Who can I hire to hack me?


GitHub screenshot "Insert your security key Press the button on your security key device to finish signing in. If it does not have a button, just re-insert it."

I use a password manager. I have 2FA set up on everything. When an organisation asks me to set a recovery question, I generate a 32 character passphrase. I don't use my mother's maiden name or my first pet's birthday on anything sensitive. I monitor my email addresses for breaches, and I regularly check my credit file. I'm doing everything a geek can to protect their online life. Is it enough? Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentIs there a market / service for *personal* pen-testing or social…

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Weeknotes - Mid-year Review


Terence Eden standing outside Number 10 Downing Street.

I loathe performance reviews. OKRs, KPIs, EYRs? Bleugh! There's a level of introspection which always makes me intrinsicly uncomfortable. Besides, I always feel like I've done nothing worthwhile other than arse about on a computer. In my new job, I decided to keep an achievement journal. Well, a Trello list of tasks I've done well. This has been most useful. I looked though my record of achievement and picked out the highlights. This isn't a new tip - but one I'm glad to have rediscovered. …

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Why bother with What Three Words?


Two men are confused by a paper map

I'll be wording this post carefully as What 3 Words (W3W) have a tenacious PR team and, probably, have a lot more lawyers than I do. W3W is a closed product. It is a for-profit company masquerading as an open standard. And that annoys me. A brief primer. The world is a sphere. We can reference any point on the surface of Earth using two co-ordinates, Longitude and Latitude. Long/Lat are numbers. They can be as precise or as vague as needed. Humans can't remember long strings of numbers, and …

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Episode 23 - Sixty Second Security with Dan Raywood


Dan Raywood holding a microphone.

How can you quickly tune up your computer security? Dan Raywood - Contributing Editor at Infosecurity Magazine shares his wisdom with us. 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. If you're interested in an open source password manager, I'm happy to personally recommend BitWarden 🎧 Stick this Podcast Feed into your podcatcher. 🍏 Subscribe on iTunes. 🎵 Intro music "Gran Vals" performed by Brian Streckfus. ⏱ Stopwatch Icon by Ilsur Aptukov from The Noun Project. 🄯 This podcast is licensed und…

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Scruffiness Privilege


Web Developer with a job (has a great big beard). Web Developer without a job (is clean shaven).

When I was at school, we had to wear a uniform. Black trousers, white shirt, brown blazer, brown tie. Coincidentally, it was more-or-less the same uniform as the local supermarket. On the last day of school, I ripped off my tie and vowed never to wear one again. And, aside from the occasional wedding and funeral, I've kept my promise. Which leads me to this 100% true story. Jessica Rose@jesslynnroseTech Twitter: Tell me about a time someone underestimated or dismissed you and what amazing…

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Episode 22 - Recycling with TerraCycle


A recycling logo.

I'm joined by my old school-chum Rebecca Bradshaw - as we talk about an innovative recycling company - TerraCycle. You can find out more about their recycling programme on Twitter. 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. Sorry for the slightly iffy audio-quality. The call recorder on my phone is OK for admin, but not brilliant for podcasting. Will try to record future episodes in person of via VoIP. Want to be featured on the podcast? Get in touch with me. 🎧 Stick this Podcast Feed into y…

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Episode 21: Ada Lovelace Day Live!


Suw and Terence sat on the sofa.

I'm joined by Suw Charman-Anderson - powerhouse and founder of Finding Ada. 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. You can follow Finding Ada on Twitter and you can support the project on Patreon. If you'd like to have a chat with me - get in touch. 🎧 Stick this Podcast Feed into your podcatcher. 🍏 Subscribe on iTunes. 🎵 Intro music "Gran Vals" performed by Brian Streckfus. ⏱ Stopwatch Icon by Ilsur Aptukov from The Noun Project. 🄯 This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu…

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GovGeeks T-Shirts


A t-shirt with the slogan "Make things open it makes things better."

Like all true geeks, my laptop is a smörgåsbord of stickers dedicated to openness. And, like all true geeks, I have loads of t-shirts that advertise failed start-ups, trendy apps, and unconferences. Why not combine the two? (Thanks to Matt Edgar for the NHS artwork.) (Thanks to Jukesie for his MVB design.) You can buy them from the GovGeeks SpreadShirt store. Available in a range of sizes, styles, and colours. A few things to note: I don't get paid for this. I've turned off the c…

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I don't have a community


Some giant question marks standing in a field. Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/dbrekke/181939582/

I get confused when I hear statements on the news like "community leaders have called for calm" or "community leaders will be encouraged to host informative programs" or "assurances were provided by local community leaders" or "community leaders have launched a campaign"... I want to ask you a simple question. Who are your community leaders? Take a moment to think about that. Who are my community leaders? I don't know how I identify myself. And I'm not sure if that's a problem or not. I…

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Book Review - Bad Blood


Bad Blood book cover.

The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end, despite pressure from its charismatic CEO and threats by her lawyers. Elizabeth Holmes is my hero. The next time I'm in a room full of Very Big And Important People, and I'm feeling out of my depth, I'll remember the story of the plucky heroine who conned her way into billions of…

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What does "挨⎒" have to do with "<html"?


Garbled text in an email.

I received this weird bit of mojibake in an email. Here's the raw text view: ------=_NextPart_001_009E_01D4D8BF.D0737E10 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=&quot;UTF-8&quot; Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable =E6=8C=A8=E2=8E=92tml xmlns:v=3D&quot;urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml&quot; xmlns:o=3D&quot;= urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office&quot; xmlns:w=3D&quot;urn:schemas-microsoft-c= om:office:word&quot; xmlns:m=3D&quot;http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml= &quot;…

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