.
Extracting domain names from email addresses with the help of regular expressions takes just a nanosecond once you have the formula. The formula is the key.